FILMMAKERS 2018-2021

Johanna Pyykkö (b. 1984) has a bachelor in Directing from The Norwegian Film School (2016) and a Higher Vocational Education from Alma Screenwriters i Sweden. She has made award-winning short films which have been shown at international festivals, and has been in the writing room for various drama series, among other as an episode writer for the critically acclaimed tv-series Heimebane. Her short film The Manila Lover was selected in competition at the International Critic’s Week (Semaine de la Critique) under Cannes film festival (2019) and was positively reviewed by SCREENDAILY and NY TID. The British Film Institute named it as “one of the best short films in Cannes this year”. In 2022 she is shooting her first feature “EBBA”.

Simon Tillaas (b. 1985) is a film director who completed his education at the Norwegian film school in Lillehammer in 2014. His graduation film “The Small Death”, won national and international prizes, in particular one of the most prestigious European film prizes for film students: VFF Young Talent Award at The International Festival of Film Schools in Munich. Simon took part in the talent programme Artex and is now working with new longer form projects both within documentary and fiction. His short “Wild Horses” was completed in 2020.

Yenni Lee (b. 1985) has an MFA from the Akademin Valand in Göteborg. Her critical and norm challenging films were nominated for many prizes including Grimstad, Nordisk Panorama, Black Nights Film Festival, Göteborg Filmfestival, Locarno Festival, SXSW and Outfest.Themes such as power, sexuality and death dominate her films, in which she attempts to detach the viewer from the experience of time and space in order to understand the limits of pain. Her first feature “Explosions in the Heart” will premiere in 2022.

Ole Christian Solbakken (b. 1984) grew up in Spikkestad and studied films studies at HiL and UiO, before graduating in screenwriting from the Norwegian Film School in 2014. He has written for various film projects and developed TV series. He also teaches screenwriting at Westerdals institute for film and media.

Thea Hvistendahl (b. 1989) is a film director based in Oslo. She is known for her distinctive visual style and has won various prizes both for music videos and short films, as well as directing many commercials at Einar film. In December 2017 her first feature length hybrid film “Adjø Montebello” with the rap duo Karpe Diem premiered. She has also made short films like «Virgins4lyfe» (2018), «Satans Children»(2019) and «Cramps» (2020).

Mona Friis Bertheussen (b. 1975) is a documentary filmmaker. She has made the documentary «Twin Sisters” (2013) which won the Audience Award at IDFA Amsterdam, the world’s biggest documentary film festival. The film also won the tv award Gullruten in Norway as well as another ten film prizes. It was sold over the whole world and was seen by over 20 million. Mona has also made many other documentaries, including “Welcome To Norway” which won the Human Rights Award granted by the Norwegian government. She is now developing “Dogs” and “Twin Sisters 2” in addition to a fiction family film

Lilja Ingolfsdotttir (b. 1976) is a graduate of The London International Filmschool and the Prague Film School, Famu. She has made many great and award-winning short films, among others “Neglect” (2010), “Hong Kong” (2015), “Show me your original face before your mother and father were born” (2018), “What We Fear” (2020) and “What I Wish You Would Have Told Me, but Never Will” (2021). All premiered at the Norwegian Short Film festival in Grimstad. She is now developing her first feature “What We Fear”

Marlene Emilie Lyngstad (b. 1997) is a filmmaker based in Oslo. She has studied Literature at UiO and made various short films, commercials and music videos. Her debut short “Lakenfort” received an honourable mention at the Norwegian Short Film festival and was shortlisted for an Amanda award. Her second short “Bedbugs” premiered at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in 2020. She now studies at the National Film School in Denmark. 

Brwa Vahabpour (b. 1993) is a Kurd-Norwegian filmmaker from Trondheim. He graduated from Nordland Kunst and Filmfagskole in 2014 before starting to study directing at the Norwegian Film School. Brwa previously directed the shorts Smil and Granateple, which received an Honourable Mention from the Film Critic’s Jury in Grimstad in 2017. His last short film premiered at the Bergen International Film festival and had its international premiere at Short Shorts and Asia in 2019. Besides directing Brwa was hired as a screenwriter from an upcoming TV drama on Rubicon TV. In 2018 he won a special mention at Nordic Talents and took part in FilmLabs talent development programme with the project “Silence”, which was completed in 2020.

