UPCOMING FILMS

Synopsis

"There is no health without mental health, and there is no mental health without human rights” begins, The Recovery Channel from Filmmaker Ellen Ugelstad. Subverting traditional documentary structure to deliver authentic voices and experiences, Ugelstad gives room for reflection from each unique perspective on mental health and recovery.

The Recovery Channel is both a personal and a political film. The film is based on the directors own experiences with a younger brother who has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for 25 years. The film explores what it is like to be deprived of freedom while calling for a more humanistic view on mental illness.

The film takes an extreme and unflinching look at mental health as a human right. A human right often violated by lack of resources and training, and outdated medical treatments designed to coerce a patient, not rehabilitate them.

Synopsis

In 1975, when Lene Berg was nine years old, her father the film-director and author Arnljot Berg was arrested and imprisoned in Paris for the murder of his wife (the artist's stepmother). This dramatic childhood experience is the starting point for this film, which deals with questions of memory, fantasy, violence, guilt and identity through several points of view, including footage from some of Arnljot Berg's films.

Supported by
The Norwegian Film Institute
Viken Film Center
The Audiovisual Fund of Norway
The Freedom of Expression Foundation
The Art Council of Norway

Synopsis

Society delves into the complexities of human society and the structures that shape it. Set in both Norway and Indonesia, the film juxtaposes two vastly different cultures to examine  themes of inclusion and oppression, isolation and safety. The film poses thought-provoking questions about what we truly value in society, and what we are willing to fight to preserve or let go of, even if it causes pain. The film explores the idea that society is an evolving concept, one that can disappear and be recreated

Supported by
The Norwegian Film Institute
Viken Film Center
The Audiovisual Fund of Norway
The Freedom of Expression Foundation
The Bergesen Foundation

Synopsis

In this multiplot narrative, Wilson, a literature professor from Kenya, teams up with textile artists at an art residency in Lofoten to save his village from drought, while Jone, a Christian idealist, fights to provide work opportunities for paperless immigrants in Norway, but his efforts are met with resistance from the legal system. Edith, a retired social worker, travels to her cabin in the mountain and must confront personal issues of trust and forgiveness with her recently divorced housekeeper while Trine, a stewardess, struggles with anxiety as she faces the traumas of her familys past as she prepares her speech for her mother's 70th birthday party. In the meantime Hanne, a blind student, divides her classroom with her dominating presence as she fights for her own independence and the acceptance of her peers.



As these interconnected stories unfold, the film offers a contemporary portrait of Scandinavian life; good intentions are put to the test as the charachters navigate the complexities of relationships, privileges, social justice and equality with a dark comedic tone and a satirical lens.

The film takes us on a cinematic journey through the landscapes of five different locations in Norway, capturing the country's diverse landscapes, from the majestic fjords and towering mountains to the rugged coastline. It´s a witty and incisive commentary on the human condition, exposing the naivety and idealism of Scandinavian people.

Synopsis

Megaheartz is a hybrid documentary that takes you on an inward trip, following four intersecting stories about love and madness. There is Emma, who obsesses about her former lover Ernie. He wants her to come to Ibiza and leave everything behind. Sofie, who holds on to a souvenir that ties her to the past. Jaquline, who bounces between The Grand Hotel and rehab. Her recurring question is - why do we destroy ourselves to the extent that we are reborn again? We also meet the director Emily, who receives a phone call from her grandmother that forces her to revisit a house somewhere in the back of her memory.

Megaheartz is a film that is boiling, leaking and bursting. It takes place in the energy right before something breaks. An unpredictable and visually intense expression about wanting to restart your life.

Just let go and give in to the turmoil of your own mind.

Supported by
The Norwegian Film Institute
Film Stockholm
The Swedish Film Institute
Film Varmland
Story AB
Twentyone Pictures AS
Aftenposten

Synopsis

In a respite care home for children and youth with intellectual disabilities, a team of social workers navigate the unique challenges of each day while maintaining a warm and humorous ecosystem. When a young occupant with down syndrome reveals her pregnancy and desire to keep it, team leader Brynhild must navigate the legal and ethical complexities while also being personally affected by the situation.

Supported by
The Norwegian Film Institute
Western Norway Film Fund
The Freedom of Expression Foundation
Møre and Romsdal County Municipality

PREVIOUS FILMS

Synopsis

Klara is a film about solitude and togetherness. With inspiration from Ravel's Bolero, Klara is entering a rite-de-passage. Like in a trance, she is giving birth to something new within herself - manifesting her existence to the world.

