Speech at Opening of Norwegian Film Festival

The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein once discussed the difference between Indian and European music. They agreed that we react to art in different ways. Even the red flower I see before me may not be the same to you and me, said Einstein.

Tagore added: And yet there is always reconciliation between them. The individual taste will conform to the universal standard.

This is the role of art: To provoke and to reconcile. To create contrast and to create clarity. To challenge and to comfort.

It is a great pleasure for me to join you here today at the Habitat Film Club. I am honoured to open the Norwegian Film Festival in India, a festival that also includes Norwegian films being shown in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Long before India becomes the most populated country in the world it has won the title as the country producing most films.

India is indeed a far bigger country than Norway – and we produce far less films than you do.

Yet - the movie is a medium that help bind us together. Indian films are shown world wide, also in my country. In Oslo, there are even frequent cinema festivals devoted to Indian films.

Today we are reciprocating. We are making available a few of the most popular Norwegian films made during recent years.

Over the past decade, several talented young Norwegian men and women have made their film debuts. At the same time, our older generation of film-makers has maintained a stable level of production. This has ensured both quality and innovation. It has resulted in expanding domestic and foreign audiences. Norwegian film-makers have won a number of international awards.

The cinema movie is a survivor.

Many predicted that television would strangle the cinema. They have been proven wrong.

Then many predicted that the video would sideline the cinema. They too failed in their prediction.

The cinema has a special magic. No private sitting room can recreate the feeling of the dark cinema hall.

To me, cinema movies serve as points of reference along my personal memory lane: memories of people I have met, of feelings I have held, of hopes and of dreams. The movie is a gateway to countries and cultures, to the lives of those living far away. The film creates an urge to learn more, to discover what was hidden on the other side of the mountains.

Norway is more than a mountain away from India. But the purpose of this film festival is to build a bridge that can stretch from the north to the south of the globe – a cultural bridge from Norway to India.

A bridge that can deepen what is already deep – the friendship between Norway and India.

A bridge that can stimulate those who already are stimulated – film-lovers from both of our countries.

I wish to thank all those, both in Norway and India, who have pooled their talents and worked so hard to bring about today’s event. I take pleasure in declaring the Norwegian Film Festival.

Let the show commence.