Erik Poppe Opens Haugesund With 'Beloved,' a Nobel Laureate's Script Made Personal
A script by Nobel Prize winner Jon Fosse, a director who lived the story, and a Norwegian coastline treated as a fourth character — 'Beloved' opens the 54th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund on 23 August 2026.
Erik Poppe's film, running two hours and fifteen minutes, follows a couple who meet in a small coastal town. They have a child. Asle is drawn back to the sea; Gerd stays behind in the village. The script comes from Fosse, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023 (Variety). The cast is led by Leo Magnus de la Nuez and Kristi-Helene Giæver Engeberg. Paradox and SF Production produced; Reinvent Yellow Sales handles international sales.
Poppe is a familiar face at Haugesund. Variety describes him as a regular at the festival, and he opened the same event two years ago with 'Quisling – The Final Days' (Variety). His filmography also includes 'The King's Choice,' 'Utøya: July 22,' and 'The Emigrants.'
What gives 'Beloved' its charge is how directly it maps onto Poppe's own life. He told Variety he was raised by two parents almost exactly like the couple in the film — except in his case it was his mother who left, while he and his sister stayed with their father. The shooting location, a stretch of Norwegian coastline he calls a mythical landscape, serves, in his words, as 'the fourth character in the film' (Variety).
Poppe's preparation methods are demanding. On every film he directs, he insists on eight to twelve weeks of rehearsal with actors before cameras roll (Variety).
The festival itself runs 22–28 August 2026 and carries a substantial Norwegian programme: 22 Norwegian features and 15 shorts (Variety). 'Fjord' opens the New Nordic Films market section, and the 2026 Cannes Palme d'Or winner will screen during the festival as well (filmfestivalen.no). Closing the event is 'Drapet på Benjamin Hermansen' ('The Murder of Benjamin Hermansen') (filmfestivalen.no).
The Haugesund festival organisation also runs a Norwegian Archfest event in Stavanger, scheduled for 4–7 March 2027 (filmfestivalen.no).
For a festival that prides itself on showcasing Norwegian cinema to international buyers, opening with a Fosse adaptation directed by one of the country's most prominent film-makers sets a clear tone for the week.
