Norwegian director win Grand Prix award at Cannes, Centre Party and Red Party team up to label ultra-processed foods, and other news from Norway on Monday.
Norwegian film director wins Grand Prix in Cannes
Joachim Trier has made Norwegian film history, winning the prestigious Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival for his latest feature, Affeksjonsverdi.
“This is overwhelming,” Trier said from the stage, after his film received a rare 19-minute standing ovation. It’s the first time a Norwegian film has won the award, which is second only to the Palme d’Or.
The family drama stars Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as sisters whose lives are upended by the reappearance of their father, played by Stellan Skarsgård. The film premieres in Norway on September 12.
The Palme d’Or was awarded to Iranian director Jafar Panahi for It Was Just An Accident, a thriller inspired by his time in prison.
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Political push to label ultra-processed foods
The Centre Party and Red Party have joined forces to demand clearer labelling on ultra-processed foods, ahead of a debate in parliament on Monday.
“We have to give consumers better information,” Rødt MP Geir Jørgensen said, arguing that this was both a public health and class issue.
The initiative is backed by nutrition biologist Marit Kolby, who has compared the food industry to the tobacco industry. “They’ll just have to adapt,” she said.
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Explosion in Oslo: two under suspicion
Two people are under suspicion after an explosion ripped through a flat in Kampen, Oslo, on Saturday evening, blowing out at least one window.
Police believe something was being produced in the apartment that later ignited. “It was powerful,” said Oslo police incident commander Steinar Bjerke.
The two suspects are being investigated for violating Norway’s fire and explosion protection laws. No one was injured, and neighbours who had evacuated were allowed back home later that evening.
Homes evacuated after landslide near stranded cargo ship
Police in Trøndelag evacuated four homes on Saturday afternoon after a landslide occurred near the grounded cargo ship NCL Salten in Trondheimsfjorden.
The slide, which police described as “ongoing,” is believed to have been triggered near salvage operations for the vessel. “We’re acting on advice from geotechnical experts,” incident commander Viggo Hansen told NRK. Several areas near the vessel have collapsed, with widths ranging from 10 to 50 metres.
The road has also been closed and members of the public removed from the area.
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Norway still weighing request to extradite terror suspect from Syria
Norwegian prosecutors are still considering whether to formally request the extradition of a woman held in a Syrian detention camp, who is suspected of involvement in the 2022 mass shooting in central Oslo.
The woman, a Norwegian national, is being held in the al-Roj camp in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria. She is suspected of contributing to a terrorist act and of membership in a terrorist organisation in connection with the attack on June 25th 2022, in which Zaniar Matapour shot and killed two men and injured nine others near the London Pub and Per på Hjørnet in Oslo’s nightlife district.
So far, no formal extradition request has been sent to Syrian authorities. But state prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø told the Klassekampen and Dagbladet newspapers that Norwegian authorities were talking to Norway’s foreign affairs ministry and other government bodies about doing so.
A key issue, he noted, is what would happen to the woman’s young son, who is also in the camp.
“One specific question is whether it would be possible to bring her son home at the same time, so that we do not take any action that leaves a minor child behind alone in the camp,” Henriksbø said.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the camp lies in territory that is not under the control of the Syrian government. However, a recent deal between Damascus and local Kurdish authorities could open a legal pathway for extradition.
The woman, who has previously appealed to Norway for assistance, now says she does not wish to be returned. She declined an interview with Dagbladet, but her lawyer, Petar Sekulic, confirmed her opposition to extradition.
She denies all charges.