Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> Let\u2019s start at the beginning \u2014 or perhaps at the end. I was struck by your motivation as a director and producer: what kept you working on the film for five years? Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> It\u2019s striking that you stayed with it for that long. Usually a subject alone doesn\u2019t sustain someone for five years. Did you discover a more personal layer \u2014 something that kept you going? Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> I\u2019m interested in what sustains an artist through something this demanding \u2014 especially a film that is formally quite abstract. Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> You were both director and producer, how did you manage that double role? Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> Did you work on other projects during that time? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>What about your daily process? Did you have a routine? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>It\u2019s interesting, because throughout the conversation you keep returning to the body \u2014 being inside the body, listening through the body, active listening. There\u2019s a strong connection between that and Kundalini yoga. Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>What parallels do you see between the practice of kundalini yoga and the filmmaking process? Similarly, kundalini yoga has guidelines and structure, there\u2019s a certain order. Each yoga set has a specific dramaturgy - similar to the dramaturgy of any film. It activates the breath, the body and the voice for a certain outcome. It\u2019s all about the balance of push and pull, when to put energy out, and when to receive. It\u2019s the same with filmmaking. You have to know when to activate your creativity, when to reach out for collaborators, when to push for answers, and when to sit back and relax and let the answers come to you effortlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The structure aids in grounding. What I love about kundalini yoga is that it gives me strength as well as calmness, and a connection to both my inner voice but also something outside of myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>And collaboration? When did others come into the process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> We were always a very small team. At the beginning, I worked with the cinematographer, Christer Sev, on a more journalistic approach \u2014 focusing on multiple cases. But I realised I needed something less journalistic, more artistic, so I brought in another cinematographer, Runar S\u00f8rheim, to shift the perspective. Undoubtedly, both cinematographers are equally important. Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> You once said you wanted to \u2018put the audience inside his body\u2019. When did that idea emerge? Is it connected to your practice? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>The film moves between different modes \u2014 observational material, reconstructions, and more abstract sequences. How did that structure emerge? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>There\u2019s also an ethical dimension, particularly your relationship with Morten\u2019s parents. How did you navigate that? Dimitra Kouzi:<\/strong> Do you hope the film will have an impact on public discourse \u2014 particularly around mental healthcare? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>What was the response so far? Dimitra Kouzi: <\/strong>And now? How do you see the future \u2014 both for the film and for yourself? Watch the trailer HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ▶ https:\/\/vimeo.com\/1169279949\/f0ebd7b4be<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> Five years is a long time \u2014 but you don\u2019t experience it that way. You think in six-month blocks. It\u2019s always, \u2018just the next six months\u2019, and then another six. You never quite register that it\u2019s going to be five years. At the beginning, my motivation was very clear. I wanted to understand what had happened \u2014 to get as close as possible to that exact moment. How could it unfold the way it did? What is truth, really, in situations where people are shot by the police during psychiatric interventions? That question drove me. Then it shifted. It became more about Morten\u2019s voice. When I heard his recordings, they were so vivid, so emotional \u2014 he had something to say. I felt a responsibility: if I didn\u2019t tell his story, no one would. His voice might never be heard.
At the same time, I became almost obsessive about getting to the bottom of that moment \u2014 trying to carve out some kind of truth from all the different perspectives. Because his death had been treated as almost nothing. A headline one day, gone the next. I wanted to restore him as a whole human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m comfortable being that personal. But I do know there is one. It took me about a year into the process to understand it. I think all filmmakers are working through their own psychological themes, whether they admit it or not. I know I am. There\u2019s something in Morten\u2019s story that resonates deeply with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> I do think there\u2019s a connection between the film and my own process. I\u2019ve always lived very much in my head, and it\u2019s taken me years to understand that feelings also exist in the body \u2014 that you can listen to the body as well. That\u2019s probably connected to the film more than I realised at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>I\u2019m not sure I managed it particularly well. But I don\u2019t know how I could have done it differently. I tried to bring in other producers, but I had such a strong sense of ownership over the story that it was very difficult to let go.
In practice, it\u2019s just switching gears, being in a creative, intuitive mode, and then shifting into an administrative one. That\u2019s the difference.
If I think about my day-to-day life, it was probably seventy per cent producing and thirty per cent directing. The administrative work takes over. But directing is when I feel most alive, when I can rely on intuition, on the body, to sense whether something is right. That\u2019s why I do all the admin: so I can direct.
