email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

Christian Fredrik Martin • Producer

Producer On The Move 2006 - Norway

by 

Christian Fredrik Martin will be one of the hottest European producers in Cannes as one of the 22 ‘Producers On The Move’, with his film Uro [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by first time-director Stefan Faldbakken screening at Un Certain Regard. But the name of his four year-old production company Friland co-headed by Asle Vatn, was already highly visible throughout 2005: the company’s first feature film production Kissed by Winter [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by debut filmmaker Sara Johnsen was Norway’s entry for an Oscar nomination, Tommy’s Inferno by Ove Raymond Gyldenås was released last August in Norway and is currently a DVD best-seller with 130,000 units sold. As for Uro, the film will open Norway’s Haugesund International Film Festival on August 19 before its official local release on August 25. Friland Film is able to nurture new talents thanks to an output deal with Sandrew Metronome that allows the company to have funds for production and development of new projects.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Cineuropa: You’re a real ‘mover and shaker’ in Cannes this year with your selection as a Producer on the Move and Uro at Un Certain Regard. How does it feel and what do you expect from the EFP initiative?
Christian Fredrik Martin: I feel totally harassed right now as the news of the selection of Uro came down like an atomic bomb on us and we still have a lot of work to get the film ready in time. Regarding Producer on the Move, It’s an honour to be selected although it was a bit frustrating as I couldn’t share the ‘title’ with my partner in Friland, Asle Vatn with whom I share all production credits. Anyway I hope that this opportunity will enable me to find people to work with in the future, because my real ambition is to make not one or two films with the same directors, but many more and to help them become established on the international film scene.

You seem to have very close relationships with your filmmakers, be it Sara Johnsen or Ove Raymond Gyldenås both of whom you met at Lillehammer Film School or Stefan Faldbakken with whom you’ve worked on the successful short films The Cosmonaut and Anolit. Is this one of the keys to your success?
Our company is definitely talent-driven. So far, I’ve made only first feature films, so we have to make even better films next time. My real concern is to get these three talents to make more films –hopefully with us –, and to continue to build our company, perhaps on the same line as Memfis Film in Sweden. I want to nurture my talent and at the same time look for new projects all the time.

You’re also involved in European co-productions…
Co-production really depends on what language you want to make your film in. Financing a film is already quite difficult and full of obstacles, so if you want to make a big co-production, splitting rights with other partners, it has to be meaningful and there has to be natural links between the territories involved. I’m currently involved in a co-production with Denmark’s Nimbus Film on Hans Fabian Wullenweber’s film Cecilie, as well in a co-production with Belgium’s La Parti Production on Patrice Troye’s The Spring Ritual. But it was an easy co-production because the script was originally Norwegian, written by Bjørn Olaf Johannessen. Another solution is to make purely technical co-productions.

See the background

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy