E52 • Making a Feature Film Over 52 Years • VIBEKE LØKKEBERG, dir. of ‘The Long Road to the Director’s Chair’ at Berlinale

This episode explores the journey of filmmaker Vibeke Løkkeberg, who spent 52 years creating her film, “The Long Road to the Director’s Chair,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Past cinema discussed includes Italian Neorealism and Andrei Tarkovsky.

Vibeke’s film highlights the struggles and achievements of women in the film industry, delving into the ongoing fight for equality in filmmaking, the challenges faced by female directors, and the impact of commercialism on artistic expression. 

The discussion also explores personal resilience, the significance of authenticity in storytelling, and the lessons learned throughout a lifetime of filmmaking.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Past Present Feature, Hosted by Marcus Mizelle
• 0:21 Presented by Valerion Projectors
• 1:03 Vibeke Løkkeberg, dir. of "The Long Road to the Director’s Chair" at the Berlin Film Festival

Transcript

Marcus Mizelle (01:04)
Today's episode explores the journey of filmmaker Vebeke Lokaberg, who spent 52 years creating her film, The Long Road to the Director's Chair,

which just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Past cinema discussed includes Italian neorealism and Andrei Tarkovsky. Vibeke's film highlights the struggles and achievements of women in the film industry, delving into the ongoing fight equality in filmmaking,

the challenges faced by female directors and the impact of commercialism on artistic expression.

The discussion also touches on personal resilience, the importance of authenticity and storytelling,

and the lessons learned throughout a lifetime of filmmaking.

Marcus Mizelle (01:40)
total time capsule. And I think the coolest thing about it, for me at least, is that it's over the course of what, 52 years in the making? Is that correct? Yes, that's right. Half a century? Like, wow. So that's like a fresh kind of take. I've not, you know, talked to anyone that's spent that much time making a film before.

As far as your filmmaking career and who you are and all those things, you are a Norwegian filmmaker. You're one of most, Norway's most prolific filmmakers, authors and cultural icons known for groundbreaking and often controversial films, such as the story of Camilla and HUD. The director brings her uncompromising vision and storytelling prowess to this project. And so this film, which is entitled The Long Road to the Director's Chair and you filmed it what?

73, is that correct? Yes, that's right. And basically, long story short, as I read at the end, you give this kind of breakdown at the end of the film, kind of displaying the path of the film from when you first shot it. You tried to raise funds at that time once you were done filming and then you you couldn't find funding, right? So it got shelved and then the footage got lost. would buy it. mean, TV didn't want to buy it. Of course not, because it was criticizing the media.

Yeah, let me read the long synopsis here. Created from remarkable footage captured in November 1973 during the first international women's film seminar at Arsenal Cinema in Berlin, this film delivers an inspiring narrative of ambition, bravery, and the relentless pursuit of equality through in-depth interviews with pioneering female filmmakers from around the globe. Yeah, they have all been directors, but I mean, they had difficulties, of course, during their lives.

Well, it's funny because I saw it's like so funny that one of them, I forget her name, Angela maybe I forget her name, but she directed the Neverending Story. Is that correct? The part two? That's right. I grew up with that movie. That was I didn't expect to see that. It was such a cool thing to see. What a great movie. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, as a kid, you know, it was so special. It like what? So it's not just the filmmakers that that were trying to make films. They were making films. They had a lot to say. And

And so this is film of the journey through time, a celebration of female courage and creativity and a reminder that the fight for equality in the arts must never be forgotten. So you couldn't find financing for this film at the time in the early seventies. That's how behind it still was then. Right. I mean, you think about the seventies, depending on who you are, of course, and you think, oh, that wasn't so long ago. But there were things that needed to be worked on, I guess. Right. I mean, it took you 50 years to get this movie made and completed.

and premiered at Berlin next week, I believe, or two weeks from now. Wow. I guess the question is what changed from then to now? That's the big point, you see? So because people in the profession, they say, well, what did change? Some percentage, we have been better, but not very much. So that's why I think many people in the profession is very interested in this movie.

because that is a shock. You say, well, we are making movies sometimes, but the boys, the guys, they will have much bigger budgets and they have other ⁓ subjects like Second World War one, two, three, four, if you do understand what I mean, And then we are trying to make movies with something to do with human rights, which is

telling something about our women life, which is hidden for the society. It's not like, you know, the guys don't really need it. What is the point with this movie is that the system behind the making of movie is not made for women, it's made for guys. Gotcha. So the system has to change. Not only that we are

Some lucky women can come into the director's chair and make a movie, which is not, you know, dangerous, not like a revelation or anything, but it's just a common movie. But I think it's difficult for women to come to that chair in media, in newspaper, in movies, because if you have this ⁓ power to move people's heart and brain, then you become dangerous.

