Utøya: July 22

On Utøya island a political youth camp becomes a perilous ordeal when gunfire erupts during the afternoon. A teenage girl finds herself cut off from the world around her, racing through crowded cabins, halls, and pine forests as danger closes in. Her foremost task is to stay alive, yet she also clings to the hope of locating her younger sister amid the chaos. The narrative follows her through a maze of people, notices, and risky choices as she moves from one improvised shelter to another, dodging shots, parsing sounds, and weighing whom to trust. The film captures the raw tension of each moment, turning a public tragedy into a profoundly personal test of survival and maternal instinct.

Directed by Erik Poppe, Utøya: July 22 reimagines the 2011 Utøya attacks through the lens of a young survivor. An international Norwegian production with a 22 million dollar budget, the film was released in 2018 and emphasizes realism.

Critics have noted the film for its unflinching focus on a single moment of crisis and the emotional weight carried by a teenage protagonist. The story probes resilience, responsibility, and the ways ordinary people confront unthinkable violence and make ethical choices under pressure, without sensationalism or cheap thrills, and the performances ground the drama in human detail.

The film sparked discussion about how cinema represents real life trauma and the responsibility to honor survivors' experiences. It prompted conversations on memory, collective grief, and the line between documentary realism and cinematic storytelling in the wake of national tragedy, influencing debates on how such events should be depicted.

Awards: No major international awards are listed. The film did draw attention within Norwegian circles for its performances and direction, and its handling of a sensitive national incident sparked discussion about how cinema can reflect collective memory without sensationalism.