‏Pål Bang-Hansen‏

Pål Bang-Hansen was born in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The son of author Odd Bang-Hansen (who also worked as a film critic in the 1950s) he would from childhood be as much a part of the Norwegian film industry, as the industry would be a part of him. At the age of 12 he played the scene-stealing role of 'Sofus' in "Gategutter", directed by Arne Skouen. A slice-of-life story about a group of boys in the working-class section of Oslo, it went on to become one of the greatest Norwegian movie classics. Notably it was also the first film by Skouen who went on to become the greatest Norwegian filmmaker of his generation, even earning an Academy Award nomination for 1957's "Ni liv". By this time young Bang-Hansen was himself bitten by the movie-bug and got himself into the Centro Sperimentale Film School in Rome, Italy (as a result of this he is today fluent in Italian).

From 1961 to 1967 Bang-Hansen worked as a film critic for the Oslo news-paper Arbeiderbladet (the same paper as his father). At the same time he worked as an assistant director on several Arne Skouen-productions. Bang Hansen's feature film directorial debut came in 1966 with "Skrift i sne". He went on to direct some of the best Norwegian movies until his last film in 1979; the thriller "Douglas" (1970), the comedy "Norske byggeklosser" (1971) which today is regarded as one of the most popular Norwegian comedies ever made, the drama "Kanarifuglen" (co-starring international star Julie Ege), the thriller "Bortreist på ubestemt tid" and "Kronprinsen", a political drama that would earn actor Bjørn Sundquist the Norwegian Critics Award in his first feature film. Sundquist went on to become the most prolific actor in Norwegian film.

Despite his work as a director, Bang-Hansen is best known for his career as a film-critic and -reporter. Especially since 1967, when he was employed by the Norwegian National Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and introduced the public to something new: "Filmmagasinet", the first Norwegian TV-show dedicated to the movies. Working in NRK into the next century he was also recognized for his reports from the Cannes Film Festival which he has visited annually since the early 1960s. Meeting and interviewing legends such as 'Alfred Hitchcock', 'Anthony Mann', Henry Fonda, Akira Kurosawa, Charles Chaplin and many more, Bang-Hansen has become a well-known face to many industry people at the French film festival. So famous is his role on TV to generations of Norwegians that many of them aren't even aware of his past as a director and screenwriter.

His career as a film-maker however, deserves mentioning as he delivered a quality that was very rare to Norwegian cinema in the 1970s: he made movies for the public. Norwegian cinema in the 1970s and 80s is often looked upon as an era filled with boring, artistic dramas lacking in both plot and credible acting, loathed by both the public and the critics. At this time Bang-Hansen would deliver the opposite; exciting thrillers, credible dramas and even a crazy comedy that would become a smash-hit at the box-office. A feat for which to this day he has sadly achieved very little recognition. Thanks to his long-running "Filmmagasinet" on TV, he is, however, today regarded by every Norwegian as its nation's one and only "Mr Film".