Regine Klovholt

“Going outside is to look inside”
Can sensory methods to connect to a specific space influence the narrative of a screenwriter and film-maker to shift perspectives away from the traditional human centered narrative?

Kristiania University College, Norway

As a screenwriter and lecturer I’ve been a part of a series of pedagogically and artistically experimental intensives (intensive and situated courses with students and lecturers from three Nordic film schools) from 2022-2024 within film-making. The goal of each intensive is to procure a set of exercises to connect to the chosen space, and the outcome for the students is to express their impressions and findings in the form of film-exercises. The 2023 intensive course that took place at Vega, an island in the north of Norway, we used specific sensory exercises in order to do so, and in doing so, the students and lecturers gained new perspectives on image-making and film practice. Because, it became evident that participants had experienced shifts in perspectives.
The course outcomes gave evidence of a move away from human-centered narratives – some participants chose to create new narratives with non-human actors, and some abandoned narratives altogether.

This shift is significant not only for film practice but for film pedagogy, as it marks a move away from industry-driven education. Much of film education is still centered on narratives with proven story patterns, stories that are aimed at reproducing genre. Most of such narratives are anthropocentric, with human actors taking center stage. The sensory approach to film education also allowed for a shift towards a collective approach to creative practice. Through an embodied experience of the space and everything in it, the participants became aware of how they too are part of something bigger. This marks a move away from an auteur-driven, single-vision film production model – an ideal that is still present in film pedagogy.

The intensive course at Vega thus taught an alternative view of film practice. It pointed to a humble, even compassionate, practice. A practice that considered the space and its inhabitants; the human, the non-human, and the more-than-human. It is a practice founded on respect and gratitude.

Anne Regine Klovholt is a practicing screenwriter and head of Bachelor in Screenwriting at Westerdals Institute for Film and Media which is under the faculty School of Arts, Design and Media at Kristiania University College. She is Assistant Professor in Screenwriting and since October 2020 taught and mentored screenwriting at bachelor- and professional levels. Her screenwriting credits has earned awards such as Prix Italy, Prix Europe and numerous Norwegian Gullruten. Her interests are within response and critique within art, and exploration of pre-writing and research activities related to film practice and screenwriting.

Klovholt is responsible for two projects internally founded by Kristiania University College related to sound design and fiction and research and fiction. Further she was involved in the funding of and a participant in the research group PRISMA. Internationally she is involved in an Erasmus+ project between 3 European Film Schools, and one NordPlus funded project involving three Nordic Film Schools.

She is one of the organizers of a Nordic scheme for professional screenwriters and writing directors, Isbjørnens Forfattercamp, funded by Nordic Film Foundation Denmark (The Egmont Foundation) https://www.dramatiker.no/aktuelt/isbjornens-forfattercamp. She is a member of Writers’ Guild of Norway.