Introducing the work of Sebastian Solberg, a documentary filmmaker

[Tintin]

Sebastian Solberg
Website: https://www.sebastiansolberg.com/

It's a small world but made remarkably and more wonderfully accessible by Sebastian. He is one of my neighbours. Until a little while ago I didn't actually know what he did, until I asked.

He makes some of the most awe-inspiring nature documentaries He's spent most of his life in and around mountainous terrain, in New Zealand where he spent much of his life, and Norway too.

Much to my delight when I'd mentioned this to Bill recently he had actually shared that he's familiar with his work already

So, with Sebastian's permission, I'm going to make awareness of his work a little more widely known here. He generally gets commissioned work, and runs the Documentary Film Academy as well.

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His Wiki entry, here:

Sebastian Solberg (born 27 March 1991) is a multi-award winning filmmaker and commercials director with ties to New Zealand and England.[1] He first started making films aged 9 when he was inspired by the Bond movies.[2]

Early life
Solberg was born in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England.[3] His father is Norwegian and his mother is English. At the age of two his parents moved to New Zealand where he developed his love for the outdoors.[4]

Solberg graduated from Saint Kentigern College in 2009 where he was a head prefect and had lead roles in a number of school productions.[5]

He first began making films when he was inspired by the adventures of James Bond and Alex Rider.[6] Solberg won his first film-making award aged fourteen.

While at college Solberg made a film based on the children's story The Steadfast Tin Soldier written by the Scandinavian author Hans Christian Andersen.[7] The film won multiple awards at festivals around New Zealand including 'Best Short Film' and 'Best Director'.[8]

Career
After graduating Solberg was hired to film branded content around New Zealand for companies such as Red Bull, Nissan, Hyundai and Billabong.[9]

In 2010 he moved to England to work on international feature films and commercials.[10] He began collaborating with writer / director Amit Gupta on a number of feature films including "One Crazy Thing" which Solberg second unit directed.[11]

Solberg has directed commercials for a wide range of brands such as Visa, Mr Kipling, Weight Watchers, Premier Inn and Anchor.[12]

He has directed a number of award winning short films including Modern Man which has screened in over 100 cities around the world and won a number of awards including ‘Best Comedy Short’.[13]

In March 2015, Solberg travelled to outer Mongolia to work as second unit director on the documentary The Eagle Huntress.[14] The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and is being executive produced by Daisy Ridley and Morgan Spurlock.[15]

As well as film-making Solberg has a passion for education and empowering others to pursue their goals. He does this through public speaking and his blog where he regularly posts behind the scenes photos and stories from his latest film-making adventures.[16]

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In short he's a very talented young man indeed and makes beautiful work.

Both he and his partner, Nathalia, are expectant parents too with their arrival being sometime in August - I wish them both all the very best of course and will hope to catch up with them soon

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The Eagle Huntress (2016)

Trailer: https://www.sebastiansolberg.com/eagle-huntress

The story behind the filming: https://www.sebastiansolberg.com/sin...eagle-huntress

(Extracted)

In June 2014 I received an email from Otto Bell, a creative director based in New York. He was making a film called ‘The Eagle Huntress’ about one of the first female Eagle Hunters, Asholpan, a 13 years old girl living in the outskirts of Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia. As soon as he told me about the project and his ambitions I knew I had to be a part of it!

Eagle Hunting is an ancient male tradition that goes back thousands of years where nomadic Kazakhs capture a young golden eagle from it’s nest and train the Eagle to hunt for rabbits, foxes and on occasion wolves! How insane is that!

Hunting most commonly takes places in the winter where temperatures drop to -40 degrees celsius and food supplies are at an all time low. The meat from the animals caught are used to feed the Eagle Hunters family and the fur is used for the Eagle Hunters coats to keep them warm!

Otto asked if I’d join him for the first part of the shoot! However the dates for the shoot clashed with a job I was already on and I couldn’t move the dates around so reluctantly I had to turn down the amazing offer of being a part of this project. It was heartbreaking and I couldn’t believe I was turning down such an amazing opportunity. But reputation is everything in this game so I couldn’t turn around and say no to the other job after I’d already committed to it.

I wasn’t ready to give up though and I knew they’d be going back to Mongolia several times over the next year to finish the documentary! When Otto arrived back from the trip I called and emailed him every two weeks to discuss the project and say how I would love to be a part of the film. Six months passed and they went out to Mongolia two more times – without me – I was beginning to think that I was wasting my time and I should just leave it.

However I decided to call one last time, just before they were about to head out to Mongolia for the epic winter shoot. Otto said logistically they couldn’t send me out for the winter trip as they were already fully crewed but he had an assignment for me which he wanted to discuss on his arrival back in New York. I waited with baited breathe.

As soon as Otto arrived back I called him and a few months later I found myself boarding a plane at Heathrow airport with my good friend and sound man Louis Thompkins, I couldn’t believe it was finally happening, I’d been dreaming about this project for close to a year!

Three planes, countless car journeys, on and off road and three days later we were in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia!

The shoot itself was intense! We’d been sent out during the Kazakh New Years celebrations, also know as Nowruz to capture the end of the film. We had four and a half days to get everything done and boy were we in for a rollercoaster of events!

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar – the capital of Mongolia the night before after very little sleep and three days of traveling to get there.

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Full video: https://avalonlibrary.net/Sebastian_..._subtitles.mp4

[Nasu]

What an amazing documentary. I have hunted most of my life, from fish to squirrel up to elk and most things in between. Only for food never for sport. In recent years I have really enjoyed working with a dog and have loved training and hunting with them, sometimes frustrating often very satisfying to have such a bond between man and animal. So it is in this film.

Watching this makes my heart warm. It’s so wonderful that these ancient traditions are still being kept alive and that this young girl is testing new waters and showing the old guard that anybody can do anything if they just want to and make the appropriate effort.

So beautifully filmed from start to finish, without wokeness or so called modern values, just someone who loves what they do, irrespective of gender, and clearly supported by all her family, despite the obvious reservations of the older crew.

Thank you for this. A truly wonderful film……x…. N

[Michel Leclerc]

Re-mar-ka-ble. Great respect for content and its meanings, great sense of classical beauty of image in all its forms. Not fashionable – profound. Admiration. Thank you Tintin. A creator’s work to look out for.