Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
It does not get much bigger than Songs of Earth. Margreth Olin has created a stunning, cinematic work about life, death, nature and about simply being present in the world. With her native Norway’s dizzyingly beautiful mountain landscapes as its monumental backdrop, Olin embarks on an existential journey with her own aging parents as the human yardstick out in the vast expanses. Here, their family has always lived side by side with nature. Even when the earth’s primordial forces have shown their most merciless side. Her parents’ love and lifelong loyalty bear quiet witness to how surroundings and inner space resonate with each other. But not even the most rock-solid mountain is unchanging – and certainly not in times like ours. The level of detail in Olin’s lyrical and visionary poem to her homeland is almost beyond anything seen on the big screen. And that is most definitely where Songs of Earth should be experienced.
Songs of Earth was supported through Margreth Olin’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Margreth Olin was born in Stranda, Sunnmøre, Norway, on April 16, 1970. She was educated at Volda University College and at the University of Bergen. Margreth made her directorial debut in 1995, with the school production In the House of Love. In 1998, her first full-length documentary In the House of Angels was released theatrically in Norway. The film received multiple awards, among them The Amanda Award (Norwegian equivalent of an Oscar®) for Best Documentary. Her breakthrough came with the film My Body. The film generated multiple dialogues in media; won an Amanda Award; received and The Golden Chair and Audience Award at The Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad; was nominated and given a diploma at the IDFA Awards 2002; and received other international prizes.
Her film Raw Youth was released in Norwegian cinemas and was nominated for best documentary at the European Film Award in 2005. Margreth’s feature film The Angel was selected as the Norwegian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards®. Her documentary Nowhere Home (2012), about unaccompanied minor asylum seeking children, created a vast debate in Norway and was screened at numerous international festivals and conferences. Olin is one of the six directors that participated in Wim Wenders’ Cathedrals of Culture (2013), she directed the section dedicated to the Oslo Opera House, the film premiered at Berlinale in 2014. Olin’s documentary Doing Good is one of the highest grossing documentaries ever in Norway. She produced the film Self Portrait, which participated at DOC NYC, was eligible for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 93rd Academy Awards®, and has won seven international awards.