Distribution: Filmform - The Art Film and Video Archive
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English title: Gomp: Tales of Surveillance in Norway 1948–1989
ENG:
GOMP: Tales of surveillance in Norway 1948-1989 depicts the third day of a staged hearing investigating the surveillance of dissidents, mainly suspected communists, in Norway during the Cold War. As there was never a public hearing about these illegal acts, Berg undertook extensive research and staged a live event in front of an audience. It features both real witnesses and actors, archive material and scripted dialogue. The resulting film almost imperceptibly blends documentation, personal testimonies, and political theatre. Bearing witness to these accounts of trauma, paranoia, and betrayal, we build up a complex image of Post-War Norway, and are reminded that listening and watching are not innocent acts and there is a price to be paid on both sides. The seamless blending of actors and witnesses, theatre and documentation reflects one of the film’s essential questions: where does reality end and fabrication begin when one describes political and historical events?
“Gomp” was the nickname given to a crucial part of a homemade surveillance contraption that enabled conversations and meetings to be secretly recorded at the HQ of the Norwegian Labour Party (Folkets Hus in Oslo).