And I think the system wants to have that control. It's much better to let the guys make the movies. They are making movies which is exciting and lots of killing, lot of, you know, explosion and all this kind. But I mean, we have seen it again and again and again in 15 years. So what is the plan really with us? So I think we have to do something because this was made in a time in 1973.

where we had very much of the same situation in the world with wars in the Middle East, Cambodia, in Vietnam. And we had 68 and we had the ⁓ French new wave and you had Godard who was kind of exposing ⁓ and kind of opposition to the American way of making movies. The Hollywood just factory.

At the time, yes. And it happened something new that new people could come to this ⁓ chair of directors and make a movie and have a voice. Easier, cheaper movies and also, you know. So now I think we are in this situation, which is similar to the 1973 ⁓ my goodness, Gretchen, we got things to talk about. Yes, it seems so. Yeah, you know, so that's why you cannot just go on.

making the same movie as we did in the same way, we have to be glamorous, the movies, and make simpler movies. In this way, you saw my movie. Yeah. Because it's more important to say something. It's not important anymore to show the technique, very high level we have or... The glossy, the glamour, the shine. Just like junk food, really, versus having something that's like sustenance, right? It's like this...

Something that makes you feel good as you're watching, after you're watching it. Something you take in that can actually be good for you, Like some nutrients versus just some mindless explosions, et cetera, action only. What does it really say? I mean, we talk about this all the time, me and my friends and people that come on this podcast. And it's like, there are some wonderful films out there and I really appreciate the film festival circuit like that. think that's more important than ever these days.

but you see like the Netflix of the world, American, the Hollywood ecosystem and what they pump out. I'm watching Amelia Perez the other night and I get about 10 minutes in and all of a sudden it pauses and this ad comes up on the side for some sort of like, I think the ad was so amazing. I should have taken a picture of it. It was the epitome of what we're talking about. It was like this ad for some sort of like beauty ⁓ line, some sort of beauty like body.

Like a picture of two half naked women, basically, they were selling some sort of beauty product and it and then it cuts back to Nellia Perez and then we're back and it's like Netflix, what are you doing? You know, and that's, and that's maybe one of the better versions of that situation. Anyways, it's frustrating because I think it, don't know, I'm guessing here, but I think it may come down to art versus commerce as always, right? Is that what it is? You know, the line between art and commerce, like, ⁓

show versus business. have people that the executives, for example, that run Hollywood that do have the keys to the car and they don't know how to drive it. And it's like, what can we do? I mean, I know we can do about it. We can make the film that we want to make and not try to bend to somebody else's expectations or whatever. But also it sucks because you want it to be seen. You want your films to be seen and heard and felt. And Hollywood

does own the pathway to a large distribution out into the world. What are your thoughts on what could change or what could happen or what maybe is happening in the world when it comes to distribution, right? An exhibition of films beyond just festivals. What can we do or what is being done? Like movie, for example. I movie's doing a good job. I think we should make our own distribution system for the first. we have to...

make people understand that you don't see what is happening in the world in mainstream media or in movies. That is what you see in the net. we all know that. So it's like the world is part in two. And the other part, is really ⁓ good people, they don't get the stuff that they need to feel good.

