19-25 January
2026
Four action sequences, four locations, four years. Dahlsbakken's Munch is a cinematic polyptych, sequentially organized images akin to Munch's own "Frieze of Life." Alfred Ekker Strande, Ola G. Furuseth, Anne Krigsvoll, and Mattis Herman Nyquist portray Munch.
In four brief images, the film's conceptual approach is presented: From a clip where a young, restless man is in a garden among other guests in the summer, to a studio where a somewhat older gentleman, now played by another actor, sits in a room smoking a cigarette. Next, a close-up in black and white in the Academy ratio (1.33:1) introduces yet another actor photographed in shadow as he looks out of a window. Finally, we catch a glimpse of an elderly man in a dark room with a fireplace as the sole light source, before the title – in the form of the painter's signature, red against a black background – emerges on the canvas.
The opening prepares us to witness a film about Edvard Munch's life, where the painter is brought to life by four actors in four different locations, at various stages of life, with scripts by different writers. With the exception of the Berlin passage, set in contemporary times, the sequences are placed in the historical periods: Vestfold 1885, Copenhagen 1908, and Ekely 1940/41.
Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (b. 1989) is a self-taught filmmaker who, over the past decade, has been one of Norway's most prolific directors. Starting with his feature film debut, Returning Home (2015), which won the main prize at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, Dahlsbakken has now created a total of ten feature films – including two in 2023, Munch and Convoy.
2023 Convoy
2022 Possession
2022 The Outlaws
2018 An Affair
2016 Cave
2015 Returning Home
Kl 16:00
Fokus 4
Programme: | Critics' Week |
Director: | Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken |
Country: | Norway |
Year: | 2023 |
Run time: | 1h 44m |
Screenplay: | Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken, Fredrik Høyer, Mattis Herman Nyquist |
Cast: | Mattis Herman Nyquist, Alfred Ekker Strande, Ola G. Furuseth |
Dialogue: | Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, English |
Source: | Ymer Media AS |