Film

Accident

A Family Portrait by Jo Strømgren and Stein-Roger Bull

In "Accident", death comes unexpectedly and abruptly to a family that has recently been challenged by the pater familia's marriage to a younger woman. When he dies suddenly, perhaps in a car accident, it becomes extremely important for her to push forward a delayed plan for a family portrait.   How to take a family photo where one of the members is no longer alive, and the rest of the family, apart from the young wife, struggle to hide their opposition to the whole project? It is a grotesque task for the photographer, who routinely does everything possible to create a good atmosphere in the studio for his clients. It takes only one person to disrupt any situation, split family members apart and destroy a family culture. The new young wife is such a person.

 

Music:          Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe

Soloist:         Vilde Frang   

Dancers:      Francesca Amante, Nataša Novotná , Maja Dworak Strømgren, Line Tørmoen, Viktor Konvalinka, Václav Kuneš  Jo Strømgren, 

Rostislav Novák Sen. (dead man)  

 

Co-producers: Czech-TV, Jo Strømgren Kompani.  Supported by Norwegian Filminstitute International distribution by EuroArts Music 32 minutes

TRIO – The hunt for the Holy Shrine

HAD IT ALL - MUSICVIDEO | Naomi Lien | From TRIO - Jakten på Olavsskrinet - YouTube

 

For centuries people have searched for the legendary St Olav’s Shrine, to no avail. Now Trio are on its trail. The only problem is, ruthless treasure hunters are on their trail... 

In this spectacular treasure hunt with the Legend of St Olav, Nidaros Cathedral and Norwegian scenery as a backdrop, both their friendship and Grandpa’s life are at risk. Will Trio be able to do the impossible, outwit the crooks and find the treasure?

For 200 years St. Olav’s leg bone was exhibited in St. Olav’s Cathedral in Oslo. There were marks carved into it. According to the legend the markings are the coordinates to a treasure map that leads to St. Olav’s Shrine, the largest Viking treasure in the world. The catch is, both leg bones are essential to find the shrine. There are rumours that the other leg bone is in the possession of “THE FAMILY”.

The leg bone in St. Olav’s Cathedral was stolen in 2005 and brought to the ruthless treasure hunter Albert Becke in Hamburg. He has set all his contacts to work to get hold of the other leg bone, and at long last they’re on its trail.

Fred Thorstad, the last descendant of «The Family» and keeper of the great secret, has the other leg bone in his possession. Fred finds out that somebody’s snooping in the “Family’s” history and around his home. He needs help and goes to see his old friend Rune Dalen, aka “Grandpa”. Grandpa shows quite clearly that he wants nothing to do with Fred. His grand daughter Nora (12) overhears their argument, and sees that Fred has a strange little box. She’s told in no uncertain terms by Grandpa to stay out of this.

When Fred leaves Grandpa, he seems in a hurry, but isn’t carrying the box. Nora follows him. She witnesses Fred being brutally assaulted and his car searched. Her sense of justice as well as her curiosity prevail weigh more than Grandpa’s warning.  Whilst Grandpa visits Fred at the Accident & Emergency to assure him that he’ll find his assailants, Nora opens the chest Fred brought to show Grandpa. It contains an old human bone. What’s this? And why does Grandpa have it?

Lars is true detective.  He examines the bone and thinks that it may be St. Olav’s leg bone, which according to legend is supposed to be the key to the largest Viking treasure in the world. The legend furthermore has it that the treasure is located off the coast of Agdenes, 700 metres deep in the Trondheim Fjord.

Lars realises that whoever is in possession of this leg bone could be in danger from ruthless treasure hunters.

Nora has to warn Grandpa, and at the same time she has to own up to having betrayed his trust. When the treasure hunters get close, Trio join forces with Grandpa. They realise that they have to find the treasure in order to bring Fred’s assailants to the fore. The only lead they have to St. Olav’s Shrine and “The Family” is Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Grandpa and Trio are in no doubt – that’s where they have to star searching.

Nora and Simen have been together up to now. Nora splits up with him out of jealousy. Now they nevertheless have to cooperate.  Simen wants to prove to Nora that she can trust him. Lars gets help from Emma, his German girl friend,  to get on the trail of the man who’s pulling the strings. She tracks down Albert Becke, "The Ghost" - the treasure hunter who always gets away without a trace.

