Born in Norway in 1964, he made his directorial debut with the short film 16 levende klisjeer (1998) – which translates as “16 Living Clichés” – and in the following years continued to focus on short filmmaking. It was not until 2012 that this former librarian presented his first feature film, Som du ser meg (I Belong), a production that won three Amanda Awards at the Norwegian International Film Festival, including Best Film and Best Director, with Laila Goody receiving the award for Best Actress. In 2019, Haugerud set a record with the film Barn (Beware of Children), a drama about the aftermath of a child murder, winning nine Amanda Awards in major categories. The screenplay was also published as a book, adding to Haugerud’s already established career as a novelist, which by then included four published novels. Barn had an extensive international festival run, including the Giornate degli Autori in Venice, a parallel section dedicated to emerging filmmakers. In 2024, Haugerud returned to Venice, this time in the Official Selection, with the feature film Sex, the first part of a trilogy released that same year, which also includes Kjærlighet (Love) and Drømmer (Dreams), the latter winning the Golden Bear at the most recent Berlin International Film Festival, marking a historic first for Norwegian cinema. The director will be present at LEFFEST to talk about this trilogy.
