Watch the recording of the Masterclass with Margreth Olin in conversation with Noe Mendelle about being a woman filmmaker in Norway, building trust with the protagonists and tackling moving, inspiring and heartbreaking stories through documentary.
Margreth Olin was born in Stranda, Sunnmøre, Norway and studied at the Volda College and the University of Bergen and Oslo. She made her directorial debut with the school production In the House of Love in 1995. In 1998 her first full-length documentary In the House of Angels was released theatrically in Norway. It later received many prizes, among them the Amanda for best documentary. Her breakthrough came with the film My Body which also won the Amanda. It won The Golden Chair and the Audience award at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad. My Body created a big debate in the media. It won prices abroad where it participated at numerous festivals. Among them it was nominated and given a diploma at the Silver Wolf competition IDFA 2002. “Raw Youth” has been seen by more than 60 000 at Norwegian cinemas and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Documentary in 2005. The Angel was the Best foreign language film Norwegian Oscar entry in 2010. Nowhere Home (2012), about lone minor asylum seeking children, created a huge debate in Norway and screened at numerous festivals and conferences internationally. Olin is one of 6 directors in Wim Wenders Catedrals of Culture (2013), where she directed the episode from the Oslo OperaHouse, premiered at Berlinale 2014. Olin’s documentary Doing Good is one of the highest grossing documentaries ever in Norway. Her last film Self Portrait (2020) screened at numerous film festivals and has won seven awards internationally.
The film is a portrait of an artist and a portrait of a deadly disease. During the last years, Lene Marie Fossen became recognized as a world class photographer. She has been suffering from severe anorexia since the age of ten. She had a unique photo-project; expose the shame and confront the disease. Her photo art is naked and honest.
Self Portrait is a film about the power of art. It raises important questions about what treatment one who suffers from severe anorexia needs. The audience gets to meet an unusual girl in a raw and poetic film.
Watch the trailer here.
