October 16, 2020
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: LIN ALLUNA
NFFTY has grown into a wonderful community of over 2,700 filmmakers from around the world. Alumni have experienced success in many areas of the media industry. To celebrate these achievements, we are highlighting NFFTY alumni here!
Lin Alluna (NFFTY ‘10) expresses herself through character-driven documentaries that revolve around the female gaze and dissolving the limits of reality. In 2017, she graduated from the elite art academy program at the National Film School of Denmark, and was selected as one of the new “Nordic Talents” that same year by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. She’s been admitted to several labs and won three pitch prizes for her international debut feature, Twice Colonized. In addition to her work as a director, Lin teaches filmmaking as a guest consultant at The National Film School of Denmark. She is a producer at Station Next (talent development program for young filmmakers), the director’s representative adviser at FAF (Danish filmmakers guild) and the co-founder and spokesperson for Oplysningsgruppen (an interest group for higher education of filmmakers in Denmark).
OUR INTERVIEW WITH LIN:
Although you have directed some narrative films in the past, you mostly work in documentaries now. Why did you choose to focus in that genre of filmmaking?
I guess my films operate in a type of hybrid field. You could say I use my background in fiction when I work with documentary subjects, meaning that I storyboard, for instance, write extensive outlines, arrange scenes and approach the editing and sound process like I would on a fiction film.
One thing I love is the challenge of the unknown, because it makes me stay on my toes and pushes me creatively. You have to be really focused to sense what you need to do to help make the right things happen, and at the same time keep up your artistic approach. If I got the opportunity to work on a fiction film that I felt connected to, I’d definitely pursue that too, so I don’t feel like I have to stick to a genre. It’s more that I keep meeting incredible people that I’m privileged to be able to work with.
What do you find most exciting about documentary filmmaking? What do you find most challenging?
Reality is complicated. Truth is complicated, and in my opinion, we have to be unique in our ways of portraying it, which is why I personally feel drawn towards magical realism. To me, truth is a discussion, and as filmmakers I don’t think we should reduce the complexity of the world into one objective angle. I believe in being true to the reality protagonists experience and thereby giving my audience a chance to experience a fragment of it for themselves, too. In documentaries you really need to breathe with the people you work with, and trust that you will get to the right place together. It takes a lot of time, honesty, kindness, ambition and trust.
What sorts of stories are you inspired to share through your work, and how do you find these stories and your subjects?
Generally I think my artistic focus revolves around strong, female protagonists fighting for something they believe in, but in the beginning the film is just a feeling inside me. Sometimes it starts with an image and then suddenly I find the right protagonist, and other times it’s meeting someone who I feel drawn to, and then getting to know their story.
For the last five years or so, I’ve been working on a film (working title: Twice Colonized) with the renowned Canadian activist, Aaju Peter. However I first met Aaju by coincidence. She was on a stopover on her way to Greenland when I spotted her outside of the amusement park ‘Tivoli’ - her favorite place in Denmark. Though I’m normally shy, I was immediately captivated by her, so I asked her out for a cup of coffee. Only then did I realize I wasn’t talking to just anybody. Aaju Peter is an activist, a recipient of the order of Canada, a mother of five, a seal-skin designer, a lawyer, and the list goes on. Meeting Aaju has been a life changing experience for me in terms of how I perceive my own country and culture. As a Dane, I am by default part of the colonizing society that Aaju has been fighting against her whole life, but in school I wasn’t raised to see my country as a colonizer. In school we carved ‘tupilat’ out of soap (a tupilat is a Greenlandic spirit creature created by a shaman to destroy enemies, often represented in carvings made out of tusk, antler or bone), and we heard about the vast, almost uninhabitable country and its people, whom Danish missionaries had “discovered”. We were always the good guys - the explorers and saviors. As an adult I knew about the pressing issues in Greenland, but I didn’t fully connect the dots until I met Aaju and she told me her story. Only then did I really hear about the assimilation programs Denmark imposed on the Inuit people, and the vast aftermath of colonization in Indigenous communities today. I owe my craft to people like Aaju, who enlighten me while helping me advance my voice as a filmmaker by generously inviting me into their lives.
Your work often pushes the boundaries of reality, even though documentaries by their very nature are based in reality. Can you talk a little about how you achieve that?
As a director, I’ve always been interested in making creative alliances with my main characters to explore the boundaries of reality. As I move closer to the story - spending years diving into it together with the people I portray, and in the editing room - I feel like the film begins to get a will of its own, and it’s my job to respect what the film wants to be and help it manifest. To me, portraying the inner life of a character in a documentary film means making creative alliances in order to portray the emotional journey as it is felt by the person who is actually living it. For instance, I’m working with Aaju Peter as both the film’s protagonist and credited screenwriter on our film Twice Colonized (working title). Together we develop scenes and inspire each other, which really makes it possible to take the film to the next level.
