Ingvil Giske

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

The secret life of a young World of Warcraft gamer is vividly reimagined when his online friends contact his family after his death.

Punishment

A soul-searching portrait of four inmates in a Norwegian prison.

Ping Pong Family

At Schous Plass in Oslo a very diverse group of ping-pong players regularly meet to play and to hang out. Some of the players have liberal views on drugs. As the city government threatens to remove the tables, the community fights back.

Fighters

Restless teenager Mamo is heading for trouble with the wrong friends and difficulties at home when the somewhat older social worker Berat decides to help him avoid ending up in the same trouble he got into as a youngster. But some slates are hard to wipe clean, and Berat realises that even if his intentions are good, sometimes the past catches up with you. Everyone in ‘Fighters’ plays themselves in a hard-hitting story based on their own lives. It could have ended up as a well-meaning youth film for adults, but Jon Haukeland is an eminent character director who brings out a unique authenticity in his cast. ‘Fighters’ has been a massive success in Norwegian cinemas and shakes not only your notions of documentary and staging, but also any preconceptions you may have about young men like Mamo who, despite their obvious intelligence, risk ending up on the wrong side of the law. A celebration of friendship and adult role models.

Beneath the Surface

In 2014, following a tip-off, a group of journalists exposed a troubled history for indigenous Sámi women, men and children. It revealed generations of negligence, abuse and suffering, supported by a mass of evidence and previously unseen archival footage. As the case goes to court, the community remains defiant against a judicial system whose attitudes highlight fissures in the purported equal treatment of all citizens. The community’s battle aims to break a vicious cycle of racism and to achieve meaningful lasting change for future generations.

Hockey Dreams

As the host country for the 2018 Winter Olympics, South Korea’s national ice hockey team was automatically given a spot in the Olympic hockey tournament. The team would play at the highest level for the first time, facing the top countries in the sport. The skill gap between them and their opponents was huge, as South Korea had just 180 professional hockey players. Failure and defeat weren’t acceptable results, as losing face is considered the worst thing that could happen in Korean culture. But how to avoid humiliation, when defeat seems certain?

Kids Cup

Kids Cup is a character driven coming-of-age family film from the world´s largest sports tournament for kids. We dive into a teenage universe and follow 13-14 year olds from different parts of the world, competing at the football tournament, Norway Cup, in Oslo.

The Painter and the Thief

When two of artist Barbora Kysilkova’s most valuable paintings are stolen from a gallery at Frogner in Oslo, the police are able to find the thief after a few days, but the paintings are nowhere to be found. Barbora goes to the trial in hopes of finding clues, but instead she ends up asking the thief if she can paint a portrait of him. This will be the start of a very unusual friendship. Over three years, the cinematic documentary follows the incredible story of the artist looking for her stolen paintings, while at the same time turning the thief into art.

The Future of Iraq

One of six children today live in a war zone. This is a meeting with three of them, where they in simple terms describe their experiences of war and daily life. The film is set in Iraq, but could be set anywhere in the world.

PUNISHMENT

Four inmates on maximum security have chosen to enter a three-week Jesuit silent retreat in prison. They are guided by two priests. The film slowly observes this paradoxical situation, while looking beyond the question of religious belief: How does ethical exercises, rituals and communal silence affect us? The setting evolves into a prism for gauging a portrait of the existential landscape of the convicted.

The School by the Sea

Thovin and Tilde are firstgraders in a school that is now closing down. It hurts in Tilde's belly when she thinks about it, while Thorvin is wondering what will happen to the toy kitchen. The School By The Sea tackles the centralization issue as seen from the children's point of view.

Faith Can Move Mountains

Greek Orthodox nuns visit the small village of Valldal to have a majestic monastery built. The mayor is excited, but the villagers' opinions are different.

Meet the Censors

From a Kafkaesque office for social media in Germany and on to Sudan, and to conversations with an Iranian Ayatollah, an Indian film censor and critical journalists in China. The Norwegian Håvard Fossum has travelled the world to understand what censorship is, and how censors work, both in theory and in practice.

Transportation Dance

Martin Slaatto is a trained dancer and actor from London and Oslo, and works to promote dance in everyday life and make people more aware of their own movements.

To somre, èn vinter

A story of an incredible girl and her cancer battle. She was just 26 when she died. Diagnosis falls on her like a lightning from the sky just 7 weeks after she starts an exciting life in NYC. She is the precursor of the #sjekkdeg (checkyourself) campaign that has saved hundreds of women from cancer

Tongue Cutters

Hidden between a row of fishermen gutting fish, standing on a floor full of blood and intestines we find Tobias (10). In front of him is a big box filled with cod heads. With an almost frightening pace he slices and cuts the tongues off the heads, and puts them on a big nail. In the northern part of Norway Tobias and many other children work as cod tongue cutters. The tongues are considered a delicacy, and they are exported around the world to countries like China and Japan. But in Northern Norway they are simply everyday food when in season. The children start from the age of 6, and can earn a lot of money during a winter season. This job has always been reserved for the children, as long as the fishing industry has existed.

Eternal Hunting Grounds

With the distinctive technique of using multi-level glass tables, Norwegian animator Elin Grimstead has created a darkly mystical fairy tale. A girl and a boy seek to remove death from the world as they create their own funeral rites for the dead animals they find.

The Odelsrett

A series of interviews of people, whose lives, for better of for worse, has been shaped by the Norwegian inheritance law "Odelsrett".

The Accidental Rockstar

Helge was lured away from his studies at the teacher training college and drawn into the magical world of Kaizers Orchestra because he was the only one in class who could play the harmonium and accordion. He never dreamed of being a rock star, nor even really liked rock music - but he has lived the rock-n-roll life ever since.