Two of Blucher's films received financial backing – and now one of them has been discontinued – NRK Culture & Entertainment

– This is very sad for us and everyone involved in the project. We were fully funded with $88 million budgeted, but due to the competitive situation, we decided not to go ahead with the “Blücher” project, says producer Asle Vatn..

The producer says that the NOK 12 million grant the film received from the Norwegian Film Institute has been returned.

In December last year, it became known that two films about the sinking of the German warship Blücher received a total of NOK 20 million in non-food support. The award sparked controversy in the film community at the time.

He believes the NFI is acting unreasonably

Vatn is critical because NFI has awarded grants to two projects around the same story. It is believed that they place the responsibility for cleaning on production companies.

– They leave it up to us and the market to determine which project “works.” The producer says it's unreasonable and likely harmful to the other project as well.

He believes that NFIs should take the lead in such a situation.

– We note that the producer of the feature film project Blucher has decided to repay the support the film received in the marketing scheme. NFI's department director, Ketil Omberg, says this money is now returning to the fund and will be allocated to another film with the same scheme.

NFI proposes changes to the grant plan

Omberg also says the NFI sent out a consultation in March, proposing changes to the grants plan.

Among other things, they propose that the Market Committee, which evaluates which films should receive subsidies, be given a mandate to assess potential competitive conditions between projects in the application pile.

– The change proposals are still under consultation, so we cannot prejudge the consultation bodies' comments. However, we believe that this proposed move will help avoid subsidizing in the market scheme two very similar projects.