BBC to shoot documentary on Utoeya terror incident

Teams from the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery Channel have arrived in Norway to start the production of documentaries about the terror attacks that took place in Oslo and at Utøya on July 22nd last year. "This is one of the hardest things I have ever done," BBC photographer Edward Watts tells media. Watts and producer Anne Leer have already been in Norway for three weeks to work on a documentary about the terror attacks at Utøya.

The images and stories from Oslo and Utøya went around the world after July 22nd. Six months later, the interest is still very high. BBC’s documentary focuses on the big picture, and aims to create a fact-based program that explains what really happened.

This is a classic BBC documentary, and the quality of the production is very high, Leer explains. "Our goal is for this story to be told through the people who actually experienced the tragedy, and who were right in it during the days that followed."

Leer also covered the terror attacks when they happened, as BBC’s correspondent in Norway. Because of her Norwegian upbringing and language skills it made sense that she took charge of the British TV station’s coverage in Oslo.

However, not all the producers have the same background as Leer. Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Labour Party’s youth organization is curious to know whether any of the foreign production companies actually understand what Utøya is.

"Even here in Norway there are many people that don’t know what it means," he says. Abroad there are even more people that don’t know why we gather at Utøya every summer, and what it has meant for Norwegian politics, he explains.

There is also a Norwegian production in the works. Til Ungdommen ("To the youth") is a film about four teenagers that are active in four different political parties. The production team has followed them for a year, both before and after the attacks at Utøya.

"This is not a project that started because of July 22," says producer Kari Anne Moe. "It is a project that was started because Norwegian youth deserve a film about youth that care about the world."

"Til Ungdommen" premieres in theatres on August 31. BBC’s documentary will air just before the trial against Anders Behring Breivik begins in April, and will most likely also send the program in Norway around the same time.