Hot Docs 2016 Women Directors: Meet Aslaug Holm— “Brothers”
Aslaug Holm is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor, as well as a partner and founder at Fenris Film since 1992. She has directed over 20 documentaries, including “The Rich Country” and “Cool & Crazy.” Holm is the winner of the Norwegian International Film Festival’s Amanda Award for Best Direction for “Brothers” — the first Best Direction award given to a documentary filmmaker. (Press materials)
“Brothers” will premiere at the 2016 Hot Docs Film Festival on April 29.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
AH: The film is about life itself — how it is to be close brothers [Lukas and Markus Holm] growing up, reflecting [the] hope, dreams, and the courage you must have to find your own place in the world. The film is also about a beginning: when everything is new and fresh, and life is waiting for you. The feeling you only have when you are young — that everything is possible.
There is one moment in the film I value very much: two pairs of naked feet standing above the dark ocean ready for jumping into the cold water. A few seconds, so present and full of life — and suddenly it’s over, and it’s just a bright memory from childhood. Then I realized how time passes through our lives, and generations before us have experienced the same. Making this film is perhaps a way of capturing time with my camera.
The theme is actually inspired by the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. He once said, “An artist is like a ferryman that ties the past together with the future.”
W&H: What drew you to this story?
AH: I wanted to make a film that describes childhood, growing up, memories, and the close relationship between brothers. Before I became a mother, I believed we could influence our children much more. Now, after having two sons, I discover that they have been ready-made from the start.
We are born with greatness within us, and as children, we know. Everything is possible, and we are all unique. As we grow up, we limit ourselves. The dreams and great thoughts we had as children disappear in everyday life. It takes courage to live out your potential. Some of the motivation in making this film is to be present in and describe the true moments.
When Lukas, the youngest brother, was five years old, he was so wise and philosophical. He asked a lot of questions. He could say, “Mum, what happens to my dreams when I’m dead, are they still alive?” And Markus, the big brother, was so present in life, so brave and strong. He just loved to challenge himself and his brother. So I thought it was a wonderful idea to make a film about who are we straight from the beginning, and why we become the person we end up being.
In brotherhood you find what life is about. There, you find love, competition, and hope — what builds you up, and what is destroying you. Everything starts with two persons, and every change starts in this close perspective.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
AH: I hope they feel uplifted in a way, that the film will do something good to you. Perhaps reminding you to be present in your own life, that you can see true moments, and the whole world, in a small raindrop in everyday life. [I hope the film gives] you a strong feeling of presence, and when you see the film you can remember your own childhood, and memories from years passing.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
AH: An important question is how the camera’s presence has affected my sons in their everyday lives and how I, as a director and mother, have been able to film my children in authentic situations. My presence has, of course, influenced their life and reality, and the greatest challenge has been to combine being a mother and a director.
In the beginning, I just wanted to make something poetic and beautiful, but of course reality bites, and the most difficult part was when I was filming my sons in their school and there arose situations with conflict. What should I do in cases where my son was in trouble?
As a documentary filmmaker, I seek conflicts and it’s good for the film I’m working on, but as a mother I want to protect my sons from difficult situations. I decided to include this dilemma in the film. I’m both a filmmaker and a mother, and it’s a mother’s point-of-view.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
AH: It’s funded pretty much from public funds in Norway — by the Norwegian Film Institute, by Nordic Film & TV Fund, by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, and the community of Smøla, the island where some parts of the film are taking place.
First and foremost, my film is a very personal film about my own two sons, and I have put a lot of effort in it to try to give it the quality I believe it needed. When you film for more than eight years and the editing lasts for a period of three years, you have to put in a lot of work and your own investment when it comes to your own time.
W&H: What’s the biggest misconception about you and your work?
AH: I’m not sure if there is any misconception about me and my work, but I like if people are open-minded when they watch my films. Every story has something new and original in itself, and I want my audience to be curious and ready for a journey.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
AH: The best advice I have received is to avoid the general and seek the extraordinary when you are filming. Try to capture the moments that have some kind of poetry in them.
I really can’t remember the worst advice.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
AH: My best advice is to go for it, even if you aren’t sure if you have the skills! Have the courage to challenge yourself.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
AH: I’m inspired by several woman-directed films. I love “Stories We Tell” by Sarah Polley and I like all the work of Claire Denis. But my favorite is “The Hurt Locker” by Kathryn Bigelow. The film is [so] intense, and a marvelous study of a soldier’s complex relationship to war. I’m pulled into the story immediately, and I feel the danger and, at the same time, the deeply exciting rush the main characterwants to mainline directly into his vein. I like the ambivalence in the story — the soldiers who are scared to death and, at the same time, some of the most extreme guys driven by a death wish.