I'm afraid of all this evil things coming out, which is not, I'm with my grandchild, he's 10 years old and he wants me to see what he's looking at this games, you know, on the movie. And I see that what he's seeing is airplanes, nice airplanes and robots, which is in the movie. And then this airplane is going to crash, crash, that's the point. So in a way they are preparing children

on carcass and I think that is terrible. tried to tell them but maybe someone are hurt when they're you know, crushing this. No, no, this is not real. And mom, mom, it's not real. So but anyway, why are they doing this? And that is with the movie has always been the brutal things. Yeah, going into your brain. And you don't forget it. You will be part of it after you know, but you are not conscious of that. So

The movie I have made, I feel people remember it. Now, I showed the other day the film Camilla, which also I've been running in the States when it came out. People who have seen it in 84, they came back now. It was full of audience there. They want to see it again. I want to speak one more thing about just the state of the

I don't want to industry, I don't want to use that word. The state of film, state of cinema. I'm mostly worried about how the culture won't get passed down to the next generations as far as, I had a dinner party Friday night and I had a movie. I made everybody watch a movie afterwards and we showed ⁓ Swedish film, Roy Anderson's, The Pigeon Who Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. And it was a recommendation from a past podcast interview. I wanted to challenge these American, these people who aren't used to watching anything that's literally spoon fed to them.

And we watched it and it was like a painting. It was a beautiful whatever. I enjoyed it so much, but half the crowd was just like, I don't know. That wasn't very good. And it's not because it wasn't very good. It was because they're just used to this like non participatory way of watching a film. You know what I mean? They wanted to be, they used to just being given as opposed to having to think and like take it home with you. You can see that.

That is a tragic because it is our most sensitive stuff inside who is getting destroyed because the industry is made like this. You should see a film and you're going out of the cinema and you want to see another one. Yeah. Yeah. If you see a very good movie who impressed you ⁓ on your human side, you don't want to run into the cinema again and see a new movie. You want to kind of go around and taste and think of this movie. And that is bad.

for the industry because they just want you to go in and out and in and out. And I think ⁓ if women could ⁓ make more movies, I hope that this could be changed. that's why I think maybe that the system is keeping us away because they know that we want to make movies with our heart and our brain and to communicate with people and talk to them in another way.

And that is tragic that so few women are coming with movies and is coming to the money to make them. So that is why we are fighting for. And we have a seminar also in Berlin now around this movie where we talk about that. And I'm going to be interviewed from my daughter about how was it to make this movie, mama? Could you tell about it? And, you know, I can tell that

for me because I'm controversial, it's difficult to be controversial filmmaker and have children because the society, they are kind of punishing you because you are showing them what they don't want to see. Yeah, then they react from there. As data from the Celluloid Ceiling Study sponsored by San Diego State shows, the percentage of women working as directors, writers, editors, producers, and cinematographers on the 250 highest grossing US movies

is only rising slowly. Still only 25 % of those roles are filled by women in 2021. So yeah, so there's still, you're saying this isn't just a thing of the past. It's still a situation where women are not being allowed, being given or being sought out, et cetera, to fill these roles. It's mainly men still. I think about a movie, a documentary that I love so much. And it's called, Camera Person. Have you seen this? No. It's by Kirsten Johnson and

And it me, she's from America actually. She is a documentary cinematographer and she took all of her favorite kind of clips from each project and put it into this large kind of montage. It's very observational and made it into a feature documentary. It's called Camera Person. And it reminded me of what one of the women said in your film. It was the one that was the first woman to become the female cinematographer in some field. she was like,

What am I supposed to say? I'm not a cameraman and they don't have a saying of camera woman. So what am I? And I immediately thought of your camera person, you know, I guess, like, but I thought about that documentary and this podcast is always trying to seek out past films that can relate to the current one that we're talking about. I love it so much. Yeah. You should check it out. Camera person. Yeah. Some criterion, I believe. Can you tell me what past films most historically? Well,

I talked about the new way and I talked about Italian neorealism. That was really my school in a way. And also Tarkovsky in the end interested me very much. Trifon, Boudard, Antonioni, Fellini. This is my basic school and Bergman, of course. Can I give you a question? Are you coming to Berlin?