Lev David (b. 1980) is a Durban-born, Oslo-based screenwriter and occasional director. A Focus Features Africa First award-winner, his projects include a comedy in development with Oslo Pictures’ Dyveke Graver, the upcoming drama series Ghost Mountain (Canal+ International), and the upcoming children’s adventure series Junk Pilots (Disney EMEA). His work as a consultant includes concept development on the Viaplay comedy Melk.

Rikke Gregersen (b. 1994) was born in Kristiansand. She gained some experience in theatre and literature studies before starting her bachelor in film directing at Westerdals in 2015. In her films she works with a combination of humour and tragedy and looks into human behaviour and relationships. Her graduation film “The Ruthless” won the special jury prize at the student BAFTAs, and later won a student Academy Award. Her film also ranked on the fifth position in CILECT ranking of best student films of 2019. She has directed various TV series and is developing different feature projects

Dara Van Dusen (b. 1986) is a screenwriter and director from New York City. She studied directing at the Polish National Film School in Lodz and her graduation film, Significant Others (Małżonkowie), was selected as part of Cannes Official Selection. After she moved to Norway in 2015, she has received funding by The Norwegian Film Institute for multiple projects including “The Blind Man” and “A Prayer For The Dying”. The latter starts shooting in 2022.

Emil Trier (b. 1981) has been awarded internationally as a director. He made the documentaries “Board Control”, “The Norwegian Solution” and “The Other Munch”, the latter co-directed with his brother Joachim Trier. He has also made the short film “High Point” and the video trilogy “Torgny : The Only Game, Big Day and I Came Here”. The project won Scandinavia’s best music video at BIFF. In 2021 his first feature length documentary “Trust Me” premiered at CPH:DOX and was later nominated for the TV-award Gullruten.

Sofia Haugan (b. 1989) graduated in Directing from NISS in 2012 with a specialisation in documentary. Her graduation film “A Little About My Father” was shown at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad and at BIFF, and in 2018 she made her feature length debut with the documentary “My Heart Belongs To Daddy” which won an Amanda for best documentary in Haugesund. The film also received the Audience Award at Nordic Docs, together with an honourable mention at Göteborg Film Festival, where the film had its international premiere. Sofia is now working with new projects both in documentary and fiction.

Maria Sødahl (b. 1965) graduated in directing from the Danish film school in 1993. She has made many short films and documentaries, and her first feature film ”Limbo” (2010), won the Best Directing Award at Montreal Film Festival. It also won the prize for Best Screenplay and Best Directing at Kanonprisen in 2011, and got no less than ten Amanda nominations in the same year. Her second feature “Hope” premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and was also selected for Panorama at Berlinale. It was nominated for eight Amandas, eight Kanon awards and two European Film Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Oscars in 2021.

Sofia Lersol Lund (b. 1988) graduated in screenwriting from The Norwegian Film School in 2014 and has since worked as a writer on multiple tv series, among others “Twin”, “Home Ground”, “After Saturday” and “Post Mortem”. She has written various short films, and has taken part in many talent and development programmes such as Filmlab Norge, Nordic Genre Boost and Nordic Filmlab. 

Eskil Vogt (b. 1974) is a well-known Norwegian screenwriter and director with a background from the French National Film school La Fémis in Paris. After writing the screenplays of many award-winning films, he made is directing debut with the feature “Blind” (2014). The film had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2014, where it won the prize The World Cinema Screenwriting Award. The film took part in Europa Cinemas Label at the Berlinale (Best European Film in the Panorama Section) and went on to win more than 20 prizes over the whole world. His second feature “The Innocents” premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and was sold all over the world. On top of writing screenplays for his own films, Vogt has been a long time collaborator of director Joachim Trier and co-wrote the feature films “Reprise” (2006), “Oslo, 31. august“ (2011), “Louder Than Bombs” (2015), “Thelma” (2017) and “The Worst Person in the World” (2021). The latter was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay.

