Erik Poppe

Erik Poppe (born 24 June 1960) is a Norwegian film director, screenwriter and former cinematographer.

Poppe is regarded as one of Europe’s most experienced and compelling directors recognized for his work with actors and impeccably well crafted multi-pronged narratives. His movies are often built around strong ensemble casts, sharp writing, impressive camera work and an uncanny knack for rhythm and music in the editing. During the last decade Poppe has become one of the most frequently awarded film directors from Scandinavia.

Erik Poppe grew up in Portugal and Norway. He started his career as a photographer for the newspaper Verdens Gang and Reuters, covering domestic news as well as international conflicts. He was awarded by the Norwegian press association and World Press Photo during 1980’s. Being hospitalized after an assignment in Colombia he decided to prepare leaving journalism and study filmmaking.

He graduated as a cinematographer at DI – University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden in 1991. He have conducted several artistic and directorial research programs between 2001 and 2010. In 2015 Poppe concluded a PhD as a research fellow at the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme and as an Associated Professor at HIL, Lillehammer University College/The Norwegian Film School. “The Subjective Objective” is an exploration on how to achieve increased emotionally outcome by the use of a highly personalized and strictly subjectively point of view in conscious narrative film. Is it possible to achieve a stronger identification, empathy and a greater involvement for the spectator by applying a strict enforcement of the subjective point of view? -A point of view who never allows the filmmaker to show for the spectator more than the film’s protagonist are seeing or experiencing at any time. The project developed various measures for an increased empathy with the narrative’s protagonist and discuss further elements to be considered for a stronger subjectivity. The key artistic work made as part of the research was the feature movie A Thousand Times Good Night, a dramatization of his experiences as a conflict photographer in DRC Congo and Afghanistan.

Erik Poppe worked as Director of Photography on several features, as well as EGGS (1995) by Bent Hamer. He was awarded with the Kodak Award at the Moscow International Film Festival and won the Cinematographer of the year award in Norway. At the same time he announced his end of work as Director of Photography.

TROUBLED WATER (2008, aka: deUSYNLIGE) is the third part of his multi-awarded Oslo Trilogy, after his directorial debut with SCHPAAA (1998, aka Bunch Of Five) and HAWAII-OSLO (2004). Working on the research for Schpaaa; a terrifying look at multi-racial youth gangs in Norway and shot in the style of a documentary, he discovered realities he wanted to adapt into two more movies. Hawaii-Oslo tells a story about a number of people whose fates intertwine, sometimes by accident, during the hottest day of the year in downtown Oslo. Troubled Water is a story about a young man released from prison after serving a sentence for an alleged murder of a child. All of the movies are shoot in the area of Groenland and Grunerloekka in downtown Oslo. “The place where we live so close to each other, and know so little about each other.”

1000 TIMES GOOD NIGHT (2013, aka: A Thousand Times Good Night, Tusen Ganger God Natt) was Poppe’s first English-language movie. The film is partly an autobiographical story based on Poppe experiences as a conflict photographer. Poppe switched the lead roles around making the french actress Juliette Binoche as his his proxy, and King of Throne’s Nikolaj Coster-Waldau playing the character based on Poppe’s wife. A standing ovation greeted Montreal’s world premiere of the film, which went on to earn the jury’s Special Grand Prix.

THE KING’S CHOICE (2016) is based on the true the story about the three dramatic days in April of 1940, when the King of Norway is presented with the monstrous ultimatum from the Germans: surrender or die. With German Air Force and soldiers hunting them down, the royal family is forced to flee from the capital. After three days of desperately trying to evade the Germans, King Haakon makes his final decision, one that may cost him, his family and many Norwegians their lives. The film made records when it opened in Norway by late September 2016 and became the #1 box office hit of the year. The film was Norway’s official entry in the best foreign language film category for the 2017 Oscars and received being short listed.

Per Fugelli (1943-2017) was a Norwegian doctor, a professor of social medicine and a forceful voice in the public sphere. Fugelli spent his life addressing questions of freedom and respect, campaigning for rights of the less fortunate.

Fugelli was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. In 2015 he said no to further treatment and allowed his close friend, director Erik Poppe to follow him as far as possible on this journey. The result is I DIE (Siste resept) a film about life and how to live it to the very end.

In June 2017 it was announced that Erik Poppe had worked for a year on developing a feature film about the 2011 terrorist attack on Utøya outside Oslo, Norway. The film, entitled U, begins 12 minutes before the first shot on Utøya as we meet Kaja (18), her little sister, and their friends at summer camp. When the shooting begins panic spreads, and over the next 72 minutes we follow Kaja in her escape – minute by minute. She becomes separated from her little sister, and in the search for her she finds other youngsters with different strategies for survival. Some make it, others do not. U July 22 (Utøya 22.juli) is a fictional account of events which will tell the story from the young people’s perspective, based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with survivors from Utøya. Some of them was on set behind the camera while filming took place in September 2017 to help give the narrative credibility. The film was Berlin’s most confrontational and controversial offering during the International Film Festival in Berlin. Filmed in a single continuous take, the narrative is filtered through the real-time experience of one young woman, played vividly by newcomer Andrea Berntzen. It follows her over two hours, as she tries to survive amid the chaos and terror. The film was a runner up for the Golden Bear in the categories for best film, best female actress and best direction.

Poppe is probably the only director in Norway who have showed the ability to hit both the critics as well as the audience, taking high admissions in domestic release. His Oslo Trilogy as well as A Thousand Times Good Night and The Kings Choice has been sold to territories worldwide.

Erik Poppe was also the key director for “Brigaden” (The Brigade) in 2002. A 26 episodes TV-drama for NRK (The Norwegian Broadcating Corp.). Brigaden received the Norwegian “Amanda” Price for the Best TV-drama in 2003.

Erik Poppe is the only director to have received the Norwegian National Film Critics’ Award three times. Hawaii, Oslo in 2005, Troubled Water in 2009 and for A Thousand Times Good Nigh in 2014 – all movies were also voted as last year’s Best Feature. When he received the price for best film in 2014 at The Amanda, he became historical by being the only director to have been nominated for all his movies (five movies) in the categories best film or/ and best director at the Norwegian national award The Amanda (the Norwegian Oscar).

Poppe has participated in key festivals, and received prizes such as the Berlinale -Panorama (Schpaaa), The Vesuvio Prize at Napoli International Film Festival, Norwegian entries for best foreign language movie at Oscars, Festroia in Portugal for Best Directing, Silver Dolphin in Festroia, Nordic Ministerie Councils Award for The Best Nordic Feature, ecumenical awards and several other prizes. Troubled Water made history at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2008 by being the first feature ever to win both the festival’s Golden Starfish for Best Narrative Feature and the Audience Award. In October 2016 Poppe received the Special Golden Angel, a life time achievement award for his work as Outstanding European Film Artist at the international Film Festival TOFIFEST in Poland.

Erik Poppe is co-owner of Paradox Film and the Paradox Group. A series of companies producing features.

On his career as a photojournalist: “All the actions I undertook back then were driven by the urge to draw attention to the horrors of war. I wanted for my pictures to grab you by the throat, when eating breakfast on a Saturday morning.”

On working with feature movies: “You need to be honest, because this way your audience will be able to identify with the topic and the hero. My role, as an artist, is to prepare a text with open questions and hide the fact that I have an answer key. Questions will provoke audience to discuss the film and seek new perspectives. The film is supposed to make a difference, and maybe offer a therapeutic effect.”