Well, you know what? I was thinking about it actually, and I don't think I am. I was on the fence just because it's just the timing of it and all that. But I will say I have been to the Berlin Film Festival. That energy infected me. So it's real. think ⁓ it's a beautiful place, a beautiful, beautiful thing. You think so? Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah. I mean, have you premiered in Berlin before? Berlin now? Yeah. My first movie where I

I played the lead and I was writing scripts and was in Berlin in 66, I think. Yeah. Gosh, I have so much to talk to you about. Because you're also an actress. You've been in your films. You've been doing this for a while. And I just really so appreciate you taking the time to talk to me because I know you have information that we all need. But I have a question. What is it like? I've acted in a movie that I've tried to direct before and I was completely lost.

You've done this many times where you're in it and you're in it. is the big, is there a big trick to like maintaining, I don't know, like, you know, not being in the weeds with it. How do you direct yourself? How do you direct and be in your own film? It's very difficult. Well, I saw Clint Eastwood do that. So why not? There you go. There you go. A man can do it. That's the truth. Yeah, that's it. I don't find it difficult because I've seen kind of bored being just an actress.

in a movie because I have to wait for the director and the lighting and all this. So when I'm a director and actress, I can work all the time. I got you. And you can just immediately do what you need to do, right? As an actor. Yeah, I use my energy all the time. Now, here's a question for you that's related to this conversation, to your latest movie. Would you prefer actor or actress? Actress, I guess, right? You just said actor.

could be called actor or actress, is that what you said? Yeah. Oh well. To be an actor? I'm, you know, I'm old-fashioned. I don't think of it really, but okay, same for me. Same for me, okay. Yeah. I have another random question for you. What was, I'm a big Terence Stamp fan. How was he to work with me? I have been working with him. He was wonderful. Terence Stamp was fantastic. He's a fantastic actor.

Yeah, he was playing in Hoos, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He seems like a lovely, lovely, lovely man. beautiful. And he was also, we were also in con with that movie. that's right. You premiered it, Yeah. You got... It was funny because he was really up for a small... He just wanted to have a small part in my movie. He was visiting the set. And then I said, maybe you would like a bigger part. I can write you in.

play another part, which is far more important. The main part, really. I love that. And because he liked so much the way we worked. Yeah. We were on an island in the west coast of Norway. Patricia Hodge was also there. And then he said, I would love to work in this movie because this reminds me of the time where I was young and when I was in Italy and made movies with the directors there. It's not

So, you know, like, like it is in England or in America. So he said yes to have this part. How was he visiting on set? Were you guys friends and he knows somebody else that was there? How was he there physically? He is very disciplined. He's English, you know, he is discreet and distant. I like the English. And I think that was very important to kind of

work with actors from Sweden who has another culture, distant, and Norwegian, which is very much like farmers in a way, ⁓ and emotional, show their emotions all the time. And up to these distant actors who were kind of having another culture, they brought another culture in their acting. So that is fantastic.

And that's the beautiful thing about Europe. feel like it's so many wonderful cultures in this area. This space. mean, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah, it is. As an American, it's so strange to be able to go there and then to just hop on a train and one hour later you're in a different speaking country. It's crazy. And you're not used to it. Yes, that's right. And also there are different characters. Oh my God. Yes. Different cinema styles. I mean, it's wonderful. Europe is my favorite. I love Europe so much.

You've been a lot to Europe. I've been to Amsterdam, Paris, all the usual places, London, Berlin. Yeah. know, I've been to Belgium, Brussels. Italy? I've not been to Italy. Have you been to Italy? No, it's killing me. Oh, you have to go. I know, keep, I know, I know. a farm there. Oh, really? We had a farm in Tuscany. Oh my gosh. want to go to Florence immediately. What do you suggest? Rome, Florence, Venice? You have to come to Rome first.

And if you're in says you have to go to all Tuscany, if you're in Rome and Siena. I'm just going to go. I just need to get on a plane and go. That's what I need to do. But the city. But I tell you the culture. I met Monica Vitti. You know, Monica Vitti. Yes. From Antonio. We were in common. We were having ⁓ we're sitting together and having dinner. And then I told her we just bought a farm in in Tuscany as a farmer.

