Carl Christian Lein Størmer with new music for the Stella Polaris silent film concert
TIFF presents two hard-hitting – and strikingly different – silent film concerts in 2026: STELLA POLARIS with new music by Carl Christian Lein Størmer and HÄXAN with Cult Member.
Publisert 28.11.2025 — TIFF
STELLA POLARIS, Knut Erik Jensen’s first feature film, is regarded as a modern classic – a poetic and deeply moving portrayal of a North Norwegian coastal community from the pre-war years through to the post-war era. In 2026, TIFF brings the film into new focus by inviting multi-artist Carl Christian Lein Størmer to serve as composer and musical director for one of the festival’s silent film concerts.
Lein Størmer, who has an extensive track record as a composer, musician and film producer, credits Knut Erik Jensen with opening his eyes to the world of film:
– He is a big part of the reason I began making films, and has been – and continues to be – a major source of inspiration on many levels. The film feels like a stream-of-consciousness trip (for lack of a better description), which is an incredibly exciting creative starting point, he says.
Aiming to create something new
Although STELLA POLARIS is originally a sound film, it contains only three spoken lines, making it almost a silent film. Combined with its poetic and associative style, this creates an ideal foundation for a new musical interpretation.
Carl Christian Lein Størmer has a background in numerous band constellations. He has toured internationally and composed across a broad hardcore/metal spectrum for more than 25 years – and for the past decade also as a filmmaker and film composer. For this project, he will explore the audiovisual possibilities within Jensen’s iconic work.
The film’s original score, composed by Arne Nordheim, will be replaced with an entirely new musical expression as Lein Størmer teams up with legends from the Norwegian and Swedish hardcore and metal scenes. Joining him are Johannes Persson and Christian Augustin from Umeå-based post-metal pioneers Cult of Luna, and Marvin Nygaard from Båtsfjord – known as one of the founders of the metal band Kvelertak. Together they will perform a new work created in the spirit of Jensen and the film. Expect something uncompromising, hypnotic and associative – in a musical landscape far removed from the film’s original soundtrack.
– I don’t see this as adding something to the original film, but rather creating something new in the meeting between his masterpiece, this line-up, and that particular venue in that specific moment.
The story unfolds through the memories of an unnamed woman returning to the fishing village of her childhood. Life is shown in fragments – play and friendship, love affairs, work on the quay and at sea – before war intrudes as a dark and unsettling force.
What audiences can expect remains somewhat uncertain, according to Lein Størmer:
– I’m wondering about that just as much as anyone else. And I don’t think I’ll know until we’re there and the film begins to roll.
Torture and possessed nuns
Where STELLA POLARIS offers a poetic and understated cinematic experience, HÄXAN belongs to a completely different universe. Tromsø band Cult Member will score Benjamin Christensen’s wild cocktail of grave-robbing, torture, possessed nuns and a satanic sabbath.
When HÄXAN premiered in 1922, it was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made. It was heavily edited in several countries and banned in the United States, yet still became a global success.
Cult Member return with a live interpretation
Cult Member have already performed a live score to HÄXAN, during the Silent Film Days in 2024. They are eager to take on the challenge once more.
– It was a very positive experience that really left us wanting more. It sold out, and it seemed to be a happening people talked about afterwards, says Truls Norbye of Cult Member.
The Tromsø band released its first EP in 2020 and followed up with their debut album Infinite Death, which was nominated for the Spellemann Award for Best Metal Release the following year. With a vocalist from Denton County, Texas, and members drawn from respected punk and hardcore bands such as Die A Legend, Jabba and Reptile Master, they deliver a fast and heavy blend of hardcore and thrash.
The band quickly found a natural home in Christensen’s dark universe:
– The film is very dark and unusual, so it suited us well. Director Benjamin Christensen is a madman – which we also are – so it felt relatively straightforward to merge his world with something that fits our music.
