False Belief is the story of a couple entangled in the gentrification of a neighborhood in New York, where the original residents are being pushed out. In 2008, the Norwegian artist Lene Berg moves to Harlem to be with her partner, D, a black publisher. After giving a statement to the police about harassment from a neighbour, D is arrested himself. But for what? This becomes the start of a perilous journey where D's belief in the justice system makes him a hostage in the hands of institutions he thought would protect him. But what is D's conviction based on? Is he an everyday hero, or is he naive, not understanding the rules of the game? Doesn't he know that thousands of black men are daily sent to prison in the USA for minor offences? How could he believe that his experience would be any different?

With D's candid storytelling, accompanied by a rich visual material comprising moving images and stills, collages and cardboard cutouts, legal documents, and Berg's own words, the film attempts to make sense of an absurd sequence of events, a sequence that eventually has severe consequences for the couple. By examining what may seem like a small and isolated case, False Belief provides insight into how the police and prosecution are actively used as weapons against minorities and dissenters in a country that prides itself on being their foremost defenders.

False Belief had its world premiere in the Forum Expanded - program at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and is supported by institutions such as Kunstnernes Hus, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Sørnorsk Filmsenter, and the Norwegian Film Institute.

Lene Berg (f. 1965 i Oslo) studerte film på Dramatiska Institutet i Stockholm. I 1997 regisserte hun spillefilmen En Kvinnas Huvud (A Woman's Head). Berg har siden jobbet i en rekke ulike formater og produsert verk for gallerier, museum og det offentlig rom. Hun har regissert en rekke kortfilmer i tillegg til langfilmene Kopfkino (2012) og Gompen og andre beretninger om overvåking i Norge 1948-1989 (2014) - to filmer som springer ut fra hennes interesse for individer og grupper som bryter med politiske og sosiale normer.