Yeah. On the countryside. then she said, that's a good choice because that's where you find the old culture. the city, it is destroyed. I see. anyway, the city is old. I can relate to that. Yeah. we had olives trees, a lot of them, and we could make olive oil. Oh my goodness. And I was writing books instead of making movies because I was bad for making movies in 10, 20 years.

here in Norway. Really? You were banned legitimately? I was really. Can we talk about that? Yeah, we can do. Why banned? How did that happen? Who banned you? like what? Well, it's an interesting story because as I told you, I went into very controversial subject on my movies. And the last movie I made was this hoot. ⁓

which we talked about and that was about incest and rape of women. was from 1890, the period movie. But it was then I was kind of judged as a man hater. didn't talk about what the film was about. They just talked about it was long and expensive.

warring and dark, then they felt like I didn't deserve really to be the state didn't, you know, anymore like to give me money for this movie. And then we had a big crisis. So I went to Yugoslavia and I made a movie in the war. And when I came home, ⁓ everybody kind of laughed. It was the first war in Europe since the second world war. So I felt obliged to go.

and meet people I knew who were directors and worked in movies and to make a movie, documentary, teach them documentary of the conflict there. But when I came home, there was nothing. There was, you know, me going there in jeans and, know, with my long hair playing a part myself. And then it became very much worse. And then they told me that I couldn't work with my husband as a producer, which I did.

I couldn't work with my children. couldn't play in my movie. I couldn't write my own script. I had to find another producer, production company, and all this just made a big mess because I lost the final cut. I lost the ability to make my script and to work naturally with my family. then I understood we were kind of ruined. So that was difficult. So they say,

You have to have a writer to write your script. And then instead I wrote a novel myself and that became a big success. So I continue by making novels like six novels during this year. But when the war broke out in Gaza and I saw these children, you know what happened to them? I said, I have to go down there and make a movie.

Then I started to make a movie after 20 years. That film is called Tears of Gaza. Tears of Gaza, okay. You can read about it. I have a question for you. What is inside of you? Obviously, it's something inside of you to keep going, to pivot, to take no for an answer. You know, not everybody's like that. Like you're like that, apparently. Where does that come from for you? And I'm kind of trying to tie this in with the same question of origins of a filmmaker for you. Like what was your... What makes you...

What made you and still makes you want to do to make films at any means necessary? Even when people are saying you can't. That's the best thing I can have. say you cannot. You cannot really go first. To go uphill is the best thing I can do. Now, well, it comes from being born ⁓ just in the world, the end of the war.

So you see that we had a lucky situation where my commune was bombed by the allies, not the Germans. And that was a big problem because that was something we could just speak about inside the apartments. We couldn't talk about it outside because then we were deemed like we were on the wrong side. But all these women.

who was mothers who lived in that street, they lost their children and they were not allowed to speak about it. And I mean, as always, the school are bombed and almost 70 people, ⁓ I mean, kids were bombed, almost my brother too, my grandfather, my aunt and her baby and my uncles. So, I mean, we had that destiny and I understood very quick.

that the society in a way was caught in two. You had to follow the line to be accepted. If you're not following the line, you are having a risky life. So I was very much attracted to the last one to have a situation where I could try out society and art and see the borderline for art.

I became in a way, political but also very much artistic in my movies because I wanted to reach the heart and mind and not only the intellectual or the, you know, so I'm working on all sides to kind of impress people with my message. ⁓ I love it. So you, people are products of their environment and you come into it and it's like, you just, you know what you know at that point. I mean,

Yeah, I have another luggage than younger people in the film industry. And I used it. Yeah. And you used it. Yeah. And you kept on going. You didn't stop when somebody tried to tell you to stop, too. That's the other big thing that sticks out to me. You know what I mean? Like, it's so much easier to say, OK, I did this. I'm OK now. It's not going to work. Right. People throw their hands up. But you didn't throw your hands up. You just pivoted or you just continued on.

which is a big deal. Yeah, mean, painters, they're painting to their dying. Why shouldn't I make movies until I die? mean, I don't see reason for why not. If I'm not having dementia or something, one will tell me, you you have to stop now because you do have dementia. Oh, I love it. I think about this all the time. I don't know why. Maybe I'm too existential for my own good.

