Dear Ambassador, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, friends of the cinema!

I am very pleased that the Ambassador of the United States has gathered us here tonight, on the occasion of the first screening of "Cool and Crazy on the Roads" ("Heftig og begeistret – på sangens vinger").

"Cool and Crazy" was a success with the audience. We have just watched "Cool and Crazy on the Roads", and I am sure this film will be a success as well.

The adventures of the Berlevåg male choir travelling from the northern coast of Norway to the east coast of America is what brings us together tonight.

The choir brigade meets the fire brigade.

It is a touching moment when the proud singing fishermen from Berlevåg cross into the dark shadows of September 11 ^th> and visit Ground Zero in Manhattan. With their traditional Norwegian hymns they pay tribute to those who died and those who fought to save others.

I also feel proud on this occasion, because we are in the embassy of the country that is "the Land of the Film". During the last year Norwegians have entered into this magical kingdom. We have just seen Elling making his way up the red carpet to the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood.

If the United States is indeed the "Land of the Film", then, Mr. Ambassador, I must be allowed to call Norway "the Home of the Brave". It does require some boldness to live in this long-stretched piece of rock that is our homeland. Norway does not have only ONE Berlevåg, it has many, up and down the coast, and into the farthest fjords. As Minister of Culture I find it important to protect and preserve this diversity in our culture.

Mr Ambassador, I would like to thank you for having brought us together tonight in yet another display of the many ties – cultural or otherwise – that stretch between our two nations.

Finally I would like to say a few words in Norwegian to the choir, the leading roles tonight:

Jeg er full av beundring for dere i Berlevåg Mannsangforening som har gjennomført en heftig turné, sunget og gitt av dere selv for at denne filmen skulle bli en realitet. En spesiell takk til dere for den innsats dere har gjort i filmen.

Til slutt en takk til Knut Erik Jensen og Barentsfilm som for andre gang har laget en nær og varm film om koret fra Berlevåg. Jeg lurer på hvor turen går neste gang?