Bent Hamer (born 18 December 1956) is a film director, writer and producer, born in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in 1956.

Biography

Hamer studied

film theory Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

and literature at the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

and the Stockholm Film School. In addition to his feature films, he has written and directed a number of short films and documentaries. His first film, ''

Eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

'',

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

d at the

1995 Cannes Film Festival The 48th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 1995. The Palme d'Or went to '' Underground'' by Emir Kusturica. The festival opened with ''La Cité des enfants perdus'', directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and closed with '' The Quick and t ...

where it was shown in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

section. That same year, it was shown in competition at the

19th Moscow International Film Festival The 19th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 July 1995. The Golden St. George was not awarded. Jury * Richard Gere (United States – President of the Jury) * Friedrich Gorenstein (Germany) * Aurelio De Laurentiis (Italy) ...

where it won the award for Best First Film; it also received the

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

Prize at the 1995

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. His 2003 film ''

Kitchen Stories ''Kitchen Stories'' ( no, Salmer fra Kjøkkenet) is a 2003 Norwegian film by Bent Hamer, director of ''Eggs'' and '' O' Horten.'' Plot Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway to study Norwegian men, in an effort to help optimize thei ...

'' screened at many international festivals and was the Norwegian submission for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. In April 2004, Bent Hamer started shooting ''

Factotum Factotum may refer to: *A handyman, employed as a servant * ''Factotum'' (novel), a 1975 novel by Charles Bukowski * ''Factotum'' (film), a 2005 film adaptation of the novel * Factotum (arts organisation), an arts organisation based in Belfast * fa ...

'' based on the novel of the same name by US poet and writer

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

. The screenplay was written by Hamer and Jim Stark (''

Mystery Train "Mystery Train" is a song written and recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953. Originally performed in the style of a Memphis blues or rhythm and blues tune, it was inspired by earlier songs and later became a popular rockabil ...

'', '' Cold Fever''), who produced the film together with Christine Walker (''

American Splendor ''American Splendor'' is a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the last one in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular interva ...

''). The film premiered at the Kosmorama Film Festival in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, on 2005-04-12. Hamer is the owner and founder of the

BulBul Film Association The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical As ...

, established in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 1994.

Filmography

Feature films

* ''

'', 1995 * ''Water Easy Reach'' (En dag til i solen), 1998 * ''

'' (Salmer fra kjøkkenet), 2003 * ''

'', 2005 * ''

O' Horten ''O' Horten'' is a 2007 Norwegian language film directed by Bent Hamer. The film's title character Odd Horten is a habit-bound train driver, who is about to retire. On the day of his retirement he ends up in an unexpected situation, and is forced t ...

'', 2008 * '' Home for Christmas'', 2010 * ''

1001 Grams ''1001 Grams'' ( no, 1001 Gram) is a 2014 Norwegian drama film written and directed by Bent Hamer. It was selected as the Norwegian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. Cast * Ane Dahl Torp ...

'' (2014) * '' The Middle Man'' (2021)

Short films

* ''Rødvyn Aargang 81'', 1981 * ''Longitude Latitude'' (Makrellen er kommen), 1989 * ''Happy Hour'', 1990 (co-director: Jörgen Bergmark) * ''Sunday Dinner'' (Søndagsmiddag), 1990 * ''Stone'' (Stein), 1992 * ''Applause'' (Applaus), 1993 * ''Just for the hell of it'' (Bare kødd), 1995

Documentaries

* ''Courage to Dignity'' (Mot til verdighet), 1994 * ''Norway the Conqueror'' (Norge erobreren), part of documentary series 2001–05

References

External links

Norwegian Film Institute Webpage for O'Horten
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Bent 1956 births Living people People from Sandefjord Norwegian film directors Norwegian screenwriters