Politicians waking up to film industry potential

Faroese crime TV drama TROM has been receiving great attention from abroad ahead of its premiere on 13 February.

This attention is starting to resonate with politicians, who are now calling for increased political support for the Faroese film industry.

“This is a golden opportunity to put the Faroes on the international map. We need to strike while the iron is hot,” says Johan Dahl, MP for Sambandsflokkurin.

“The tourism industry has given the Faroes a great deal of publicity internationally, and it’s clear to me that the film industry could also go a long way in this respect.”

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There were doubts about whether TROM would be shot in the Faroes as Faroese tax rebates for filmmakers, the so-called production incentives, were too low.

TROM producers said that unless DKK 4 million was granted for the project, shooting would most likely take place in Iceland.

But the Faroese government came up with a last-minute grant to allow for filming in the Faroes.

Exciting industry with great potential

“We should learn from this ad-hoc solution we came up with for TROM,” says Dahl.

“We need a proper political framework for film production in our country because it is clear that this is an exciting industry which can create lots of activity and a variety of new and exciting job opportunities.”

Bjørt Samuelsen, MP for Tjóveldi, agrees.

”TROM is a prime example of how far the Faroese film industry can get with the right type of support,” she says.

“The TROM project has lots of foreign investors. There’s nothing wrong with that, but with the right political support and a proper framework, we could be seeing 100-percent Faroese film productions in the future.”

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She says that Faroese politicians are increasingly starting to realise the potential of the blossoming Faroese film industry.

“It is now up to us politicians to create a proper breeding ground for Faroese filmmakers. They have the talent; now we need to support them.”

She estimates that an annual appropriation of DKK 10-20 million could go a long way toward making the Faroese film industry competitive internationally.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.