What is it like to teach filmmaking to young people, as a young filmmaker yourself?
I think it’s important to give back, and I’ve been given so much mentorship and support from people in the industry, so I do what I can to help other aspiring filmmakers. Being a student at The National Film School of Denmark made me realize that when it comes to helping someone go through an artistic development, you have to sort of give up on the idea of teaching and instead consider the student a colleague. Recognizing that filmmaking is an art and a craft, and if you want to be a filmmaker you have to make film. I think director Mohsen Machmalbaff put it very well by saying, “Who is a writer? The person who writes. After five years in university listening to writers, you are not a writer, you are a listener. Who is a filmmaker: the one who makes cinema!”.
In school we’re often taught that there are right and wrong ways to do stuff and we learn how to criticize, which are important skills to analyze other people’s work. But when I teach filmmaking, I try to support the student in identifying and developing their own unique strengths.
Many of your films have received great acclaim over the past decade. How did it feel to receive such positive feedback and praise so early in your career? How did it shape your career moving forward?
It means a lot to me (= my ego) to get recognition for my work, because I’m very insecure and I always doubt myself and my potential as a filmmaker. I’ve never thought of myself as someone who got praise early in my career, but it actually makes me think of how we need to take care of ourselves as filmmakers and artists. I really wish for all of us that we could be free from anxiety and respect ourselves more.
Making films means that you're always putting yourself on the line, and rejections can be truly hurtful. Every time I’ve gotten a rejection, I’ve been devastated, but you have to do what you can to treat yourself with kindness and keep working on what you believe in. It’s a lot more healthy and creatively satisfying if you can stop yourself from comparing yourself to others. Don’t lose hope. It’s a cliché, but dare to make mistakes and dare to embarrass yourself by making unpopular artistic choices or standing up for what you believe in, because that’s how you’ll find your own voice.
I remember pitching at the Below Zero film festival in 2019 with my incredible producer, Emile Hertling Péronard, and one of the commissioning editors who had rejected me was at the decision maker's table. The pitch went really well, and afterwards he came over to me and said that he was sorry he hadn’t seen the potential in my first drafts and he was so happy that I had kept on going. It really meant a lot to me that he said that, because at the period where he had rejected me, I thought I would never be able to make a film again, and two years later I was finally getting financing and winning pitch awards, encouraging me to continue.
You have traveled extensively all over the world to make your films. What is it like for you right now, with travel so restricted? What have you been working on?
I was supposed to shoot the last scenes on Twice Colonized (working title), but it’s a very international film, because my protagonist Aaju is a powerhouse traveling all over the world, so we had to put the shooting on hold. Instead I’ve been helping Aaju with her autobiography and her political ambition to ensure Indigenous people have a seat in European policy. The challenge of not being able to work abroad has also inspired me to start up a new film (Dreambound) about my own mom. She’s a self taught inventor on the verge of breakthrough, after dedicating 15 years of her life on developing a medical device that will improve the life of premature infants. The road is full of obstacles and it’s a very personal story, so it’s pushing my way of storytelling, which is both extremely terrifying and exciting.
You were fortunate to have been selected for prestigious mentorship and educational opportunities early in your career. What advice do you have for other young filmmakers trying to find these opportunities?
Keep making films and telling stories, regardless of the rejections you get. Try to find other people to collaborate with and trust others to work with you. I think that dictating how a film needs to be according to your fixed ideas will only make the film as good as you can imagine, but working with your cast and crew as an ensemble who dares to fail, you can truly achieve something new that will move others.
As a teenager my whole life was making films, but then I had a big crisis because I realized that only making films was limiting. So I think my biggest advice is: do a lot of different stuff like taking different jobs or going new places, and use your life experience in the stories you tell.
How has NFFTY impacted your life or career?
NFFTY gave me a boost of confidence right at the beginning of my career, and I’ll always be grateful for that experience. Meeting other filmmakers my own age and hearing inspiring talks was incredible. Even though I’ve accomplished other things later in my career that in the film industry are probably considered more prestigious, the one story that my dad will keep telling again and again is how I won an award at NFFTY. It makes him choke up every time, because he’s so proud of that accomplishment.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on three films at the moment (one in development, one in production and one in post-production), so I hope to get the courage and inspiration to fulfill the potential of all three. More importantly, I have a tendency to get passionate about too many things, so I’m consciously trying to slow down and give myself time to relax and be with the people I love, instead of working all the time. Taking breaks is actually at the top of my list.