Internet resource(s)
Introduction
The Norwegian capital was the venue for the first exhibition of moving images in Scandinavia: on 6 April 1896 Max and Emil Skladanowsky’s Bioscope films were screened at the Variété Club in Kristiana (now Oslo). In the following few years, exhibitions of (mostly foreign) films took place in music halls and fairs, and in 1904 Norway’s first permanent cinema was established. In 1905, Norway gained independence from Sweden, and the first locally made films (including Kong Haakon VII ankommer Christiania/The Arrival of King Haakon VII in Kristiania) were records of the coronation of the new king. The early fiction film Fiskerlivets farer: et drama på havet/The Perils of a Fisherman (Julius Jaenzon) dates to around 1907; but domestic film production, with seventeen features made between 1906 and 1919, was small in scale. At the same time, by the mid 1910s Norway had established a unique (and continuing) system of municipal film exhibition, in which cinemas are owned and run by local authorities. Notwithstanding the popularity of rural melodramas such as Fante-Anne/Anne, the Tramp (Rasmus Brelstein, 1920), domestic production levels remained low until the late 1930s, a period that saw an upturn regarded by some as a golden age for Norwegian cinema. During World War II, the film industry was run by the Nazi occupying forces, and films—mostly light comedies and thrillers—continued to be made throughout the war. In the immediate postwar years, cinema attendances rose sharply, and occupation dramas like Kampen om tungtvannet/The Battle for Heavy Water (Titus Vibe-Muller, 1948) catered to audiences’ desire to see films about the war years. In 1948 the studio Norsk Film A/S, founded in 1935, became a joint state/municipal venture, making film production, as well as exhibition, a public and national project. This coincided with a rise in feature film output, with comedies proving especially popular during the 1950s and 1960s. ...
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Norway, film in. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 31 May. 2021
In the library's collections/Searching the online catalog
Selected book title(s)
The cinema of Scandinavia by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .S2 C564 2005ISBN: 9781904764229A new volume in the Twenty-Four Frames series that focuses on twenty-four key films from Scandinavia - Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Each of these national cinemas is able to boast directors of worldwide renown. This book looks at the impact that film-makers from this region have had on their national cinema and the world of film. This book explores in detail their styles, movements and influences.
Northern constellations: new readings in Nordic cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .S2 N67 2006ISBN: 9781870041638An anthology of essays on film from Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Other library resource(s)
Scandinavian film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286This bibliography covers the cinemas of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. These are usually called the Nordic countries, while Scandinavia is sometimes defined more narrowly, with reference to geography or linguistics. Here, however, Scandinavian and Nordic are used as synonyms. While the Nordic countries certainly share parts of their film histories with each other, there are also notable differences.
Finding scholarly articles and journals
You can find scholarly literature for film and television studies in a variety of journals. We do have access to a journal specifically covering Norwegian cinema. However, if you want to do targeted searching, you can use a subject specific database such as Film & Television Literature Index. You can also use the search box at the top of the page.
Film & television literature indexCall Number: Electronic resourceThis index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
Screen studies collection by Call Number: Electronic resourceA comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Selected movie titles
The bothersome man by Call Number: Streaming videoForty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment - even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. Andreas makes an attempt to escape the city, but he discovers there's no way out. Andreas meets Hugo, who has found a crack in a wall in his cellar. ...
Elling by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #3141ISBN: 9781592410293After a two year stint in a state home, the shy and neurotic Elling and his sex-obsessed best friend, Kjell, are released and forced to enter the real world. They find themselves in a state funded apartment in the center of Oslo, told to behave responsibly and act like normal members of society. In time, the two adjust and find oddball ways of coping with society.
Insomnia (1997) by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2066ISBN: 9780780022201Disgraced Swedish detective Jonas Engström travels to Northern Norway to solve a brutal murder. Unable to sleep through the night of the midnight sun, Engström quickly loses his grip on the case and his mind.
O' Horten by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9327ISBN: 9781435968868Odd Horten is a neat, meticulous, pipe-smoking train conductor. He is winding up 40 years of service for the Norwegian railways. He wonders, when a man's life has been determined by timetables and clearly-defined journeys along narrow tracks, how he will now spend his free hours. Horten goes about his final work shifts and then enters into the uncertain world of retirement. He meets the dilemma of buying a new pipe using the same placid curiosity he brings to meeting a stranger who invites him to his home.
Thelma by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #22138ISBN: 9786317228450A shy young student leaves her small town and religious family to study at a university in Oslo, but once on campus she experiences what appears to be a violent, unexpected seizure. Overwhelmed by the increasing intensity of the mystifying episodes and her powerful feelings for a beautiful classmate, she struggles to control her supernatural abilities.
Trolljegeren = Trollhunter by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #13906A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.
Uno by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #7472An angry young man confronts alienation, retribution, and loyalty to family in this riveting thriller. Uno tells the tale of young bodybuilder and streetwise tough, David.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.