Saturday, April 21st - 7:30 pm - Bell Auditorium   Director: Aslak Aarhus   Director Invited   Ole Bull was Norway’s first superstar. His bath water was sold in perfume bottles to his fans, and he conquered the world while his children and wife were neglected. He was the violin king who seduced both women and his audience. His life was crazy and without limits, just like Bull himself. He was the great idol of his times, and a burning nationalist.

He was an icon in the struggle for making Norway an independent nation. He paved the way for Ibsen and Bjørnson. He travelled restlessly around the world while his French wife stood crying in despair in the streets of Bergen. This drama, about the violin king who won the world but lost those closest to him, is what we will be offered on the big screen.

Ole Bull, “folk hero” to many Minnesotans of Norwegian extraction, is memoralized with a huge bronze statue in Loring Park, Minneapolis, site for years of the annual May 17 (Sittende Mai) celebration.

Cast: Henning Kraggerud, Bjørn Wilberg Andersen, Andrea Bræin Hovig, Sven Nordin

In Norwegian with English subtitles, 90 minutes, 2006, DigiBeta.

Presented by: Ingebretsen’s and University of Minnesota European Studies Consortium