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SFFILM Festival

Pioneer

Directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg

Norway/Germany/Sweden/France/Finland | 106

3 May
Sat, May 3, 2014 at 3:30 pm PT

Description

With a nod to politically tinged whistleblower dramas such as Silkwood and The Parallax View, Erik Skjoldbjaerg’s new thriller depicts the competitive maelstrom surrounding the need to construct an underwater oil pipeline off the coast of Norway. It’s the early ‘80s and black gold is being mined in the North Sea; getting it to shore will mean millions for whatever country is able to achieve the task. Enter a group of deep-sea divers hired by an international alliance to test the feasibility of working so far under the surface. When one of the first tests goes terribly wrong and some of the blame is put on a Norwegian diver named Petter (Scandinavian superstar Aksel Hennie), he sets out to clear his name. Going up against powerful business and government entities from the U.S. and Norway, he attempts to uncover how the accident really happened. Loosely based on real events, Pioneer offers the best kind of old-school suspense as bad guys pursue Petter from every side and on every roadway, trying to keep him from exposing the cover-up. As the wronged man on the run, Hennie gives an impressively physical performance and there are moments when his predicament will leave viewers gasping for air. –Rod Armstrong

Director Erik Skjoldbjaerg

Erik Skjoldbjaerg was born in Norway and attended film school in London. His first feature was the highly regarded Insomnia (1997), and he followed that up with the literary adaptation Prozac Nation (2001) starring Christina Ricci. He’s also worked for Norwegian television on the series Skolen (2004) and Størst av alt (2007). While Insomnia took place in wide-open spaces above the Arctic Circle, Pioneer finds him using claustrophobic, underwater environments to great effect.

Film Details

Language Norwegian, English

Original Language Title Pionér

Year 2013

Runtime 106

Country Norway/Germany/Sweden/France/Finland

Director Erik Skjoldbjaerg

Producer Christian Fredrik Martin

Writer Nikolaj Frobenius, Hans Gunnarsson, Cathinka Nicolaysen, Erik Skjoldbjærg, Kathrine Valen Zeiner

Editor Frida Eggum Michaelson

Cinematographer Jallo Faber

Music Air

Cast Wes Bentley, Stephen Lang, Aksel Hennie, Jonathan LaPaglia