Discoveries from Norway World Cinema

A reclusive nun is tempted to leave the monastery. Her dream is to become a curvy, voluptuous woman; to become how she really feels inside. With cautious steps, she ventures towards the sinful city.

MindMaze is a psychological thriller where Lucy, secretly running a dark web drug business, spirals into paranoia after taking LSD on a hiking trip with her friends. As reality blurs, she faces dangerous choices to survive.

Sisilie is about to become the new captain of the fishing boat she has inherited from her father, whose eyes stare at her from a tattoo on her forearm. As she navigates her relationship with her dad, will Sisilie manage to find her own feet as a fisherwoman? Set in the rugged Lofoten Islands, this is a subtle and strikingly visual story of passing the baton.

"Velkommen hjem, Anders" is the story of how much adversity a former criminal drug addict can experience when he returns to his home village.

The story of Tell Teigen from Høyanger in Sogn og Fjordane, which in the 1950s became world famous for his daring aerial acrobatics. Tell Teigen died in a 1958 accident.

After her mother dies an isolated woman falls for their tenant. Based on a story by Odd Eidem.

Ola visits the big city and needs to learn how to navigate the traffic.

For 90 minutes, Are Sende Olsen will tell us a story spanning 1,200 years of intrigue, sex scandals, great battles, and fratricide, using his unique and humorous way of telling us about Norway's 67 kings.

Johan’s life gets flipped upside one day when he is filled with guilt after accidentaly hitting someone with his car.

John is an ex-professional cyclist and as a sports celebrity he is Norway's most high-profile motivator. With his anecdotes and technical expressions from top sport, he is very successful as a speaker in the financial industry. But John is about to discover how hard it is to be "the best version of himself" every second of the day. One day, his teenage daughter launches a new, extreme goal, and John is put to his greatest test yet as a father and motivator.

Based on The Bechdel test, Hilde and Kari will have a conversation where they will not talk about a man. Which is not so easy when it is the film students Even, Anders and Ole who control the conversation. Things take a different turn when Hilde and Kari get to say their opinion about it all.

A cinematic study following the director’s development of a visual language. Only with the use of light, music and sound, we explore – frame by frame – the creative establishment of content and form for the future feature film ‘Å Øve’ (to practice).

It's summer and the rain is pouring down. Mathilde feeling bored, wishing it was winter and snow. Then she could go on winter holiday right away. Mathildes imaginary friends Morningbird and Murmelton are small enough to go on winter holiday in the freezer and an big adventure awaits them all.

Over centuries, lay songs have had a central place in Norwegian culture. This film is about a small community, high up in the mountains near Hardangervidda, where this musical tradition is understood and continued to this day.

A year in the life of the Sami boy Ante. He is the son of a reindeer herder, and he dreams of taking over from his father. He loves life on the Arctic tundra, but when fall comes he has to start boarding school, while the family follows the reindeer on winter pastures. He struggles to adapt at school, but gradually he gets to know Per, who becomes his best friend. Together they plan the future. When the family has to make a difficult choice, Ante feels betrayed and disappointed. But Ante does not give up on his dream of a life on the tundra.

Control is about the emotions we really want to keep for ourselves.

Residents of the fishing villages of Senjahopen and Mefjordvær are going on a tax strike because they are not getting the road connection they were promised

"The Dry Valley" portrays a Romanian village and its inhabitants. For Valea Seaca People Scandinavia became their second home. Most of them travel regularly to Europe to earn money and support their families, often as beggars or unskilled laborers. In order to find the traces of the journey to Scandinavia, two Norwegian filmmakers start to explore the village. A surprising and poetic depiction of the effects of migration on those who leave and are left behind.

Two friends spy on a neighbor.

A video retailer waiting in solitude for his last customer. Outside an angel is looking for his wing.