Ingvild Søderlind (b. 1975) is a director and screenwriter. She has made many shorts and documentaries which were shown at festivals around the world, among other at the film festival in Haugesund, Nordisk Panorama and the Berlinale. She also has a vast experience in directing for commercials, content and educational videos. Ingvild Søderlind has been awarded nationally and internationally for many of her productions. The short film “Jenny”, which premiered as part of the Generation 14+ programme at the Berlinale in 2010, has won all together 7 prizes, among others the Terje Vigen prize, best film at BIFF and best film at BUFF. Her first feature “All Foreigners Keep Their Curtains Closed premiered in 2020 and her second “Battle 2” for Netflix in 2022. She is currently developing “The Killing of Benjamin Hermansen”.

Andrea Eckerbom (b. 1981) She was born in Stockholm but has been living for the past fifteen years in Norway. She has been in charge of casting multiple feature films, directing many commercials and has directed two family feature films. “Snekker Andersen og den vesle bygda som glømte at det var jul» was seen by more than 500 000 in Norwegian cinemas. Her second feature will be released at Christmas this year.

Kristoffer Borgli (b. 1985) has directed many shorts, music videos and commercials. His short films have built a strong online audience and received prizes from prestigious festivals. His feature debut “DRIB” (2017) with Brett Gelman had its international premiere at SXSW and was nominated in competition at Nordisk Panorama. It was positively received in magazines such as Indiewire and Filmmaker Magazine and was distributed in Scandinavia and the US. In 2018 the short “A Place We Call Reality” received the Critic’s Award for best short at the Norwegian Short Film festival in Grimstad. His second feature “Sick of Myself “ was invited to Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski (b. 1986) is a film producer and graduate from the Norwegian Film School, and has a bachelor in administration and leadership from Oslo Met. She has worked in the film and TV industry for 10 years on production such as “Lilyhammer” and “Downsizing” and has produced many short films. Renée has also worked as a consultant at the Norwegian Film Institute and is one of the initiators of the short film event Grønnskjerm. Renée worked for the production company Oslo Picture from 2018 to 2022 where she has assisted among others the producer Thomas Robsahm on productions such as “The Worst Person in The World” by Joachim Trier and “Hope” by Maria Sødahl. She also produced Explosions in the Heart by Yenni Lee with Thomas Robsahm. The film will be released in 2022. Renée has various projects in development with the directors Brwa Vahabpour, Fanny Ovesen, , Anton Ligaarden and Tommy Gulliksen and is producing the feature film “Ebba” by Johanna Pyykkö together with Dyveke Graver and Thomas Robsahm. She is executive producer on the feature film “A Happy Day” by Hisham Zaman and is currently working for the company True Content.

Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (b. 1990) graduated in directing from Westerdals in 2015. He writes and directs and has made two medium-length films; “Fuglehjerter» and “Fanny” which were shown at big international festivals in addition to being nominated for an Amanda in Norway. His graduation film, Fuglehjerter, won the Golden Chair in 2016. In the last years he has been developing his first feature film with support from The Norwegian Film Institute.

Ellen Ugelstad (b. 1973) is a director, screenwriter and producer who studied in California. Her films span from documentary to video essays and fiction. The documentary “Indian Summer” was nominated for Gullruten for best directing and best documentary in 2012. In the recent years she has further explored hybrid and genre-defying formats, an example of which is the short film The Meeting Room, which won the Writer’s Guild of Norway’s prize for best screenplay. In the hybrid film “Making Sense Together” (2018) she investigates the relationship between power and powerlessness in psychiatry. The film was launched at Oslo Pix in 2018. “The Green Valley” premiered at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad in 2018 and Golden Chair for best film. She won the same award also in 2021 for her latest film “The Wonders Beneath The Sea”.

Helena Nielsen b. 1984) graduated in screenwriting from the Norwegian film school in 2012. She has worked on many TV series such as “Lilyhammer”, “Aber Bergen”, Black Widows”, and “Furia”. She is now developing the project “The killing of Benjamin Hermansen” with Ingvild Söderlind. 

Joachim Trier (b. 1974) is an internationally renowned film director and screenwriter, who studied at the National Film & TV School in England. His debut feature, “Reprise”, won three Amanda prizes in 2007, and was Norway’s Oscar candidate. Oslo, 31. august was part of Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film festival i 2011, and was nominated at the French César-award for best foreign film in 2013. His first English language film “Louder Than Bombs” (2015), was selected for Cannes Film festival’s official competition in 2015, and won Nordic Councils Film Prize. “Thelma” (2017) won a series of national and international prizes and was nominated for the Nordic Councils Film Prize. “The Worst Person in the World” (2021) premiered in the main competition in Cannes where Renate Reinsve won the award for best actress. The film later was selected for festivals in Toronto, New York, London, Sundance and many more. It was nominated for two BAFTAs and two Oscars and was seen by more than 1 500 000 people in cinemas aroung the world.

