Choreographies towards loss


60 min, experimental documentary, 2024



The great auk was the original penguin, but disappeared from the Earth in the mid-1800s.
Drawing a thread from past events to the ongoing biodiversity crisis, the film deals with loss. Stories and
observations are combined to give life to a species that will never return. In the process of making the film,
the filmmaker travelled around to meet various people and places with a connection to the extinct bird, from the
home of the author of The Great Auk in England to the old zoological museum in Copenhagen, where the
entrails of the last two great auks are kept in glass jars.





Cast


Ragna Sandvoll, Mira Stadt Wang, Jon Fjeldså, Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn,
Tim Birkhead, Mikkel Holger, Hilmar Malmquist, Gísli Pálsson, Katla Kjartansdóttir,
Errol Fuller, Ólöf Nordal and Sturla Magnússon




Written, directed and produced by
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn  

Production company
Vidåpne Øyne

Cinematography
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn, Margo Peegel, Anton Kai,
Jens Alfred Raahauge

    

Sound
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn, Margo Peegel, Anton Kai


Editing
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn

Editing consultants

Maj Hasager, Margo Peegel, Joachim Koester

Script
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn

Camera assistance
Tone Marit Helle

Costumes
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn

Costumes consultant
Torunn Anfinsen

Grading
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn

Sound design, edit & mix
Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn

Sound studio
Inter Arts Center

Sound mixing consultants

Mathias Kristersson, Dragan Buvac, Maj Hasager, Margo Peegel


Processing and scanning 
Mutascan

The film is produced with the support from

Helge Ax:son Johnson's foundation, Crafoord Foundation travel grant, Fredrika Bremer Association Scholarship Foundation, Fritt Ord and Trafo


Thanks to

Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Anna Sveinsdóttir, Þorvaldur Þór Björnsson, Tromsø Museum, Vanessa Pitusi, Karl Frafjord, Elisabeth Nilsen, Varanger Museum, Maria Bertheussen Skrydstrup, Eli Myrseth, Pingvinhotellet, Arnhild Engstad, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Icelandic Museum of Natural History, Inter Arts Center, Lili Nottrot, Øresundsbroen, Lizette Sjögren, Hans Ohrt, Tom Gilbert, Tino Schott, Jörgen Hellmann, Thomas Alerstam, EvaMarie Lindahl, Tobias Linné, Gro Birgit Ween, Malmö Museum, Peter Andrew Hosner, the old Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Mette Riise Kristensen, Karou Calamy, Jonas Jönsson, Alejandro Cesarco, Sævar Öfjörð Magnússon, Sigurður Harðarson and my family



“Choreographies towards loss set the stage for the audience to enter artworks which echoed loss and a void, full of wonderment and poetics. The gallery was dimly lit and kept minimal, leaving room for the viewer to enter the web of interconnectedness between animals, humans and nature.“


- Karin Hald

Installation view from Gallery KHM1, Malmö