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A Stranger in the World follows a composer’s search for inspiration in his surroundings and his life with an autistic son. Director Sturla Pilskog explores themes of connection and distance, and the lingering resonance of time.
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Original title: Ein er ei eiga eining Year of Production: 2024 Duration: 29 min Country of Production: Norway Languages: Norwegian Subtitles: English Director: Sturla Pilskog Sound Design: Morten Green Music: Magnar Åm Producer: Sturla Pilskog

A Stranger in the World holds two fragile stories beside each other: the life of a composer, inspired by the patient formation of cave drip-stones, and a father’s attempt to understand his son, living with autism, whose sensory world moves to different rhythms.

Slow and urgent; a geological century long slow rhythm, and urgent in the need for closeness. The oscillation between distance and intimacy, the unspoken longing to understand what can’t always be communicated, and the beauty in observing rather than explaining. Fragments of memory, sound, and sensory detail: footsteps, echoes, light through stone, moments of child-like wonder. A Stranger in the World is an invitation to dwell in the space between worlds, between a son’s silence, a composer’s patience, and a father’s hope that love might, somehow, bridge the gap.

The screeing is followed by an improvised piano concert by composer Magnar Åm.

About the composer

Magnar Åm is one of our most outstanding Norwegian contemporary music composers, known for his intuitive and playful approach, always challenging the listeners sensual perception and experience of music. His music ranges from vocal and chamber music via electroacoustic music, to large orchestral- and opera works to multimedia.

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Director: a stranger in the world

Sturla Pilskog is a Norwegian filmmaker whose work explores relationships of sensory perception, family, and the uses of memory. His films dwell in quiet spaces, between sound and silence, distance and connection.

Magnar Åm does not use capital letters when titling his compositions. He believes every composition is an excerpt from a life experience, a search in and of itself, and where the compositions and their titles can be used freely to form new sentences or poems. The idea of searching for understanding throughout an artistic process is something I can relate to in connecting with my son and the challenges he faces with autism.

My son has autism. At one point, when a lot of things were tough for him, he started to walk around and around in circles in our living room. It was a repetitive pattern. At the same time, I visited Copenhagen Zoo. Here I had a special meeting with the Polar bear. Why? Because he was doing the same movements as my son. did my son move like this because he, maybe just like the Polar Bear, felt trapped? I know where the Polar Bear belong in this world. But then I asked myself, where do my son belong?

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