https://www.folken.no/folken/shows/17330-stavanger-indie-film-festival/

Espen Aukan (b. 1979) is an accomplished Norwegian screenwriter and dramatist educated at Den norske filmskolen in Lillehammer, based in Fredrikstad. He writes primarily for film—his credits include several acclaimed short films (WETTLAUFERS ENKE, TO GODE TORPEDOER, BABY BOOM), co‑writing on the horror VIKINGULVEN, and most notably the features TROLL and TROLL 2, which both became the most‑watched non‑English films on Netflix. Aukan also writes for television (KAMPEN, ELIAS PÅ NYE TOKT) and the stage, with projects ranging from family musicals to mixed‑media productions; his theatre adaptation of SNEHVIT earned an Ibsen Prize nomination in 2010. With proven international reach, cross‑media versatility, and strong audience appeal, he is a high‑profile creative whose involvement significantly strengthens our festival’s programme.

Wednesday 26th, August

19:00-20:25

ESPEN AUKAN

TALK - Q&A

Ray has promised Sunny a digital detox weekend in nature before they say goodbye to their old-fashioned smartphones forever and get a more modern implant. A gigantic solar flare wipes out all technology on Earth and Sunny and Ray are forced to find their way back to the city without any technological tools. They meet Liz, who saves their lives and wants to show them the way to the city. But in a world where nothing is the same as they knew it, questions of trust and loyalty arise.
Director Biography - Silke C. Engler

Silke C. Engler studied Film- and Television Sciences at Bochum University and later film directing at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. More than 20 years she has worked as a script supervisor and assistant director for television and cinema movies, such as Ingeborg Bachmann - Journey into the Desert, Hannah Arendt and Forget about Nick (Margarethe von Trotta) and Two Lives (Georg Maas). Her latest published short film Mind Your Body – a sci-fi drama – has been screened at more than 50 international film festivals and won 26 awards. Her debut film SUNNY is just to be finished and ready to be screened at festivals. In Summer 2024 Silke will be directing some episodes of Germany's oldest and best known police TV-series for ARD in Hamburg. Besides she is writing on several new feature projects.

Wednesday 26th, August

20:40-22:40

FEATURE FILM:

SUNNY

Velvet Vision is the story of photographer/director James Bidgood whose 1960’s beefcake photographs were unlike any others. Depicting elaborate fantasy scenarios drenched in lush color they transcended the genre. His film Pink Narcissus was initially credited to ‘Anonymous’ on its 1971 release date shrouding it in mystery. Falsely attributed to Kenneth Anger and Andy Warhol, among others, it wasn’t until almost twenty years later that it was revealed to be Jim’s work.

Velvet Vision follows the process of Jim trying to shoot again after a forty-year hiatus while also delving into his past as window dresser, drag artist and costume designer. Jim’s struggles are a universal story; an outsider pursuing artistic endeavors to cope with their ostracization from society. His fantasy life became a mechanism to keep him tethered to reality as he traversed the fine line between genius and insanity.
Director Biography - Bart Everly

Bart Everly is an award-winning American filmmaker and photographer. His films and photographs - documenting art and culture, society, and politics - have been screened and exhibited internationally.

As a photographer, Everly has worked for magazines such as Interview, Details, Splash, Rolling Stone, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Spin, Vanity Fair and others. He has also worked as a contributing freelance writer for Detour and Interview, and for over eight years was a regular contributor to London's top pop culture and style magazine The Face.
Thursday 27th, August

20:50-22:20

FEATURE FILM:
Velvet Vision

One night every year a family transforms their home and yard into a haunted house and invites their neighbors to walk through it. What used to be a group effort has increasingly become the dad’s obsessive fantasy that his family is expected to enact.

* One of John Waters's 10 Best Films of 2025 *

Director Biography - Dennis Cooper, Zac Farley

Dennis Cooper
Complex yet ruthlessly clear, Dennis Cooper’s (b. 1953, US) prose recounts the emotional and erotic lives of troubled teenagers. His characteristic ability to combine cruelty with tenderness, sadism with anxiety, has made him one of his generation’s essential voices.

