A Creature of the Chest

One Sunday morning, 6-year-old Zora discovers a lifeless man under the living room table in the apartment where she lives with her mother. She wakes her mother and says: "There's a dead man under the table." This is the beginning of a story where an artist rediscovers his forgotten daughter and through her finds a visual metaphor for the anxiety and loss of meaning in his own life.

ON THE FILM'S ORIGIN: A Creature of the Chest was shot on Super 16 mm in December 1991, and the finished 35 mm print was presented for its premiere screening at The Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad June 1992. The film was scanned and digitized to 4K in 2017 and completed with an entirely redesigned soundtrack August 2019. Check out the attachment "On the origin of 'A Creature of the Chest'" for more information about the film.

  • Odd Magnus Grimeland
    Director
    Voices (1991), A Creature of the Chest (1992), The Buses (1993, digital version 2017), A New Journey (2019)
  • Odd Magnus Grimeland
    Writer
    Same as above
  • Svein Hovde
    Producer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396988/
  • Odd Magnus Grimeland
    Producer
    Producer of digital version of this film, as well as The Buses and Voices. Co-producer of A New Journey
  • Lasse Kolsrud
    Key Cast
    "Andres"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0464389/
  • Morten M. Faldaas
    Key Cast
    "Johannes"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0266069/
  • Siv C. Hamre
    Key Cast
    "Zora"
  • Esther Haug
    Key Cast
    "Kaja"
  • Reidar Sørensen
    Key Cast
    "Policeman"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0845719/
  • Svenn Jakobsen
    Composer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0415953/
  • Inge-Lise Langfeldt
    Editor
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0486366/
  • Merete Ekeheien
    Art direction
    The Buses, and many others
  • Pål Bugge Haagenrud
    Director of Photography
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0351777/
  • Christian Berg-Nielsen
    Grading digital version 2019
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3379558/
  • Øistein Boassen
    Remix and digital completion 2019
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0090216/
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Dyret i brystet
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    26 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 23, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    77,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Norway
  • Country of Filming:
    Norway
  • Language:
    Norwegian
  • Shooting Format:
    Super 16 mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • The Norwegian Short Film Festival
    Grimstad
    Norway
    June 17, 1992
    World premiere
    Official selection, Norwegian short films
  • Rockefeller Cinema
    Oslo
    Norway
    June 24, 1992
    Highlights from The Norwegian Short Film Festival
  • Vega Cinema
    Oslo
    Norway
    January 20, 2020
    Part of retrospective Odd M. Grimeland: Short films 1992 -2019
Distribution Information
  • Grimeland Film
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Odd Magnus Grimeland

Born in 1965. Educated at The London International Film School 1986-1988. Active as a film worker and director from 1989-1996, and from 2016 to the present.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I aim to make films that channel both material and inner worlds, and seek to tell strong stories with poetic resonance.