European film industry is a soft power worth subsidising, says Oscar-winning producer

An Oscar-winning Norwegian drama, shortlisted for the EU’s top film prize, is making a strong case for greater political support for Europe’s film industry.

Euractiv sat down with Sentimental Value producer Maria Ekerhovd ahead of the EU award ceremony on Tuesday to ask how the film broke through at the international box office, and how Europe can nurture an industry that today is almost indistinguishable from the start of the century.

“At the beginning of the 2000s, [Norway’s governing] social democratic party made a very conscious decision to support film more,” Ekerhovd explains. “They set up a film fund and focused on professionalising the industry, especially paying attention to producers.”

The decision created “a generation of filmmakers who are really talented and who have made films that do very well internationally and at the box office in Norway.” 

But shifting priorities in television production have made it increasingly difficult to finance films,…