But just about, you know, I'm so happy that I'm a filmmaker too, because we can do this until the day we die, right? I mean, it's like, you know, some people's professions, they cannot, that's not the situation. I feel very fortunate when it comes to Can tell me about your thing? Can you tell me about My films. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Well, you know, I was making fiction films for a minute and came up with the American films that we lightly touched on, you know, these American films and...

and I was trying to make my own genre films with micro budgets, know, $10,000, whatever. And I made a few of those and it was really great. ⁓ But then I realized about three features in that, okay, I am paying too much, I'm trying to replicate. I didn't see it as replication at the time, but now I do where I was paying too much homage to what's already been made. And I was just running into a wall and getting no, like, it felt like an abusive relationship. And...

You know what mean? So much money, so much time and not enough reward or any of it. And then I. Yeah, you had a big reward. know. I just want something. And look, I realized, too, like what I want the most is to just I want to give what I was given, which is like, you know, even though I'm from a small town in North Carolina, you know, very bored when I went to the movie theater and I watched a good film. And I like the 90s films from America, like, you know, the genre films. Like, I think there was a lot of great stuff.

And I came up on that. I wanted to simply make people feel the way that those movies made me feel. And I could totally forget about whatever I'm going through in North and Kenston, North Carolina. So when I wasn't getting that and I was still trying to make movies, I had a conversation with myself and said, what is going on here? And at the same time, my hometown called it's complete dramatic full circle moment where my hometown has the most basketball player NBA draft picks in the world per capita.

but we also have the highest crime rate in the state of North Carolina. And so I said, let me go and make a documentary. Well, let me actually, my hard head was still thinking on fiction, fiction, fiction, like, oh, I to make a fiction film. And then I realized it's all already there. the people, and I realized also I want authenticity. I don't want to have no offense to actors, but I don't want to be at the mercy of a performance or anything that doesn't feel real.

that was appealing enough for me to go and make the documentary. And then once I made this documentary, absolutely fell in love with documentary. And I've making documentary ever since. we got the reward, the whole, PBS has been really lovely. I think PBS, and I wanted to, I'm glad that we actually brought this up because PBS, it's an American broadcast system, but they still have an honorable thing about them, where you can see a lot of

quality stuff up there, you know, and it's not like, it's not, it's not really, and it's more regional focused. It's not really taken over yet by, or not yet. It's not really affected or infected by say Hollywood or mainstream kind of stuff. my next film after that, I made a feature doc about this restaurant trying to survive COVID with this wonderful French immigrant. And it just made sense. Like the little restaurant was in front of, it was in between KFC and McDonald's, these corporate giants with this little mom and pop in the middle.

you know, trying to hang on with all the best food and everybody loves it. And yet they're still on the verge of death when these crappy, you know, conglomerates are just cruising right along. McDonald's getting more and more people through the drive-through. Anyways, I realized that like some of the best stories are right in front of you and some of the best everything is right in front of you at all times. It's all about what do I notice? What do I notice? What am I not noticing? What do I not know? Or what am I simply trying?

too hard to control right now. How do I take a breath and just kind of look for a second? I've been making documentaries and those first two documentaries, won two, we won Emmy for each one of those, which is nice. It's a rewarding thing. I don't do it for Emmys. That's fantastic. Thank you. It was just very lovely because it also gets, you know, it gets more eyeballs on it once you get that kind of little social stamp of a, you know what I mean? The social cache. Cause that's part of this game is like increasing this social cache and then

going from there, but now I've been filming, I've been post on my latest doc and it's really fun. I've been filming this private investigator around Los Angeles for three years and it's him and his side, it's him and his protege. And they're trying to solve the murder of the main detective's mentor. Real story, true story. So I'm very, very happy, excited about it. That's what I've been doing. And in between, I've just been doing this podcast and raising a five-year-old. So yeah.

