Movies for the people

Movies for the people
1946 – the premiere of the film Intermezzo starring Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard. Folken specialises in showing western, action and suspense movies, which causes the local paper Stavanger Aftenblad to nickname the theatre as the ‘Revolver House’.

The first permanent cinema for people in Stavanger opens at the Hotel Victoria in 1905. Five years later the town has eight cinemas. In 1911, there are 1.2 million visits to the cinema in Stavanger alone. Tough competition means that cinemas are offering a daring selection of films and cheap tickets. Violent an erotic content arouses moral indignation in many circles. The film media is for a long time seen as harmful to children, and teachers demand control and censorship.

In 1987, sometime after the storm has passed, the cinema moves from Folken to the Sølvberget centre, and Folken

becomes a meeting place for Stavanger’s students, run by a student community foundation