Marianne Røise Kielland (b. 1981) comes from Hov i Land. She is an editor for the newspaper Avsagd Hagle, went to Skrivekunstakademiet in Bergen and her novel “Kjøttsøvn” was published by Aschehoug forlag. In spring 2018 she finished her screenwriting education from the Norwegian Film School. She is now developing a number of projects.

Lisa Marie Gamlem (b. 1975) is a film director who graduated from the Norwegian Film School. She has directed two feature films and various TV series which have been nominated to both Amanda and Gullruten. She also got an international Emmy nomination for best children series and a Palme d’or nomination for best short film in Cannes. Gamlem has a background in journalism and human rights. She is currently in charge of the Bachelor studies in film directing at Westerdals. Her main project at the moment is “The Resistance Movement”. 

Aasne Vaa Greibrokk (b. 1982) is a film director who studied at the Nordland kunst- og filmfagskole and the Norwegian film school. Her short films have been shown at big international film festivals. Her graduation film “To Whom It Might Concern” won the best film prize at the Student Film Festival in Lillehammer. Greibrokk made her feature debut in 2016 with “All The Beauty”, which was screened at Reykjavik International Film Festival and Hamptons International Film Festival.

Aurora Gossé (b. 1987) is a film director who studied at the Norwegian Film school. Her graduation film “We Who See In The Dark” won the Film Critics Award at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad in 2015 and was nominated to the Student Academy Awards the same year. With the music video “Echo” she won the Year’s talent award at vidAwards in 2016, and received an honourable mention at the Norwegian Short Film festival. The music video was also shortlisted to the Nordic Music Video Awards. In the recent years she has directed “Karsten og Petra lager teater “ and “Karsten og Petra på skattejakt” ad well as a TV series in the same universe. She has also directed TV-series like “Dirty Snow”, “The Farmers” and “Super Hero School”. Her first feature “Dancing Queen” will be released in 2023.

Gunhild Enger (b. 1980) graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art and Gøteborg filmhögskola (Akademin Valand). She was BAFTA nominated for her graduation film “Bargain” and has since shown all her films at festivals all over the world. Her short films “Prematur” and “An Easier Life” were also nominated for the Amanda awards. Her last two short films “The Committee” and “Play Schengen” both premiered at Locarno filmfestival. In 2020 she directed the animation film “Knutsen & Ludvigsen 2”. Gunhild has also worked with casting on Ruben Östlund’s “The Square”.

Mari Storstein (b. 1986) is a director and a graduate of the TV-skolen på Høgskolen in Lillehammer. Her films often talk about people who seldom have the opportunity to tell their own stories. Brevet til Jens (2011) tackles how the municipality in which one lives can dictate the life one gets to live. The film won the prize for best documentary at the Norwegian documentary film festival and raised public debate when shown on TV2. Through the documentary series Søsken (TV 2, 2017), about six families in which one of the siblings is impaired, she attempts to challenge our views on otherness. The series got a Gullruten for best documentary series. She won multiple prizes for her work, among others Redd Barnas children’s rights prize and the Jonas prize. With support for the Norwegian Film Institute she is now in development with her first feature “Invalid”

Ali Parandiani (b.1982) is a Norwegian-Iranian director, producer and screenwriter. He was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in Norway. He graduated as a sound designer from the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer. He has made the short films “Journey” (2013) and “No Man Is An Island” (2017), which won the Amanda, Minimalen and Bergen Film Festival in 2018. He his currently in production with his first feature “No Mans Land”. (b.1982) is a Norwegian-Iranian director, producer and screenwriter. He was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in Norway. He graduated as a sound designer from the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer. He has made the short films “Journey” (2013) and “No Man Is An Island” (2017), which won the Amanda, Minimalen and Bergen Film Festival in 2018. He his currently in production with his first feature “No Mans Land”.