Ben Wheatley is an award-winning and critically acclaimed director, screenwriter, editor, and producer with deep roots in genre cinema. Ramaskrik has followed Wheatley's career since Kill List was screened as part of the Ramaskrik programe at the Kosmorama Film Festival in 2012. We later screened both Sightseers and The ABCs of Death in Oppdal in 2012, and most recently In the Earth in 2021.

His filmography spans an impressive range of genres, from the more distinctive works Down Terrace, A Field in England, and High-Rise to more commercial productions such as Free Fire, Rebecca and Meg 2: The Trench.

At this year’s Ramaskrik October 14th – 18th, audiences will experience the full breadth of Wheatley’s work, from his breakthrough film Kill List, a harrowing and realistic folk horror classic, to the highly playful, entertaining, and experimental sci-fi action film Bulk (2025).

Bulk has been released theatrically in the United Kingdom through a travelling roadshow, with Ben Wheatley and producer Andy Starke appearing in person. Now Ramaskrik becomes another stop on “The Never Ending Bulk Tour” in Oppdal, with Wheatley attending the festival. This is something to look forward to.

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Director Roar Uthaug will be joining us for the anniversary screening of Cold Prey (Fritt Vilt). The film marked the beginning of an outstanding career in genre cinema, leading to acclaimed productions such as Escape (Flukt), The Wave (Bølgen), Tomb Raider, and, most notably, the Netflix hits Troll and Troll 2.

Uthaug is currently working on new horror projects, including a backpacker horror film set in Thailand, as well as several new Nordic productions. We may even get to hear more about these exciting projects during his visit to Ramaskrik.

Actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, the star of Cold Prey (Fritt Vilt), will be joining us for the anniversary celebration. She has a long and distinguished career in film and television, both in Norway and internationally.

Horror fans will of course know her from the excellent sequel Cold Prey 2 (Fritt Vilt 2), but her genre credits also include Chernobyl Diaries, ABCs of Death 2, Hellfjord, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. She has also appeared in popular television series such as Westworld, La Palma, and, most recently, Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole. Over the years, she has firmly established herself as one of Norway’s leading screen stars.

Knut Nærum (b. 1961) is an author, playwright, and cartoonist. He has published more than thirty books across a variety of genres, primarily crime fiction and science fiction, with humor as a common thread throughout his work. Within the horror genre, he has written the novel Monster (2007), the zombie puppet theatre production Is (2012), and the graphic novel Svanger (2026), illustrated by Karstein Volle.

Nærum was a regular contributor to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s (NRK) weekly satirical television program Nytt på nytt from 1999 to 2015.

At Ramaskrik, Nærum serves as a jury member for the Méliès d’Argent competition.

Astrid Thorvaldsen is a genre-loving screenwriter and director based in Trondheim. In 2014, she attended Ramaskrik with the horror film Utburd, which she directed as part of a Master’s degree in Film and Video Production at NTNU.

Her short films have screened at numerous international festivals, including Fantasia, Bucheon (BiFan), and Flickerfest. Her graduation film from the National Film and Television School in England, the horror Western Who Goes There?, was nominated for a Student BAFTA and won a Royal Television Society Award. The film is now distributed by horror channel Alter and is in development as a feature film in London.

At Ramaskrik, Thorvaldsen serves as a jury member for the Méliès d’Argent competition.

Jasper Sharp is an author, critic and filmmaker known for his work on Asian cinema. He was the co-founder (with Tom Mes) of the Japanese film website Midnight Eye. His books include The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (2004), joint-written with Mes, Behind the Pink Curtain (2008) and The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema (2011). He has directed the documentaries The Creeping Garden (2014), a documentary about plasmodial slime moulds co-directed with Tim Grabham, The J-Horror Virus (2023) with Sarah Appleton, and Splatterfest Exhumed (2024).

Now he will turn his attention to European short films as a member of our Méliès d’Argent jury.

Director Maja Holand boasts a diverse background in film production and cinematography. Having completed her education in both documentary filmmaking and cinematography at the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer, she immersed herself in a variety of projects at NRK. Her expertise ranges from filming, editing, and color correction across a wide spectrum of productions: dramas, documentaries, humor.

Holand is the director of Hex, the documentary about Witch Club Satan, which will have a special screening at Ramaskrik Film Festival.

Producer Mari Nilsen Neira boasts an impressive background in film production and direction. With a master's degree in Knowledge Management, she has dedicated over 20 years to the industry. As the founder and leader of Herstory, a pioneering female-driven production company, Mari has been instrumental in championing women's voices in film. Her extensive expertise includes producing and directing.

Nilsen Neira is the producer of Hex, the documentary about Witch Club Satan, which will have a special screening at Ramaskrik Film Festival.

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Severin Eskeland discovered horror cinema at the age of eleven when a screening of Friday the 13th sparked a lifelong fascination with the genre. Armed with a home video camera, homemade blood effects, and boundless enthusiasm, he began creating his own splatter films in the forests of Stord, Norway. After graduating from film studies in Oslo in 2005, he directed several short films and music videos before making his feature debut with Snarveien (Detour, 2009). His second feature, Lyst (Lust, 2017), was widely noted for its uncompromising psychological horror. Following the festival-screened shorts Allodium (2019) and Number 7 (2021), Eskeland is now completing his third feature film, HEKS, which he also produces.

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Sarah Appleton is a documentary filmmaker known for the Shudder Original documentary The Found Footage Phenomenon (2021) and The J-Horror Virus (2023). She also directed an original documentary for Severin Films called Damaged: The Very British Obscenity of David Hamilton-Grant (2023) which is available on Amazon Prime. Sarah has worked on other feature documentary productions as cinematographer and runs her own London-based film production company, Caprisar Productions Ltd. She is currently working on her first fiction feature film.

Instagram: @sarahappleton_
Bluesky: @sarahappleton.bsky.social

Sarah's most recent documentary Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story is currently doing a tour of genre film festivals and looking at a release in 2027.

Viljar Bøe is a Norwegian director, screenwriter, and producer from Bergen, known for psychological genre films made with small teams and limited budgets. His work includes Good Boy (2022) and Above the Knee (2024), both of which have received international distribution and been screened at film festivals worldwide. He is currently developing his next feature film, the psychological thriller You've Been Chosen, which won Best Pitch at the Frontières Proof of Concept in Cannes in 2026.

Fredrik S. Hana is a filmmaker based in Stavanger, Norway, working primarily with genre cinema to explore personal and emotionally complex stories. His films combine a distinctive visual style with practical effects and handmade craft. His documentary debut, Code Name: Nagasaki, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at Slamdance in 2021. His short From.Beyond won the Méliès d’Or for Best European Fantastic Film at Sitges, while his latest short, Mancave, won Best International Short Film at Fantasia. Hana is now making the leap into feature filmmaking with several projects that expand his hands-on, genre-driven approach to a larger scale.

Hallvard holds a degree in cinematography from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He had his breakthrough as a feature film director with the Børning films, which received four Amanda Awards, including Best Norwegian Film in Theatrical Release and the People's Amanda. In addition, Børning also won the Kanonprisen Audience Award at the Kosmorama Film Festival. He is behind several other nominated and award-winning films, including The Giant (Giganten) which won three awards at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund and was nominated for an Amanda Award for Best Norwegian Film in Theatrical Release. He directed Olsenbanden - Siste Skrik!, and in 2022 he directed Gold Run (Gulltransporten, 2022), which is the most-watched film of all time on Viaplay.