25 years of the Norwegian Film School

In 1997, Norway finally got its own film school. It has transformed Norwegian cinema.

Several decades of struggle for a national film education were over.

Fascimile from the opening of the film school.

25 years ago, the Norwegian Film School opened at Storhove in Lillehammer, in the facilities built for the Olympics three years earlier.

The challenge for the school now is to document that it was the right decision to locate the school here.

Jon Lilletun, former Minister of Education during the opening

The Swede Malte Wadman was appointed as the school's first leader in the late autumn of 1996. Within a few months, he was to establish an entirely new film school in the small town by Lake Mjøsa – finding teachers, students, and creating an educational programme.

There are a million books on how to make films, but not a single one on how to create a film school. That is where we were. It was complete chaos.

Malte Wadman

The start of the studies had to be postponed, but in November 1997, the first students arrived.

For me, attending the film school was absolutely amazing. We were going to work practically, make films and learn a craft to manage our talent. It might have been chaotic, but we did not realise that – we just thought it was supposed to be like that.

Sara Johnsen was one of 36 students in the first class. She has since directed several films and TV series, including the Norwegian Oscar candidate 'Vinterkyss'.

For the new film school, it was important that students from the various disciplines worked closely together on productions from start to finish – directing, producing, editing, screenwriting, photo and sound.

My best colleagues to this day are from my time at film school. I still work with several of them.

Sara Johnsen

A graph demonstrating how many of the film school students that still work in the industry.

In 25 years the school has graduated more than 350 students.

Many of them are currently employed in the industry. In fact, nearly 9 out of 10, according to a survey conducted by the school in 2016.

The graduation films have received numerous awards. 'Tuba Atlantic' (2010) is one of them.

It won the Student Academy Award (Oscar statuette) and was also nominated for the prestigious Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Short Film.

Newspaper article about the Norwegian Oscar candidate.

Linn-Jeanethe Kyed on the red carpet at the Oscar's in the USA.

Linn-Jeanethe Kyed attended the screenwriting programme from 2007-2010 and was part of the team behind 'Tuba Atlantic':

It was a big deal to be nominated for an Oscar. We joked a bit and said that it could only go downhill from there.

But no, not at all: later, she wrote the script for the hugely successful series 'Rådebank'.

And another TV series, 'Heimebane'.

And not least the feature film 'Børning'.

Among others.

The film school gives you the opportunity to make a lot of mistakes and then learn from them.

Linn-Jeanethe Kyed

Hisham Zahams in the snow outside of a building.

Hisham Zaham has become a well-known director and screenwriter. Here he is during the filming of his graduation film at the film school, 'Taket', in 2004.

After the film school, he won more than 40 national and international awards with the short film 'Bawke'. He has also directed award-winning feature films.

His graduation film was screened at several international film festivals.

The network at the film school was perhaps one of the most important aspects for me, as it allowed me to meet fellow students who were as passionate about storytelling and filmmaking as I was. It was here that I made good friends whom I later collaborated with as a professional filmmaker on several projects.

Hisham Zaman, regissør

I am bloody proud of the students. They have done amazingly well.

Malte Wadman, former dean

There has also been a lot of debate surrounding the Norwegian Film School over these 25 years.

Should it be relocated to Oslo?

Is the quality good enough?

Should the education be expanded to include a master's programme?

Over the past quarter century, the film industry and film media have changed significantly. New formats have become crucial in our daily lives, and these formats blend together – television series, feature films, games and digital media.

Portrait of Eli Bø, dean at the Norwegian Film School

We need to evolve. Today's students have a completely different relationship with visual language than they did 25 years ago. At the same time, we must maintain our focus on continuing to educate specialists and ensuring that, alongside other formats, we still produce films.

Eli Bø, today's dean at the Norwegian Film School

The new dean sees several challenges looking ahead:

When we educate storytellers, it is essential that they come from all of Norway, both geographically and demographically. We need to recruit students with more diverse backgrounds. The Film School has not been satisfactory in this so far.

It has been 25 years. Norwegian cinema has evolved tremendously since 1997, and behind many of the successful films are former students of the Norwegian Film School.