Thomas Hoegh is a Norwegian artist, investor and entrepreneur who oversees a portfolio of high-growth businesses in the creative sectors. Thomas directs films and theatre under the name

Torstein Blixfjord Torstein Blixfjord is a Norwegian artist who works with film, performance, poetry and photography. He began directing theatre in 1990 with a series of adaptations of plays by Strindberg and Ibsen, to whose work Blixfjord has often returned. Follo ...

. He was born in Oslo in 1966.

Career

Hoegh graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in communication in theatre. He was a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

fraternity. While at Northwestern, he was a co-chair of

The Waa-Mu Show The Waa-Mu Show; ; is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization within Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, that produces student written, orchestrated, produced, and performed original musical theatre work every year. The song lyrics, script, ...

in 1990 and 1991. Hoegh was the founder, co-owner and artistic director of Norwegian Performance Ltd, an Oslo-based production company specialising in multimedia performances, dance, events and concerts. Hoegh was the artistic director of “Folkefest,” a festival of peace to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and assistant artistic director for the opening and closing ceremonies for the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

in Lillehammer. Hoegh then received an MBA from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 1997 and founded his London-based company Arts Alliance, builders and backers of high-growth ventures in the creative and tech sectors. Hoegh was among Europe's earliest internet investors and has often been ahead of the curve with new and disruptive technologies. Among his earliest investments were

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

, an online community that used collaborative filtering to recommend music and other media, which sold to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

in 1998, and PlanetAll, among the first social networking sites on the internet (sold to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

in 1998). Arts Alliance has been involved in more than 60 start-ups including Shazam, Picturehouse,

Opera Software Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in European Union, Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that inclu ...

, PlanetAll,

Ocado Ocado Group plc ( ) is a British business based in Hatfield, England, which licenses grocery technology. It also owns a 50% share in the UK grocery retail business Ocado.com (the other 50% is owned by UK retailer Marks & Spencer). The company ...

LoveFilm LoveFilm was a United Kingdom–based provider of DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. Acquired by Amazon.com in 2011, the service had reached 2 million subscribers. It claimed o ...

, lastminute.com, Arts Alliance Media, Kiala, graze, Branient, blinkbox, Spoonshot AI,

made.com was a British e-commerce company based in London that designed and sold furniture and home accessories online. The company was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Ning Li and Brent Hoberman, together with Julien Callède and Chloe Macintosh ...

, CreativeLive, Spinner, Kenshoo,

Park Circus Park Circus is a neighbourhood of south Kolkata in West Bengal, India. Geography Police district Karaya police station is in the South-east division of Kolkata Police. Karaya Women Police Station, at the same address, has jurisdiction ov ...

, MetFilm/

Met Film School MetFilm School (MFS) is a private film school headquartered at Ealing Studios in London, United Kingdom. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as short courses in filmmaking, screenwriting, and related disciplines. The sch ...

Kebony Kebony is a Norwegian wood producer, which manufactures furfurylated wood. The company has its roots in Wood Polymer Technologies (WPT), which was founded in 1996 and changed its name to Kebony in 2007. Kebony has a factory in Skien (Norway) a ...

, and Garden Studios. Throughout their 25-year history, Arts Alliance have been central to a number of “firsts” in the digital and creative world. Thomas Hoegh founded Arts Alliance Media in 2003, a

digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to mo ...

company that in 2005 was responsible for the conversion of over 250 UK cinema screens from analog to digital as part of the

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

’s Digital Screen Network. Arts Alliance Media also rolled out the first ever

Virtual Print Fee Virtual Print Fee (VPF) is a subsidy paid by a film distributor towards the purchase of digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical ...

(VPF) in Europe with French cinema chain CGR in 2008. Art Alliance Media spun off separate companies in content mastering and live event cinema before being sold to Chinese cinema tech company Luxin-Rio in 2017. Arts Alliance bought DVDs On Tap and relaunched it as

in 2003. The re-imagined proposition became an early leader in online film rentals and streaming and was considered the “

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

of Europe.” LoveFilm sold the first-ever digital film online in 2006, before being acquired by

in 2011. Hoegh was also an early investor in Picturehouse which operates 25 cinemas across the UK and was the first major chain to convert all of its screens to digital projection. Picturehouse was acquired by

Cineworld Regal Cineworld Group (trading as Cineworld) is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,139 screens across 747 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czec ...

in 2012. Thomas Hoegh is a former board member of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Ventures, the

and the

Norwegian Film Institute The Norwegian Film Institute () was founded in 1955 to support and develop the Norwegian film industry. On 1 April 2008, it was merged with Norwegian Film Fund, Norwegian Film Development, and Norwegian Film Commission to form the "'new' Norweg ...

. He is a visiting professor at

Kanazawa Institute of Technology is an institution of higher learning in Nonoichi, Ishikawa, Nonoichi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often called KIT, or for short. It is known for its unique educational policy that attaches importance to initiative of students. One ...

and a trustee of the

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

Foundation. Today, Hoegh sits on the boards of Eco-Online, Met Film, Park Circus, Rift Valley Corporation, and Garden Studios.

Arts Alliance Productions

Alongside his entrepreneurial career, Hoegh has continued to direct and produce creative projects as part of Arts Alliance Productions. From traveling art installations and live performance art pieces, to theater and film, Thomas Hoegh has directed 20 productions (some of which under is creative pseudonym Torstein Blixfjord). Multi-screen film art installation project id - Identity of the Soul (2009) combined poetry by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

and

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet. In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...

with film shot in Japan, Norway, Egypt, and the UK. Narrated in six languages by internationally renowned performers (

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress. In her career spanning over six decades, she has garnered List of awards and nominations received by Vanessa Redgrave, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony A ...

Jean Rochefort Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort (; 29 April 1930 – 9 October 2017) was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999. Life and career Rochefort was born on 29 April 1930 in Paris, France, to ...

, Irfan Khan, Jan Wiig,

Anne Grete Preus Anne Grete Preus (22 May 1957 – 25 August 2019) was a Norwegian rock singer in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s, first as member of the bands Veslefrikk and Can Can and later as a solo act. She released nine solo albums and won the Spellemannprise ...

Gila Almagor Gila Almagor Agmon (; born Gila Alexandrowitz; July 22, 1939) is an Israeli actress, film star, and author. In Israel, she is known as "queen of the Israeli cinema and theatre". Biography Gila Alexandrowitz (Almagor) was born in Petah Tikva to Je ...

) this production explored the impact of personal choices on the human spirit while emphasizing our shared humanity. id - Identity of the Soul toured across Palestine, Qatar, Norway, Jordan, Ajman and premiered in the Uk at the

Cambridge Film Festival The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. Historically, the festival took place in early July, but now it occurs annually during autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge ...

before touring UK cinemas. Arts Alliance has also produced and distributed numerous feature films, documentaries and live cinema events such as

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

’s

Newsies ''Newsies'' is a 1992 American historical musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by choreographer Kenny Ortega (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White, it is loosely based on the ...

: The Broadway Musical! (2017), One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film (2014), Revolution: New Art for a New World (2016), Springsteen & I (2013),

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

Live. Most recently, Arts Alliance's Misha and the Wolves (2021) premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Career

Arts Alliance Productions

References

External links