Synopsis

A daughter has invited her mother to an underwater restaurant to celebrate her 70th birthday. Their seemingly mundane conversation raises questions about individual and society, belonging and rejection.

#takeyourmomfordinner

Jury statement, The Golden Chair Award

“Immersed in an intimate and surreal setting, the jury was so impressed by the strong filmmaking and wonderfully subtle and nuanced performances that allow the audience to experience the history and generational differences of these two women. Within the context of their relationship, we not only examine what it means to help others, but what it means to be a human being in today’s society.”
Jury: Lisa Ogdie, Sundance Film Festival, Jason Andersen, Toronto International Film Festival and Vibeke Heide, Filmmaker (NO)

TRAILER

Synopsis

The Green Valley is a shortfilm that explores the connection between politics, art and dailylife in a multicultural neighborhood in Oslo. The film is inspired by three real events that took place in the director´s neighborhood.

Jury statement, The Golden Chair Award

This film was ambigious, yet elegant, drawing on real events to provoke complex questions about privilege and interconnectedness. Despite it dramatic implications, it maintained a sense of humor and playfulness that engaged throughout.
Jason Anderson, Toronto International Filmfestival, Lisa Ogdie Sundance Filmfilmestival, Fredrick Howard, Producer, Ingvild Søderlind, Director

TRAILER

A filmessay about power and powerlessness in psychiatric healthcare.

Synopsis
Through five close and personal testimonies, the film highlights power structures in the health service told by both users, relatives and employees. What does the feeling of powerlessness do to your mental health and to your own feeling of self? How is it to live with the feeling of powerlessness over a longer period of time? How does it affect the people that exercise power?

Documentary, 2018
HD 16:9
Duration: 68 min

Credits
Director: Ellen Ugelstad
Script: Einar Sverdrup and Ellen Ugelstad
Cinematography: Audun G. Magnæs and Ellen Ugelstad
Produced by: Twentyone Pictures AS

Supported by
Norwegian Filminstitute, Viken Film Center, The Audiovisual Fund Of Norway, The Norwegian Extrafoundation for Health And Rehabilitation,
The Freedom Of Expression Foundation,
Visual Arts Foundation and Twentyone Pictures. 

Festivals & Screenings
Oslo Pix, 6. June 2018
Oslo Pix politikk, 7. June 2018
Bergen Internasjonale FIlm Festival, October 2018
Humans International Film Festival, Valencia, Spain February 2019
HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN WRONGS, 2019
DokFilm Volda, April 2019
Nordic Docs, Fredrikstad, May 2019

Synopsis

In this kafkaesque meeting a mother and her son is fighting a clogged bureaucracy that intensify the personal suffering it is supposed to remedy. The story is based on the directors own experiences with her brother suffering from schizophrenia. The film is inspired by both theater and documentary.

Documentary / Hybrid Short, 2017
HD Red 16:9
Duration: 14.49 min

Prizes
Honorary Mention, Nordic Docs
The Hourglass, Writers Guild of Norway

Director: Ellen Ugelstad
Cinematography: Audun Magnæs
Editor: Kirsti Marie Hougen, Ellen Ugelstad
Produced by: Ellen Ugelstad, Twentyone Pictures

Supported by
Norwegian Filminstitute LAB (NFI), The Freedom Of Expression Foundation (Fritt Ord) and Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond

Festivals & Screenings
Look and Roll, Switzerland September 2018
Stavanger Theatre, Mental Health Concerence 2017
AMIFF, Artic Moving Image & Film Festival, Harstad, 2017
Høstutstillingen 2017
ØyaKino 2017
Nettkino, july 2017
Cinemateket, Norwegian Shorts
Nordic Docs 2017, Fredrikstad
The Norwegian Shortfilmfestival, 2017

JURY STATEMENT THE NORWEGIAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL THE HOURGLASS AWARD

This year’s HOURGLASS award is given by the Writers Guild of Norway, go to a film where the screenplay shines through a complicated piece of work. The film masterfully manages to describe a situation and tell a story that we as an audience know its fiction, but that always feels real. That´s not easy. The films have a clear and apparent story that helps us to understand the frustration and powerlessness the people in the film feels. It’s a story that moves us emotionally while we were watching and sticks around after we have seen it. It shows a side bureaucracy specifically mental health care, that cannot turn our backs to. How mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, often have to put their life on hold in order to care of their sick ones. All because the system is unable to take care of them. This year’s winner is an important film and though it’s a screenplay, it manages to portrait exactly this reality.

TRAILER

- It takes a lot of nerve to be admitted

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