Two chimney sweeps, both happily partnered in heterosexual marriages, find their views on sexuality and gender challenged by a series of unexpected events. The company supervisor (Thorbjorn Harr) has a recurring dream where he’s seen as a woman. His employee (Jan Gunnar Roise), meanwhile, has a sexual encounter with a male client who casually propositions him after a job. Both events exert pressure on the men’s personal lives, but neither results in any sort of gay panic or masculine bravado — just a reflective, searching interest in heretofore unexplored aspects of their identity.
The first film in the Sex/Love/Dreams trilogy by Norwegian writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud, Sex is a frank exploration of normative social expectations in contemporary Oslo. Playfully structured as a series of sharply scripted two-hander conversations, the film is at once dryly humorous and unexpectedly poignant: a testament to the regions of experience that would open up, if only we would talk about them.
Dag Johan Haugerud
Jan Gunnar Røise, Thorbjørn Harr, Siri Forberg, Birgitte Larsen
Norway
2024
In Norwegian with English subtitles
Ecumenical Jury Award, Berlin 2024
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Yngve Sæther, Hege Hauff Hvattum
Screenwriter
Dag Johan Haugerud
Cinematography
Cecilie Semec
Editor
Jens Christian Fodstad
Production Design
Tuva Hølmebakk
Original Music
Peder Capjon Kjellsby
Also Playing
Caravaggio
In the latest from Exhibition on Screen, co-directors David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky shed light not only on Caravaggio’s paintings, but his life, often kept half-hidden in the same chiaroscuro tones he shaded his masterpieces with.
Dracula
A bawdy (and then some) deconstruction of Romania's most potent IP, Radu Jude parodies the use of AI in filmmaking with his trademark acidic humour. It's about six films in one, and there's something to offend everyone.
Image: © Silviu Gheție
Half Moon: Kinan Azmeh
Syrian musician Kinan Azmeh questions how art and music can adequately confront the tragedy of war in this introspective documentary. A profound and celebratory meditation on art’s ability to build solidarity, community, and hope in the world.
How to Build a Library
Can a library be decolonized? How to Build a Library follows two visionary women on a quest to restore Nairobi’s McMillan Memorial Library and exorcise its colonial ghosts. A powerful documentary on archives, access, and reclaiming civic space.