For Immediate Release Source: Magnolia Pictures & American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation Contact: Nancy Knutson 715-638-2637
[email protected] HOME OF THE AMERICAN BIRKEBEINER TO HOST NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES’ ‘THE LAST KING’ (‘BIRKEBEINERNE’) American Birkebeiner is North America’s Largest Cross Country Ski Marathon Hayward, WI (February 8, 2016) - Magnolia Pictures, in collaboration with the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation, is pleased to announce the North American premiere of the extraordinary Norwegian feature film THE LAST KING. The event will mark the first time the film will be viewed publicly on North American soil. THE LAST KING is rooted in Norwegian history and tells the story of the very legacy upon which the American Birkebeiner ski marathon is based. In 1206, Norway was ravaged by civil war, and a boy, Prince Haakon Haakonsson, the illegitimate baby son of a Norwegian king, was guarded in secrecy. He was a boy that half the kingdom was out to kill and whom two brave Birkebeiner warriors, so called because of their birch bark leggings, vowed to protect with their very lives by skiing the infant prince over the Norwegian mountains to safety. THE LAST KING is the story of the escape which forever changed the history of Norway. “Once we learned of the American Birkebeiner ski marathon, we knew we wanted to share the film with this fiercely dedicated group of adventurous spirits,” said Neal Block, Magnolia Pictures Head of Distribution. “The American Birkebeiner is a true celebration of the courage, perseverance, character and determination of the warriors at the heart of THE LAST KING.” Each February an estimated 40,000 skiers and spectators gather in Cable and Hayward, Wisconsin to take part in North America’s largest and greatest ski race, the American Birkebeiner.