Sodomas Voktere (2020) Norwegian skate film, made during the first season of Covid. Filmed between March and September 2020, mostly in our native Oslo area, but also in Moss, Horten, Gjøvik, Valdres, Fagernes and the random places in between. Edited the following winter. Featuring a bunch of weird and awesome characters in the Oslo skateboarding scene. "Sodomas Voktere" roughly translates to the guardians or gatekeepers of Sodom and the reasons will not be further explained. Get your skateboard and go figure.

The former contestants wake up on an airplane, without any recollection of how they got there. They arrive at a beach house in Spain where new and old faces await them

A middle-aged couple is tenting in the forest. Bjørn seems more used to the setting than Lars, but they are both influenced by the nature surrounding them.

An intuitive documentary montage about how we in different ways can observe, perceive, interpret and understand. Whether it’s outer space, killer whales, or each other. A salute to everything we don’t know, everything we don’t know that we don’t know, and to curiosity.

What kind of garden unfurls at the world’s northernmost settlement, sitting 78 degrees north and seeing temperatures drop below -27ºC? How can plants survive the long winter when the sea, land and sky are covered with heavy snow and the sun has not risen for months? A garden in the Arctic – is it an unobtainable dream or a worthwhile pursuit? By observing, meditating and imagining, ‘Arctic Garden’ journeys through a world where ‘one shade melts into the other’ and seeks a utopian garden where ‘they are all there’: a place where there are no boundaries of space and time (Fridtjof Nansen, Farthest North, 1897).

While his neighbors, friends and family all prepare for an emission-free Constitution Day celebration, Gunnar struggles to cope with life in the materialistic suburbs of Norway. A satirical slice of Norway’s new-wealth middle class and their unspoken rules for achieving the perfect life.

A documentary about three people with different variations of dementia, and how their lives are affected by the decease.

A challenging and innovative hybrid film about prejudice and uncomfortable truths.

Filmmaker Asgeir Helgestad documents the state of nature at his home country Norway, where he has photographed all his life. From the lives of bees at his farm, to wild reindeer on the high mountains, and puffins at the ocean's edge, he shows the beauty of threatened nature and tracks down human actions responsible for its decline. This is a personal story on our connection with the non-human world, the relations between the small and the big, and a reminder of nature's strength and vulnerability.

Three young men in the 25-year old yacht, Berserk goes to the Antarctic. The captain is Jarle Andhøy from Norway and the crew is David Meisel from the USA and Manuel Fernandez from Argentina, neither of whom have sailed before.

A sly fraudster sneaks into a call center to scam unsuspecting callers.

A lesbian couple’s lunch break does not go as planned when they engage in a discussion about how they can renovate their cabin bathroom. They suddenly find themselves in a heated argument which leads to a series of misunderstandings

This is the film about father of King Harald. He came from Denmark as young and became Prince of Norway. And like all Norwegians he had to learn to ski...

Erling Braut Haaland and Ole Gunnar Solskjær as you have never seen them before. In a rare meeting, Norway’s two biggest football stars sit down together – and offer a unique insight into the details that have shaped them.

Mbambu is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda. She is also an actress, an aspiring mountain guide and hopes to be the first in her family to complete secondary school. These are significant ambitions for anyone; in Uganda, they are nearly unheard of for a young girl. If Mbambu becomes a guide in the Rwenzoris - an impressive accomplishment in its own right because the mountains reach to nearly 17,000 feet - she would break all sorts of cultural and societal barriers for women in West Uganda. As this film tells the story of a hopeful Bakonzo girl, it also examines a culture transitioning from harmful poaching practices into more sustainable livelihoods.

Ina is a 17-year-old with a strong focus on body ideals and social status. Her little sister Marte, on the other hand, is more interested in playing and excitement. During a day at a water park with her little sister, Ina is forced to reconsider which values are most important to her.

Two parents and two children go out for a Sunday walk.

A Norwegian splatter amateur film.

Stop motion animation by Andres Mäd. Selected for the 100 year of Norwegian animated film collection

What happened when the Norwegian war hero and Kon-Tiki expedition participant died close to a top-secret Canadian military base during the cold war? The Filmmaker has for 25 years been hunting the truth about his childhood hero.

