The Barber of Tromsø

Abdoullahi & Bente Sundsvold

Year of Production: 2002
Category: B-film
Duration: 19 min.
Sound: mono
Language: Norwegian
English Subtitles


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The film pictures the last barber of Tromsø, Gunnar Kirkvik. The craftsmanship of shaving with a razor is no longer much asked for. Besides his razors were lost in a burglary 20 years ago. The film’s objective is to illuminate the challenges of knowledge transmission within oral traditions. It shows the vulnerable interdependence between personal memory/ skills and the social situations necessary for this knowledge to be operative. It aims at highlighting an institution in Tromsø, Føhn Herrefrisør, where people meet on the conditions of long term relationships. As Gunnar himself states: ‘It is not for the money, it is for the social dimension, for meeting old customers- seeing people in general.’

Copyright: 2002 Visual Cultural Studies, University of Tromsø
For distribution, please contact:
Gøril Skotnes
Marit Gjertsen