HIM follows a day in the life of three male characters in Oslo as they deal with the emotional fallout of situations which leave them deeply embarrassed and distressed. Harald, a young schoolboy, faces the frustration of being misunderstood by his classmates and reprimanded by his teacher; unemployed Eirik is left alone and distressed when he is denied more help from the unemployment agency; while screenwriter Petter is blindsided when his passion project loses funding in favor of a female screenwriter’s project.
 
Feeling attacked, alienated, and unbearably alone, the mental battle has just begun. How much of the pressure can these guys handle - or will they crack? HIM combines nuanced tragedy with grounded comedic wit in its sobering exploration of humiliation, exclusion, and the male role in contemporary society.

HIM is an indie film in the sense that it is made on the initiative of the filmmaker with relatively little funds, manpower, and shooting days. Guro Bruusgaard started writing the screenplay several years ago together with co-author and sparring partner Fijona Jonuzi. After founding her own production company together with fellow filmmakers Mariken Halle, Magnus Mork, and Katja Eyde Jacobsen - Alternativet Produksjon AS - Bruusgaard started the production of HIM. The film has since received development and production support from the Norwegian Film Institute and won the Eurimages Project Lab award in 2019 that contributed to the post-production. The film was shot on location in Oslo, Norway. The cast is dominated by a large ensemble of established actors from the National Theatre and other major scenes including the diversity-focused theatre school Nordic Black Xpress in Oslo. Key functions are held by the director of photography Marte Vold, editor Astrid Skumsrud Johansen, sound designer Gunn- Tove Grønsberg, and composer Erik Hedin.

Guro Bruusgaard (b.1977) comes from Nøtterøy in southern Norway and is educated at Nordland Art- and Film School in Lofoten and at the Gothenburg Film School (now part of HDK-Valand), known for its auteur approach to filmmaking with alumnus like Gabriela Pichler, Isabella Eklöf and Ruben Östlund. Back in Norway, Bruusgaard made the award-winning short Circus. She has since worked as director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. Notably, she has worked on several projects with Swedish filmmaker Fijona Jonuzi who also co-wrote HIM. In 2017 Bruusgaard was one of the founders of the production company Alternativet Produksjon.

I once read that women, when asked what they fear the most from men, answer to be raped or killed. Men’s answer on the other hand, when asked what they fear from women, is to be laughed at. I did a lot of research for this project, but I could not forget this saying. To me, it pinpoints the deep-rooted fear of losing face. It connects with this film because it examines the humiliated human being through the male gender role. Even though men still have the greatest economic and actual power, I sometimes see the boy and the man as more vulnerable in today’s society. So this film is about the vulnerable boy or man who does not fit into contemporary society in 2021. But it’s also about the wretched male character behind the July 22 massacre in Oslo, the aggrieved boys behind US school shootings, or the wave of male solo terrorists all over the West. Common for them all is this sudden and extremely violent aggression towards society, women, and minorities. Recent research shows that men are no longer dominant in the school system, rather they are the ones falling out. At the same time, we see dark far-right populist movements typically being embraced by men with a deeply offended and angry mindset. What is that all about? In this film, I want to combine elements of these phenomena in an interesting, witty, and provocative way that I hope will encourage us to discuss. I have written HIM together with Swedish writer Fijona Jonuzi, and our starting point is our personal experiences as humiliated beings.

HIM is an indie film in the sense that it is made on the initiative of the filmmaker with relatively little funds, manpower, and shooting days. Guro Bruusgaard started writing the screenplay several years ago together with co-author and sparring partner Fijona Jonuzi. After founding her own production company together with fellow filmmakers Mariken Halle, Magnus Mork, and Katja Eyde Jacobsen - Alternativet Produksjon AS - Bruusgaard started the production of HIM. The film has since received development and production support from the Norwegian Film Institute and won the Eurimages Project Lab award in 2019 that contributed to the post-production. The film was shot on location in Oslo, Norway. The cast is dominated by a large ensemble of established actors from the National Theatre and other major scenes including the diversity-focused theatre school Nordic Black Xpress in Oslo. Key functions are held by the director of photography Marte Vold, editor Astrid Skumsrud Johansen, sound designer Gunn-Tove Grønsberg, and composer Erik Hedin.

Alternativet Produksjon is a production collective founded by filmmakers Mariken Halle, Guro Bruusgaard, Magnus Mork and Katja Eyde Jacobsen. As stated on the company’s homepage: ”We work on the floor on each other’s projects and build up new work structures from the specific needs of each project we work on. We also want to contribute to a generous, open art/film field where more people get to make what they long to make.” It’s a different way of working because it is completely filmmaker-driven. The filmmaker initiates the projects and decides when to make them, regardless of funding or other factors that usually overpowers and postpones so many film projects in the industry. Of course, this requires mostly low-budget productions and an internal economy where the filmmakers exchange work force for free until there is financing in place, if any. This includes taking turns on different roles in each other’s productions, like producer, actor, editor and whatnot. In return, this gives us full artistic freedom and bigger productivity as filmmakers. From applying and waiting for years, often in vain, through the traditional production companies, the filmmakers of Alternativet have produced two shorts and two features in less than four years and are in production with another two projects. Although it can be economically hard (most of us have part-time jobs like teaching besides running Alternativet) it really sustains what we call our artistic practices. Hopefully, this is a strategy that gives room to more risk-taking and artistically stronger works in the field of contemporary cinema. Since the foundation in 2017 Alternativet has released the shorts The Forest by Magnus Mork, What Is a Woman? by Marin Håskjold, and the feature We Are Here Now by Mariken Halle alongside Guro Bruusgaard’s HIM. They are also in production with Mariken Halle’s Corona-feature The Outdoor School and Katja Eyde Jacobsen’s The Second Sex.

NORWAY 2021 | DRAMA | 83 min ORIGINAL TITLE Han DIRECTOR Guro Bruusgaard SCREENPLAY Guro Bruusgaard and Fijona Jonuzi PRODUCERS Guro Bruusgaard, Magnus Mork, Mariken Halle and Katja Eyde Jacobsen for Alternativet EDITOR Astrid Skumsrud Johansen COMPOSER Erik Hedin CINEMATOGRAPHER Marte Vold SOUND DESIGNER Gunn-Tove Grønsberg CAST Petter Johannes Joner Harald Frank Werner Laug Eirik Emil Johnsen Harald’s mother Laila Goody Teacher Marte Magnusdotter Solem Janne Ylva Gallon Tone Gisken Armand Erling Per Gørvell Gudrun Liv Bernhoft Osa NAV Motivator Leif Edlund Haralds father Ole Johan Skjelbred Haralds stepmother Mariken Halle Girl at metro 1 Georgia May Anta Girl at metro 2 Jenny Mueni Eiriks mother Sigrid Huun Street artist Kaleb Haile Producer Vegar Hoel Colleague Tone Mostraum NAV Consultant Thyri Bergljot Dale Journalist Gunhild Enger Police officer Amina Mohamud NAV participant Anne Kristoffersen Bar girl Caroline Lillås Photographer Janne Lindgren LANGUAGE Norwegian and English FORMAT DCP BUDGET NOK 6,1 mill FUNDING Norwegian Film Institute, Eurimages, The Arts Council Norway NATIONAL RELEASE Summer 2021 SALES TBA CONTACT alternativetproduksjon@gmail.com 

Montages | Feb 3, 2021
Cineuropa | Aug 2019

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