In Florida, Pride is not just a celebration, but a fight for the children and their lives. The "trans issue" is rising in the West, with the US leading. The past year has seen more restrictive bills towards transgender people than ever before. Gender-affirming care is especially affected. Jasper and Scott are brothers but were born as sisters. A week before Jasper started his hormone replacement therapy, the state banned the process for kids and teens. Now he seeks a sense of community with others like him. Meanwhile, the drag community is still picking up the pieces from their battle. Last year the state tried to classify every drag show as "adult entertainment", practically banning the artform. Drag performers all over the state protested. The battle against drag was just the beginning of the growing culture war, all meant to protect children.

A married couple is confronted by their respective scruples as they face the biggest decision of their lives.

A young girl becomes pregnant. She decides to get an abortion, and the viewers gets to observe her until the application for abortion is being processed.

In 2006, the American aluminium company ALCOA decides to build their plant in Greenland. The massive billion dollars’ project is the opportunity for Greenland to become financially independent from Denmark. The film zooms in on the isolated fishing town Maniitsoq as the years pass and the local inhabitants are put on hold – waiting for the American Dream.

A lonely American stuck in a small Norwegian town is lured in by the characters of a friendly sitcom with increasingly sinister intentions.

Documents the creation of The International Tussler Society's album recording at a small farm.

Reminiscing

The winning entry in a state-sponsored competition to create the best promotional film for Oslo. // Oslofilm was a series of public information films about life in and around Oslo, produced between 1940 and 1980. Funded by the state, the films offer valuable insight into postwar Norwegian society. A wide range of Norwegian filmmakers contributed to the productions, resulting in a rich variety of styles and expressions. Several of the films also possess notable cinematic qualities, standing out as more than just informational material. The Oslofilms represent a unique and important chapter in Norwegian film history.

When Monica was born, her parents thought she was a boy, and called her Morten. Now she has had a cosmetically and gender changing operations. This is all shown on camera in this documentary.

The smoking corner at school. Here some teachers stand and smoke, some come, some leave, the days go by. Some words are said, but mostly they stand there and smoke. And out of this we get the story of the old man, the couple in love, the hopeful man and the relationship between them.

Small Dogs Bark Loud is a creative documentary about 12-year-old Tuni who has a special bond with her dog, Salto. In September 2021, Tuni's half-brother took his own life, and her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Because of the difficult circumstances, Tuni finds it challenging to talk about her feelings. Shortly after her brother passed, she got a dog named Salto. It didn't take long before Salto became her best friend - she even let him sleep in her bed. Tuni understands that time is precious, so she creates a bucket list of things she wants to accomplish. She wants to dance in the rain, sell pearls with friends, and teach Salto not to bark so they can go on vacation. At the bottom of the list is something that requires extra courage - visiting her older brother Håkon's grave.

A stressed-out family of three is trying to get time to make a perfect Christmas preparation.

A series of scenes mis-heard between the town and its surrounding landscape unfold, creating an odd dialogue that drifts between the two.

A self-reflexive meta-documentary. Filmmaker Ane-Martha Tamnes Hansgard was diagnosed with multiple mental disorders over fifteen years and was prescribed a staggering number of psychotropic medications.

Expedition is to be experienced as a journey on several levels. A purely visual and musical voyage through the challenges between two people – or the contrasts within each and everyone of us. The abstract artistic expression of both sound and picture has an ambiguity which allows for individual interpretations and experiences. The film consists of directly animated drawings and sequences joined in a “chain of mixes”. It is a visual poem where Sidsel Endresens’s music plays key role. Sidsel Endresen is one of Norway’s most prominent jazz performers and composers. She also makes music for dance, theater and film.

Summer break is here and it is time for the annual trip to the island. Everything is perfect, the party is starting and Ida is feeling great. Mixed feelings, looks, and innocent flirt lead to big misunderstandings with huge consequences. The group of friends are put to the test. They are forced to take sides. Who is telling the truth? Where is the limit drawn? And not least, what happened?