Oslo, August 31st and Headhunters both headed to Toronto.

The Norwegian film industry, which last year launched a record number of 25 local features to control 23.2% of the market, will push it further this year, so far with 12 new productions on the launching pad for the upcoming months. The total outlet will accordingly reach 34 feature-length films.

”This autumn Norwegian audiences can look forward to an unusually strong film repertoire in the theatres, as the result of a joint effort by ambitious filmmakers with artistic courage, and the public backing,” said managing director Nina Refseth, of the Norwegian Film Institute, introducing the upcoming season yesterday at Oslo’s Filmens Hus. ”Obviously you should be cautious bragging about the quality, but several of the films have already been successful in the international circuit.”

Among the 12 upcoming premieres are Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st (Oslo, 31. august), which was launched in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes International Film Festival, to continue in the Vanguard section in Toronto; and Morten Tyldum’s thriller, Headhunters (Hodejegerne), which just screened to an 8,000 audience on Locarno’s Piazza Grande, also to be presented in Toronto. TrustNordisk has licensed the Jo Nesbø adaptation to 42 countries.

Jannicke Systad Jacobsen feature debut, Turn Me On, Goddammit (Få meg på, for faen), was shown in New York’s Tribeca Film Festival to win the Best Screenplay-Narrative Award; in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema, Jens Lien’s Sons of Norway (Sønner av Norge) will follow in the footsteps of his The Bothersome Man (Den brysomme mannen/2006), which – after the Critics’ Week in Cannes – went on to scoop 20 national and international awards.

”We are leaving yesteryear’s situation when a young and promising director made his or her feature debut, and that was it - which was the case for 70% of the filmmakers in the early 2000s. Now only a minority has this experience. The autumn repertoire has not only quality, but also a great variety of titles and genres, adding Norway’s first live action film in 3D,” added Refseth, who was joined by directors and/or producers of the 12 autumn films showing excerpts from their work.

The 3D label goes for Arne Lindtner Næss’ kidpic, Magic Silver 2 (Blåfjell 2 – jakten på det magiske horn), following up on Magic Silver I, which was launched in 2009 to exceed 350,000 admissions domestically. Also targerting children audiences, Arild Østin Ommundsen’s Twigson in Trouble (Knerten i knipe) is the sequel of last year’s Twigson Ties the Knot (Knerten gifter seg/Norway), which sold 403,654 tickets in Norway.