Production has begun on Elling – Echo of a Friend, the fourth feature film based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen’s novels. Per Christian Ellefsen and Sven Nordin return as Elling and Kjell Bjarne, directed by Daniel Fahre from a screenplay by Melike Leblebicioğlu Kaveh. The film is produced by Fenomen and 4 ½, distributed by SF Studios, with a planned premiere in cinemas in fall 2027.
The story picks up with Elling many years after the previous films. After a long stay in an institution, he returns to Oslo to manage everyday life on his own. Much has changed since audiences last saw him: smartphones, social media and new social codes are now part of daily life, and Elling has to navigate a world he doesn’t always understand.
The film combines the humor and warmth of the original Elling films with themes of loneliness, mental health, social exclusion, and the need for community. The first Elling film, released in 1993, sold close to 770,000 cinema tickets and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
Daniel Fahre comments: “My first encounter with the Elling universe was the film from 2001 – it hit me hard, and it’s still one of my favorite films. I can still recite most of the lines by heart, and as a film nerd I even had a picture of Elling hanging on my bedroom wall growing up. I’m simply a huge fan.”
Per Christian Ellefsen adds: At last, Elling gets to live on in a fourth and final film. Ever since Love Me Tomorrow (Elsk meg i morgen) hit cinemas in 2005, I’ve regularly been asked whether there would be more Elling films – and now the answer is finally a resounding YES! Expectations are sky-high, but I’m both excited and nervous, and above all deeply grateful to be part of this final chapter of the Elling story.”
Elling – Echo of a Friend is produced by Fenomen and 4 ½, with SF Studios as distributor. Filming is taking place in studio and on location in and around the Drammen area during late summer 2026, ahead of a planned cinema release in Norway in fall 2027.
Reinvent Yellow is the international sales agent.
Read the full press release from SF Studios here