Canadian Premiere
Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas’ (Eirik Sæther) relationship is so toxic that they should probably don hazmat suits. (Sorry, Joachim Trier: these are the worst people in the world.) And when he becomes a cause célèbre in conceptual art circles thanks to his inane installations of stolen chairs, Signe is suddenly starved for attention. What’s a self-aggrandizing narcissist to do but order black market meds from Russia that have been banned for hideous side effects that would leave Cronenberg averting his eyes? As her skin becomes a science experiment gone wrong and she starts coming apart at the seams, social media sympathy is fast to follow.
Taking cues from Tom Waits’ adage, “I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things,” Kristoffer Borgli helms an immaculately shot and utterly merciless takedown of fame culture. As Signe gorges her pathological need for validation, Borgli’s transgressive satire serves as a wickedly comic reminder of how cringe-inducing the concept of “going viral” should be.
Media Partner
Community Partner
Kristine Kujath Thorp, Eirik Sæther, Fanny Vaager, Fredrik Stenberg Ditlev-Simonsen, Sarah Francesca Brænne, Ingrid Vollan
Norway
2022
In Norwegian with English subtitles
At VIFF Centre — Vancity Theatre
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Left-Handed Girl
Co-written and edited by Sean Baker (Anora), Shi-Ching Tsou's heartwarming solo feature debut follows a single mom in Taipei who is too consumed with her noodle stand to keep tabs on her five-year-old daughter's burgeoning shoplifting habit.
Train Dreams
A lovely, ruminative movie set in the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the last century. Robert (Joel Edgerton) is a lumberjack, a taciturn man who comes to appreciate the life slipping between his fingers.
Dawn Pemberton Sings Aretha + Amazing Grace Film Screening
These dates are going to knock your socks off: one of the all-time great concert films, Aretha Franklin performing at the New Bethel Baptist Church in 1972, and Canada's own Queen of Soul, Dawn Pemberton, performing live in Aretha's honour.
The Colour of Pomegranates + The House Is Black
This month's Pantheon screening is a double-bill, Sergei Parajanov's extraordinary evocation of the life and work of C18th Armenian poet Sayat Nova, and, The House is Black (22 min), the only film directed by the great Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad.
The Librarians
Dispatches from the front line of America's culture wars (and ours too): librarians speak out about the war against ideas, history, freedom of expression and sexual identity, a campaign in which an open mind is the ultimate enemy.
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.
Credits
Producer
Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Dyveke Bjørkly Graver
Screenwriter
Kristoffer Borgli
Cinematography
Benjamin Loeb
Production Design
Henrik Svensson
Original Music
Turns
Art Director
Mette Haukeland
Director
Photo by Bjarne Bare
Kristoffer Borgli
Kristoffer Borgli is a Los Angeles-based Norwegian writer and director. His numerous works of short and long format films have screened at festivals like Sundance and SXSW.
Filmography: Drib (2017)

