Pål Gengenbach

Adapted from a series of short stories by Norwegian author Levi Henriksen, Bent Hamers Home for Christmas weaves together the lives of people struggling to find their way home on a Christmas Eve, beneath the colors of the Northern Lights. The plot unfolds during a few afternoon hours on Christmas Eve. The individual stories, which at times intertwine, are set in the small town Skogli. The characters in the stories cover a great range in age and life situations, representing both reconciliation with their own lives and strong frustration. Some show the will to understand and do something about their lives, while others have given up. Deeply tragic and melancholy aspects are mixed with humour and rather frivolous solutions.

At the psychiatric clinic Varden the attendants are mad and the inmates are sane.

Одд Хортен водил поезд по расписанию и одному и тому же маршруту каждый день так долго, что остальная его жизнь тоже стала регламентированной и упорядоченной. Но для 67-летнего машиниста пришло время выйти на пенсию. Свой последний рейс Хортен впервые в жизни пропускает по воле случая, и поезд уходит без него. С этого момента в жизни Одда начинают происходить необычные вещи, а ему самому приходится наверстывать упущенное и отвечать на простые, на первый взгляд, но сложные для него вопросы: Будет ли Хортен летать на самолете? Продаст ли он свой любимый катер? Почему он разгуливает по городу в паре красных женских сапожек на высоких каблуках? Переживет ли он поездку на автомобиле, если у водителя завязаны глаза? Очевидно только одно: Хортен стоит первым в очереди на абсурдные приключения и необычные встречи. А может быть, и на новую собаку и старую любовь!

5 directors were invited to direct their own short film - a horror story. The idea was to let the directors tell their own worst nightmare. 5 short films were produced and edited together as one movie for the cinema with the duration of 33 minutes. An unusual cinema project, but then again, more exciting!

Karsten (35) is at a standstill. He has been since his wife died four years ago. He thinks he's fine, until he meets what could be the love of his life - but isn't she all what he despises in a woman?

A drama focused on Norwegian society in the 1970s, an era politically influenced by Marxism and Leninism.

A man wakes on the ceiling of his bedroom and breaks a lamp to alert his wife to his predicament. She puts on her heavy boots, unstraps herself out of her bed and uses a hook on a pole to drag him back down. The next day he goes to his job where he works as a deodorant tester, sniffing the armpits of exercising test subjects. On this day though, he faces an event that will change his life forever.

Molly visits her grandparents.

Генри Чинаски — азартный завсегдатай скачек и страстный любовник Джейн и Лауры, охочих до выпивки также как и он сам. Он живет для того, чтобы разглядывать жизнь в мельчайших деталях и описывать ее в прозе и стихах. Он работает на фабриках и складах, чтобы жить так, как ему нравится, т. е. пить, играть на скачках и общаться с женщинами, такими же неприкаянными, как и он сам, а главное — писать рассказы, которые никто не хочет печатать. Это история человека, живущего на краю, история писателя-маргинала, который готов рисковать чем угодно, чтобы доказать, что его жизнь и его поэзия — это одно и то же.

Elling has lived with his mother all his life. Mom is the practical one, while Elling ponders the more theoretical aspects of life. He spends his time in their apartment reading books and looking at the neighbours through the living room window. Elling doesn't seem to need to be around others like most people. That's why Elling is less than enthusiastic when his mother suddenly decides to take her son on a beach vacation to Spain. Reluctantly, Elling agrees. After all, a lady at her age needs a good man by her side. But what Elling refuses to realize is that Mom is not only old, but also sick. Very sick. On her last vacation she tries to get Elling to see that life is bigger than their living room.

В послевоенный период эксперты по дому и домашнему хозяйству обнаружили, что одна лишь правильная организация рабочего места на кухне с использованием принципов заводского конвейера может принести огромные финансовые выгоды домашнему хозяйству. Или, как было сформулировано в шведской рекламе новой идеальной кухни: вместо того, чтобы пройти расстояние от Швеции до Конго за год приготовления пищи, домохозяйке теперь потребуется дойти только до Северной Италии, чтобы поставить обед на стол. После того, как шведские ученые из Института исследования дома составили подробную карту перемещений шведской домохозяйки по кухне и досконально изучили ее поведение, они почувствовали, что готовы преодолеть поставленные перед собой географические и основанные на половом признаке ограничения. В начале 1950-х они отправили 18 наблюдателей в сельский регион Норвегии Ландстад, где был избыток холостяков, чтобы исследовать, как ведут себя на кухне неженатые мужчины.

Jan's fastfood-business is going bankrupt, his girlfriend has left him, and he is being exploited by his live-in father. Therefore, he has nothing to lose when he gets mixed up in the kidnapping of famous rock star Iver Mo. But Jan has never been able to do anything right his whole life, and there are others who want to get their hands on the ransom money.

While near sighted Denise plays football, she accidently gets a ball in her face, and her glasses break. When she wakes up in the hospital she's double sighted.

Marianne visits her dying father in the hospital who tells of a box of old letters that she must promise to destroy. Marianne chooses to do the opposite, and reads them instead. There she finds shocking accusations against her father, who allegedly murdered a young woman 25 years ago.

Julie is a young and newly qualified teacher from Copenhagen, Denmark. Fed up with her unfaithful boyfriend and big city life, she takes a job as a teacher on an idyllic island in southern Norway. Julie finds it difficult to be accepted in the closed-net community of the island. Slowly but surely, she discovers that the idyllic island hides many dark secrets.

Dimwitted, somewhat misanthropic Oslo mail carrier Roy's quiet life changes dramatically on the day he steals a set of keys and lets himself into the apartment of a deaf woman who seems to be in trouble with a psychotic criminal. Though he doesn't know it at the time, his and her fate are about to intertwine and this is not going to be to his benefit.

A married couple, unable to conceive, search for a male donor, but jealousy creates problems when the husband spies on his wife while posing as her brother.

Film director Pierre is making an erotic thriller with his girlfriend Greta. When men start disappearing, parallells between the movie and real life becomes obvious.

The people at Vassendgården are very curious, and one day a stranger walks by up in the mountains. He does not stop when they shout, but moves on.

Herman works as a delivery boy for a flower shop after school. One day delivers a bouquet to Rosa Stern, a woman in her early 40s who lives behind heavy curtains in an apartment filled with a mysterious atmosphere. In the coming weeks, Herman will receive more bouquets to be delivered to Rosa. Rosa's visits are becoming increasingly important to him.

The criminal Tom goes in and out of jail and feels he is getting destructive, where he can't distinguish between love and violence, endearment and toughness nor self realization and self destruction.