With Becke’s henchmen hot on their heels, Trio make a discovery in Nidaros Cathedral. Based on Fibonacci’s theories and a mysterious piece of music they find a map, which doesn’t lead them to Agdenes as the legend suggested, but to Fred’s home village; Vågan in Lofoten... When the treasure hunters try to abduct Trio, Grandpa gives himself up. He becomes Becke’s hostage.  Nora despairs – they have to save Grandpa! They go into action, but everything goes from bad to worse.

Nora feels that she can’t trust anyone. She doesn’t know what to believe in anymore. Friendships and trust are at stake. 

It all ends in a spectacular hunt for “The Family’s” well-guarded secret underneath the Vågakallen mountain in Lofoten.  Albert Becke tracks TRIO down, and attempts to ruthlessly intimidate them to hand St. Olav’s Shrine over, so he can keep it without telling the world of the discovery… Truth is at stake. 

Nora and her friends have to look deeply into themselves in order to find the real treasure.


The first two seasons about TRIO was aired by NRK Super last two winters, and was/is also aired in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland..

TRIO is like “The Bobbsey Twins” crossed with “CSI” – that is to say, an exciting crime series for children, where treasures must be found whilst daily life puzzles have to be solved.

At the heart of the action is the small mountain village Skjåk, where the outsiders Nora, Simen and Lars have sought each other’s company. Small and larger crime mysteries in their daily lives force them to become investigators. Lars’ relentless drive to search for hidden treasures leads the trio into the adult world where they face tough action of the kind children rarely encounter.

The writers of the series are Morten Hovland and Trond Morten Venaasen. They have a long experience as writers for both children and adults, and have been inspired to give children of today new references to relate to with TRIO – in the same way that they themselves grew up with The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew Mystery Series on their own book shelves. 

Rune H. Trondsen in NordicStories have produced magazines and dramas for children and adults for years. The two companies now cooperate closely to give TRIO the format and input that is required to elevate the series to an international standard.

The tv-series is a co-production with NRK Super, Nordvisjonen and NDR (Nord Deutsche Rundfunk) on behalf of KinderKanal in Germany.

 

International title: TRIO – The hunt for the Holy Shrine
Genre: Children, Action, Crime
Director: Eva Dahr
Producer: Rune Trondsen
Script writer: Trond Morten Venaasen og Morten Hovland
Other Main crew: DOP: Patrik Säfström, Production Design: Martin Gant, Line Producer: Jeanette Sundby

Cast: Naomi Lien Hasselberg, Bjørnar Lysfoss Hagesveen, Franziska Tørnquist, Henrik Hines Grape, Reidar Sørensen, Minh-Khai Phan Thi, Per Kjerstad, Bernt Bjørn, Ole Vidar Skogheim

Production Company: NordicStories AS
Distribution: Nordisk Film Distribution AS
Financing partners: NFI, Filminvest3, Filmfond Nord, KIKA/Nord Deutsche Rundfunk, Nordisk Film

 

Official release February 17th 2017 in Norway

Closed

A ballet by Stein-Roger Bull and Jo Strømgren. The cafe is closed every Monday. Four people are invited by the owner. On this spesial day, the worldknown chellist Truls Mørk is in the cafe playing  Sonate op 8 of Zoltán Kodály before a big consert.

 

Dancers:    Vaclav Kunes, Natasa Novotna (420 People), Gerard van Dyck (KAGE),  Jo Strømgren ( Jo Strømgren Kompani)

Choreographer:  Jo Strømgren

Photographer:    Hallvard Bræin

Director:           Stein-Roger Bull

Producer: Zuzana Svobodova, NordicStories AS 2017

Music:      Sonate op 8 of Zoltán Kodály

 

Broadcasted  NRK  2017

Liv & Ingmar

One of the greatest couples in film history.

Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman met in 1965. They lived together for 5 years, had a child and made 12 movies together. Now 47 years later, Ingmar is gone. But their love has never died.

In this documentary, we meet Liv Ullmann during a few hectic days with a film crew in Bergman's famous home in Fårö, Sweden. In her interviews, Liv talks about all the aspects of living and working with Bergman. The details she relates about their life together are interwoven with clips from the films they made, revealing how their relationship influenced Bergman's scripts and the films made with Liv.

Director Dheeraj Akolkar
Bergman and Ullmann's life and work have long fascinated director Dheeraj Akolkar. He is currently working on documentary projects for National Geographic, BBC, and others. A native of India, Dheeraj works from his London-based company.

Director/Script: Dheeraj Akolkar 
Director of Photography: Hallvard Bræin
Producer: Rune H. Trondsen, NordicStories AS 2012
Distribution: SF International, Stockholm

Official Website

In Cinemas from September 28th 2012
Broadcasted on NRK December 12th 2013