I am 42 years old. old are you? 32. You could be my child. Oh my goodness. Well, you know, I think about, I feel like I'm still 22 sometimes. It's funny. I feel like an old man, which is ridiculous, but it took me 20, it took me 20, took me 30 years to get to Los Angeles, 28 years, 29 years to figure out how to even get here. You know? And then once I got here, I could, you kind of just get

I don't know, at least for me, you get a better sense of yourself when you're kind of swimming around in the big pool. You kind of really do see when you're capable of. And it's all about pivoting. And I want to tie this back in with you as far as maybe we have something in common where, you know, it's not, you don't just sit with something if you don't like it. You got to do something about it. You got to maybe do something different or maybe you do the same thing and you go harder, but you got to do something. You can't give up. And I do see, I've seen a lot of people that give up.

with more people than not, it's just not an option. You can't consider that. And the other good thing about when it gets really hard is usually when it seems to get, it's about to get really good. Would you agree with that? I agree. I agree. I mean, why should we think that we came to a sofa? We are coming here to respond on the world like it is. We have to use our talent. But also why not? We had nothing to lose, you know?

like we're all going to die one day anyways, not to be dark about it. But you know, it's like, why not go for it? It makes no sense not to just go for it. Yeah, especially now we have to be inspired by the world's earnings so crazy, you know, mean, not just inspired by that, but inspired to continue to do our work. Does something activate you when things get that way? Because I feel I get activated when I get when I feel pushed or when I feel injustice or when I feel like I need to say something. absolutely.

And I don't understand why not everybody does that. But that's the truth. They don't. We have to keep going, You know, it's so important. And you're so young. Imagine being so young. I'm just trying to get as much done as I can. Well, you know, but look at your career, too. I you've had a hell of a career. And it's like this film that took 52 years to from from start to finish. Were you ever frustrated with how long it took?

And also like, I couldn't think of it, you know, because they said no. And I had, made all the movies in 73 too. So I was very active. So I just had to forget it. And it was the national museum who were contacting me and saying, hello, we found something. might see your movie. And did you make a movie in German in 1973? Yes, I did. said.

I really, was not thinking more about that movie because it was so definitely no. This one, we will never give money to. I mean, this whole filmmaking medium is what? hundred and what? 30 years old? So, you know, like your movie took almost a third, it took a third of that length. I mean, it's such a cool thing to like, to not give up. Your movie is similar to you and right into just being a resilient person.

Like where it's like, it's now it's done, even though it 52 years, but now it's done. And now you're premiering it at one of the biggest film festivals in the world at the perfect place, right? Where it was filmed also, just time in general is so fascinating, especially gaps in time, like 50 years, how much has changed from when you started filming this movie into where you're now premiering it? What would you say has changed for the best since then in relation to, know, feminism and being a woman? Well, of course it has had some things.

for women who made life decisions. It does. But I feel, I mean, the power is not given to us. So we have to take it if you want to change, you know. So we have believed in that human rights are given us. We were having a lot of, you know, things, you know, where the human feeling should be, come first, but it doesn't. The politics come first. The power is coming first.

So it eliminates the human side of life and, you know, to protect the child from war, to protect women from war. We cannot do that. So then we lost that game. We lost that ideal. And that is a big sorrow, I think, to see in this time. Amazing. But you feel a sense of completion with this movie?

I you guys got to feel good to get it out there, right? mean, no, no, I have a producer, you know, and he is much more than I am. So now he found that we have to bring with us the photographer to Berlin to make interview with all these older women and myself. And we have to make a theory, you know, I was kind of modest. I thought, well, we have finally made this film, but he wants to continue.

And he, but he is only 53 or 54. Oh, he's in my league. He's in my, yeah. You talk to him, you know. Yeah, yeah. This is Anders, correct? Anders Tangen, yes. He has lived in LA for four years, so he has worked in American movies and you know, he knows the way to do it. Amazing. But anyway, he's not the typical Norwegian. Okay, nice. I want to talk to him then. I have two more questions for you. What are you working on next? Do you have a project in the works?

Well, he made me know work, continue work on this project. So I have some, since I write books, I have some scripts inside the film institute. So we will see if I can get some money on that. When you call me next time, I'll tell you. I love it. I love it. Let's do it again for sure. I have one more question for you. What is the thing that you would go back and tell your early filmmaking self, if anything?

Now, what you learned along your journey, is there anything you would go back and tell your early filmmaking self? The most important, I think, is to have a producer who understands you, who understands what you're doing. Because otherwise you can just write books. Because to build up a production is hard work. And I do respect the other side of that, of making films.

This you're not aware of when you have these dreams and you try to do things, but that's very important. So I have been lucky with that. Gotcha. Well, I think you're amazing. I really appreciate the time.