Europe Endless - Scandinavia: Insomnia (Dir Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1h36m, 1997)
Norwegian cinema? Respects to the good people of Norway, its easy to regard the nation as a cinematic minnow alongside the otherwise heavyweight Nordics; it has only three Oscars, and a single Best International Feature Film (against Denmark's 4 and Sweden's 3), whilst filmmakers have accused the nation's industry of playing it safe, and its cinema system, once publicly owned, but increasingly privatised, of relying on international films, including from its Nordic neighbours and America. The history of Norwegian cinema is one spent in the shadows of other nations; whilst its cinema industry began just a year into its independence from Sweden in 1906, and figures such as Tancred Ibsen (grandson of playwright Henrik Ibsen) played an important role in its nascent years, its heyday remains the 1950s. Topped by their first win for Kon-Tiki (1957, for Best Documentary) in which explorer Thor Heyerdahl directs his own tale of navigating the Pacific on a raft, whilst horror m...
