Norwegian private investment company Diopter has acquired a majority stake in the state-owned production entity Norsk Film as part of its creation of a new media investment fund.

The 77.6% stake in Norsk Film includes the name of the company, up to 20 films in various stages of development and two finished features: Thomas Robsahm's The Greatest Thing which premiered last August and Unni Straume's Music For Weddings And Funerals, currently in post-production.

Norsk Film, a cornerstone of the Norwegian film industry since 1932, is one of Europe's oldest studios. However, following a two-year review of Norway's film financing system, the local government last year decided to axe Norsk Film after a series of box office and critical flops.

Instead of continuing the risky tradition of film production, Diopter will now finance local projects through the creation of a private film investment fund. The company plans to inject a total of Euros 6.2m into between five and ten feature films a year.

Diopter, which is owned by entrepreneur Harald Moeller, is also the co-owner of Norway's most prolific film production company: Motlys, which has produced films such as Marius Holst's 2002 Berlin Panorama entry Dragonfly and Nils Gaup's Misery Harbour.

Motlys is now readying a slate of new projects including German director Fred Kelemen's latest film The Eagle Child and the local portemanteau title Most People Live In China created by the hip writers collective Screenwriters Oslo, which will premiere later this year.

In addition, Diopter co-owns the international sales company D.net Sales, which represents the documentary work of seven independent European producers: Norway's Motlys, Ireland's Paradox Pictures, the UK's Sweet Child Films, Germany's Ma.ja.de Filmproduktion and Egoli Tossel Film, Holland's Lemming Film and Belgium's Inti Films.