CPH:DOX - The documentary production outfit’s first project The Lions at the River Tigris by Nowhere to Hide’s Zaradasht Ahmed was pitched March 23 at CPH:FORUM.

Indie Film Bergen set up by experienced Norwegian producer Thorvald Nilsen, is a joint initiative with Oslo-based long-standing Indie Film, headed by Carsten Aanonsen.

Nilsen who worked earlier at Flimmer Film and Screen Story, has produced the successful film Once Aurora about pop sensation Aurora Akses (Best Nordic Documentary at Nordisk Panorama 2019) as well as the 2019 Nordic:Dox entry The Catastrophe Kjelland.

His latest documentary The Raaby Mystery was released in Norwegian cinemas last November.

The producer said he offered Aanonsen to set up a joint Bergen outpost, after having collaborated with his outfit in various contexts over the last decade, and feeling inspired by their shared vision for documentary filmmaking.

He said his vision for Indie Film Bergen is “to build an exciting home for the strongest storytellers and projects in Norway’s second largest city.”

Pedigree producer Aanonsen who has worked on more than 200 documentaries, such as the Amanda Best doc winners Young & Afraid (2022) and My Heart Belongs to Daddy (2018) said he believed the new company in Bergen will both strengthen and renew the Indie Film brand. “Bergen and the Western region already have a solid documentary film business, both in production and post-production, and by increasing cooperation across the regions, good exchange of expertise and project development will flourish,” he noted.

Indie Film Bergen was present at this week’s CPH:FORUM with the film The Lions at the River Tigris directed by Zaradasht Ahmed, 2016-IDFA-Best Feature Doc winner for Nowhere to Hide.

The Kurdish/Norwegian helmer Ahmed who has documented the horrors of war in Iraq in several of his films, turns his verité camera to the city of Mosul, destroyed by three years under ISIS rule, as the city’s inhabitants try to rebuild it, plus their lives, and hope.

So far the project has received support from the Norwegian Film Institute, Filmkraft Rogaland and Fritt Ord.

Meanwhile Indie Film Oslo co-produced the Swedish film After Work by Erik Gandini, which world premiered this week at CPH:DOX’s main Dox:Award competition. Read our story: CPH:DOX competitor Erik Gandini: “After Work is an idea-driven film”.