But I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s quite that easy. When you think about it, it\u2019s all directing, no?
Every idea that pops into your mind, every inspirational experience, every conversation, every dream\u2014it is all part of the process that eventually leads to the film you envision, it\u2019s all part of directing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: At the beginning, I finished my first feature. I took on some jobs alongside this project, and I made a short film. But for the past two or three years, this has been my only focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> For the past two years, I\u2019ve had a morning ritual, movement, and something more spiritual. Over the last year, I trained as a Kundalini yoga instructor, so now I practise every morning. It\u2019s become a significant part of my life.
It gives me something similar to directing \u2014 a sense of connection. During the last six months of the process, I was physically exhausted, close to burnout, but mentally and emotionally I felt stable. I think that was because of the ritual. Without it, I don\u2019t think I would have managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> That\u2019s true, actually. I\u2019d never thought about it in those terms before. But yes \u2014 it\u2019s all connected somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>Kundalini yoga is the yoga of self initiation. You need great amounts of discipline and devotion to cultivate it and integrate it in your life. The same goes for the creative filmmaking process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The editing process changed unexpectedly. I had planned to work with an editor, but due to unexpected circumstances I had to find someone else. It turned out to be a kind of \u2018blessing in disguise\u2019 \u2014 we had very strong chemistry with Truls Krane Meby and he was the right match for this film. We edited almost the entire film together, sitting side by side, from January to October 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>When we decided to use Morten\u2019s recordings. I realised the sound would carry the emotional core of the film, so we couldn\u2019t just observe a body \u2014 we had to become it, in a way.
I had this early visual idea of making sound visible \u2014 seeing sound waves in liquid, thanks to the wonderful sound artist and music professor, \u00d8yvind Brandtsegg.
It was one of the first things we shot. It was part of the same impulse: to get as close as possible to the moment. If you can see sound, perhaps you can feel it more directly.
I come from a podcast background, so I\u2019m used to working with sound. Listening is more empathetic than watching. When you watch, you judge; when you listen, you absorb it bodily. There\u2019s something about active listening that allows things to sink in differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>A lot of it came from limitations. For example, with the police academy, we were allowed to film, but we would have needed written consent from every student \u2014 about two hundred people. That wasn\u2019t feasible, so we decided to film only their bodies. That limitation became a creative opportunity.
Similarly, we wanted to include reconstructions. We eventually gained access to interrogation transcripts, but they were very dry \u2014 it was difficult to bring them to life. After a long process \u2014 about two and a half years \u2014 we obtained access to video from the reconstruction of the event. That brought us closer to the physical reality of the moment.
At the same time, I wanted to acknowledge that we can never fully reach the truth. Every narrative is mediated \u2014 shaped by perspective. So the structure reflects that: an attempt to get closer, while recognising the limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kouziproductions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FC4.jpg?resize=474%2C342&ssl=1\")
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Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> I met them about a year after his death. We did a long interview, at a time when I thought the film would be more conventional \u2014 talking heads.
Over time, we built trust. They gave me access to the recordings without listening to them themselves \u2014 it was too difficult. That trust was essential, also legally.
We reached out to everyone involved. Most agreed to participate; some were harder to contact. We made careful decisions \u2014 for example, we never disclose his diagnosis, partly out of respect for the parents, but also because it\u2019s not the point.
We still keep in touch. Whenever I\u2019m in Bergen in December, we meet for Christmas lunch. I think that relationship of trust became central to the whole process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>Yes. I hope it encourages a more holistic, recovery-based approach \u2014 seeing people as whole individuals rather than a set of diagnoses distributed across different systems.
If you have addiction, you go to one place; if you have mental health issues, another. But that fragments the person. I hope the film can contribute to a broader conversation about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken:<\/strong> It was very encouraging. People were deeply engaged \u2014 asking questions from many different angles: healthcare, policing, journalism, the family. That range was important. People also shared their own experiences. It felt like the film opened something, which is what I hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Linn Helene L\u00f8ken: <\/strong>I\u2019m meeting with an impact producer, and we\u2019ll begin in Norway. Beyond that, I\u2019m still figuring it out. At the moment, I\u2019m taking it step by step.
Personally, I\u2019m quite tired, to be honest. The other day I thought: I\u2019ve spent five years on this, and in the end it becomes ninety minutes of people\u2019s lives. It\u2019s strange to think about in those terms. But my goal is still simply to remain creative \u2014 whatever form that takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n