Zac Farley
Zac Farley’s (b. 1988 US/FR) films and videos embrace confusion as a kind of truth and thus strive to visualise the most ineffable emotions. Through careful editing and framing, they weave analogies between bodies, landscapes and abstractions.

Friday 28th, August

20:40-22:12

FEATURE FILM:
Room Temperature

Dennis Cooper
Complex yet ruthlessly clear, Dennis Cooper’s (b. 1953, US) prose recounts the emotional and erotic lives of troubled teenagers. His characteristic ability to combine cruelty with tenderness, sadism with anxiety, has made him one of his generation’s essential voices. In addition to his film collaborations with Zac Farley, he is known for novels such as the five novel quintology The George Miles Cycle (1989 -2000), The Sluts (2008),The Marbled Swarm (2014), and I Wished (2021). He has written widely on art, film, music, and literature, and has been a Contributing Editor of Artforum since the late 90s. Since moving from Los Angeles to Paris in 2005, he has written nine theatre pieces for the director/choreographer Gisèle Vienne and composed a series of innovative GIF novels, most recently Zac’s Drug Binge (2020).

Zac Farley
Zac Farley’s (b. 1988 US/FR) films and videos embrace confusion as a kind of truth and thus strive to visualise the most ineffable emotions. Through careful editing and framing, they weave analogies between bodies, landscapes and abstractions. In addition to the feature films he made together with Dennis Cooper, including Like Cattle Towards Glow (2015), Permanent Green Light (2018) and Room Temperature (2025), he recently collaborated with director/choreographer Gisèle Vienne on a forthcoming feature film, Klara Kraus, and, with writer/curator Sabrina Tarasoff and Cooper, a virtual “haunted house” project which premiered at The Pinault Collection in Paris in October 2022.

Friday 28th, August

22:12 - 22:27

Q&A

Out-of-work television ghost hunters discover the key to getting their jobs back - and proving ghosts are real - is by working with the last group of people anyone would expect: Social Media Stars.

Director Statement - Alexander Watson

When I was ten years old living in Salt Lake City Utah, I started to show an interest in making movies. My uncle, seeing my growing passion decided to treat me to my very first film festival. To say I was changed would be a vast understatement. This was the beginning. I knew then and there I had found my path.

When I inevitably moved out to Los Angeles, one of my first gigs in the industry was editing for some of the world's biggest influencers. Getting a look behind the curtain of filmmaking always fascinated me, but this was a side of the industry I never knew existed. One day I was tasked with editing a video called, "AHHH! MY BROTHERS ARE POSSESSED!" It was a simple video of rich, young siblings chasing each other with a camera in a mansion. I always thought it was a funny concept and eventually I started to think "what would happen if influencers were actually in a horrific scenario?" That's when the seed of an idea, that would later become Demonetize, started to grow.

I didn't want it to just be comedic; I wanted to hold a magnifying glass to aspects of these influencer's lives that I was able to witness when the cameras weren't rolling. What does it actually take to be famous? How do they manage the mental toll of the comment section? And most terrifying of all, what happens when you get burnt out but it's your only source of income?!

My hope with Demonetize is to not only take the audience on an entertaining journey, but also to have them question their connection (addiction?) to social media. A recent study showed that more kids and young adults today aspire to be influencers than astronauts. I hope this movie will serve as a comedy-filled warning of the deep dark void influencing can become. I want people to see that when chasing clout, we should not have to sell our soul for views.

Saturday 29th, August

21:05-22:45

FEATURE FILM:
Demonetize

Alexander Watson (or Watson to his friends) has had a very interesting career starting off in 2015 when he won Audience Choice and Best Film from LucasFilm and Disney for a Star Wars film he made. After moving out to Los Angeles he became a full time Film editor where he worked with TV shows and movies like, American Horror Story, The Predator, and The Exorcist, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia. His first feature, Bundy Manor, was one of the top-most popular horror movies on Tubi during the month of October in 2023.

Janine Hogan is a comedian, writer, and actor based in Los Angeles, most known for her absurdist improvised live looping. She's performed at UCB, Hollywood Improv, Second City Hollywood & Chicago, iO West, Dynasty Typewriter, a weird science museum, some sketchy bars in Europe, & many more.

Saturday 29th, August

22:45-23:00

Q&A