Norway’s film sector will be in receipt of an exceptional aid package of 85 million Norwegian crowns (circa €7.7 million), aimed at limiting the damage caused by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Norwegian Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Abid Raja allocated the funds to the Norwegian Film Institute, the country’s film agency, to cover the expenses of projects that were in production, and to help the body to back the making of upcoming films and TV series. In detail, €5 million will be provided by the government, whilst €2.7 million will be granted by the institute’s incentive scheme.

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Speaking about this provision, the agency’s director, Kjersti Mo, said: “It will enable us to still distribute new production grants, which we had previously announced that we had to stop. Now we can start positioning Norwegian film very offensively until the world is back on its hinges, and plan a future that will look far brighter.” Meanwhile, Abid Raja added: “It was important that the Norwegian Film Institute took swift action to meet the challenges the crisis has created for the film industry. Now the government is proposing changes to the state budget to ensure that we can get started on new film and series productions as society gradually reopens.”

The Norwegian Film Institute has confirmed that the government and the agency will co-operate to make sure that the incentive scheme will not be weakened by having less funding next year. The institute added that those productions that have already been allocated funding by the incentive scheme this year will not be affected by the reallocation of financing that has just taken place now.