TO LIV – ZWEI LEBEN

The former Director of the Norwegian Film Institute, Oslo, Norway,Jan Erik Holst, has edited an interesting book about the close contact between film productions of  Norway and Germany. The foreword is written by famous actress Liv Ullmann who is quoting Czeslaw Milosz: « Those who harm simple people and who laugh at their injuries will not be safe. For poet remembers.» The aim of the book is to focus on film making in Norway and Germany before the Second World War and after the war. The writers of the essays of the book are: Jan Erik Holst, Per Haddal, Gunnar Iversen, Bent Kvalvik, Nils Klevjer Aas, Trond Olav Svendsen, Øivind Hanche, Christian Boe Astrup, Lise Gustavsen, Bjørn Sørensen , Dr. Michael Køtz, Thomas Karlsen and Thomas K. Klinkertz. A biography of the authors is published too. The essays are written in Norwegian but translated into German by Susanne Hiller Giertsen.

For those of you who find the study of film history interesting,you must buy the book. Each writer  is making  references to movies forgotten ,or lost or destroyed. Germany was an important country for the work of many Norwegian actors and film makers before the Second World War and also during the war. Some of those who worked too close to Nazi- Germany got problems later on – but not all of them. The actress Kirsten Heiberg (1907-1976) was working in Nazi-Germany during the war. She returned to Norway in 1951 to go on with her work as an actress in Norwegian theatres and movies. No problems for Kirsten Heiberg getting work in Norway even if she had made many movies in Germany.

The editor, Jan Erik Holst, has worked within the Norwegian film society for years. He was Director of the Norwegian Film Institute from 1988 to 2014.Even if he has retired, he is still engaged in projects connected to film education and film production. Each of the writers is presenting information about old and new movies made in cooperation with German production companies and associations.

For my private interest only, I searched in my own film collection after movies mentioned by many of the writers of the essays. Take a look at the result.

Jan Erik Host (Editor): TO LIV- ZWEI LEBEN. Bokbyen Forlag AS. 2019. 230 pages.
ISBN nr. ISBN 978-82-8316-079-6, ISBN 978-3-93377-36-4