A Home on Every Floor
A poet uses her voice to excavate the lost home of her childhood.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made this film partly because of my love for the poem the film is based on. Hanna Asefaw performed this text during a festival in the summer of 2020, a rare opening in the many pandemic lockdowns. The text struck me, as well as Hanna's presence in what she described. It was visual, intimate, confrontational and vulnerable, all at once.
What Hanna describes is also both specific and universal, visualizing a set of memories from her upbringing in a communal housing complex in Oslo. We can all relate to many of her references, as Norwegian 90s kids, but she also revealed something new. She describes her neighbours with love, even though we can still sense the problematic sides of communal housing for children, and somehow I felt like she described the very essence of a home, with all its nuances. These nuances are the core of both the text and what later became the film, and I thought I should make this poem into a film before someone else did.
The Norwegian housing market is also among the most liberal in Europe, and housing has become a popular thing to speculate in and make money from. These policies make it harder for people to own their own homes, and people with regular jobs, like teachers and nurses, struggle to make ends meet owning a home in a big Norwegian city. I wanted to discuss the backside of our liberal housing policy, and ask the question: who are our cities really for? Are they for the white, upper middle class, or do we need to think differently to preserve the very uniqueness of a city? Differences, either in culture, color or class, make up the very soul of a city, to me, and I believe this film is a good conversation starter. I hope the film can bring us back from a capitalist way of thinking of housing as «entities» or «property», and remind us to think of houses as homes, that give room to a variety of lives people choose to live.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch this film if you love nostalgia and surprises. This film, even though labelled a documentary, plays with form in a new and fascinating way. You will be introduced to a personal, yet universal story, bringing in larger questions of childhood, care, politics, and love, all mixed up in a playful way.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Hanna’s personal story is the very foundation of the film. Both the text and the film play with memories, both her own, and those belonging to other family members. In a way, her story is a good example of how people's lives are affected by the Norwegian housing policies, as her family were forced to move when her block was bought up by a large real estate company. Hanna’s personal story mirrors a larger problem. Our politicians sell properties to private companies, instead of housing people like Hanna, a second-generation immigrant with parents from Eritrea. When these properties are bought up by companies like Heimstaden, they often undergo a renovation, before they are released on the market for a higher price. The real estate companies buy houses to make money, not to provide good homes for the people living in them, and the result is that people like Hanna are pushed out of the city centre because they can no longer afford to live there. Renovation and speculation also push the prices of other properties in that neighbourhood upwards, and it becomes harder and harder for lower-middle-class families to get back, unless they win the lottery. This means that our policies, in practice, maintain segregation in the cities. Our city center has become a place for the rich and the upper middle class, or for people who inherit housing from their families, and all the other people are pushed further and further away from the city center.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
In many ways, we kept to the original idea. The film would start when the poem started, and end when the poem ended. A lot of things evolved during development, and we worked closely with production designer Julia Jayko Fossland, who sketched up a lot of the rooms prior to shooting. Writing the script. It was mostly about figuring out how to make something visual that would not compete with the text. The poem was also very specific, which gave us a lot of room to be abstract in how the story was told, as most of the information came from what Hanna said. We did not need to explain much in the images, and this gave us a huge creative room to play with different methods. That was a lot of fun.
We decided that each character would be represented by their own room, and that all movements in the film would be made by Hanna. Hanna is also a great performer, and I did not want to make too many cuts or use methods that killed the rhythm of the poem.
From there, a lot was done in production, working with an amazing gaffer who brought the small sets to life, and trying different things on camera. The film really came to life in the edit and sound design, when the static rooms were given life, and the beautiful music came in.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been overwhelming. We premiered during the Norwegian Short Film Festival in June 2023 and also won an award. Since then, the film has travelled to 13 festivals across the world and had its North American premiere at DOC NYC in November.
People seem to relate to what Hanna describes, and many also love the playful form, which has been great to experience as a director. We took many chances with this film, it was not made to be particularly available, and it's fun to see that the creative choices we made were the right ones.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
What surprised me the most is that a monologue-driven film, spoken in Norwegian, has reached such a large international audience. We were a bit afraid that the language would be a barrier, but it hasn't.
Apart from that, the feedback has not yet challenged my point of view. People seem to love this film, and I am grateful.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Right now, we are looking for an American distributor or sales agent, and we also hope to reach some more international press. This film is the first in a short film anthology of three films, and we hope to find a distributor we can build up a collaboration with over time, not just for this film, but for the three as a whole.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are working on our press strategy for this film in America, to sharpen the message for more press coverage. We hope the press can lead to more collaborators.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
First and foremost, I hope the film reaches a large audience. I hope the film can be a tiny story they can carry along in life.
Impact wise, we have mostly worked with a Norwegian impact strategy thus far, and we are now working on a more international one.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What constitutes a home? Who are our cities really for?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Director Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid, writer Hanna Asefaw and production designer Julia Jayko Fossland are now working with Stray Dog Productions in Oslo on the two next short films following A Home on Every Floor. All three films in the anthology will deal with different aspects of life in a city.
The second film, Text Me When You Get Home, also based on a poem written by Asefaw, will deal with public spaces and the question of safety, in the aftermath of a mass shooting outside a gay bar in Oslo in the summer of 2022.
Interview: January 2024
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
A Home on Every Floor
A poet uses her voice to excavate the lost home of her childhood.
Length: 10:50
Director: Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
Producer: Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
Writer: Hanna Asefaw, Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
About the writer, director and producer:
SIGNE ROSENLUND-HAUGLID (b. 1995) is a journalist and filmmaker, with an MFA in creative directing from HDK-Valand in Gothenburg. Working in both fiction and documentary, she explores innovative filmmaking techniques to address currents and debates that reflect the present. A Home on Every Floor touches on gentrification, Not That Kind of Guy takes on party-related rape, BBQ & Apocalypse, an artistic collaboration with three filmmakers, addresses climate change. Most recently she won the Spark Award at The Norwegian Short Film Festival (A Home on Every Floor), and Ildflugeprisen for best short documentary (Not That Kind of Guy), and Høstutstillingsprisen at the Norwegian National Art Exhibition (BBQ & Apocalypse). Rosenlund-Hauglid has worked as a journalist in several national newspapers, currently VG.
HANNA ASEFAW is a versatile artist whose creative essence intertwines poetry, performance, and storytelling. Rooted in a rich tapestry of personal experiences and cultural insights, her work serves as a vibrant mosaic reflecting the nuanced intricacies of identity, belonging, and the interplay between local and global narratives. Her performances, whether through spoken word, live art, or film, echo the cadence of authentic stories woven with threads of social commentary. From immersive live performances exploring the diasporic presence of the black body to evocative poetic renderings that capture the essence of safe spaces and the ever-changing nature of home, her artistry resonates with audiences on both intimate and universal levels. Through her multidisciplinary journey, Hanna Asefaw continues to craft a narrative mosaic, inviting audiences to explore, question, and embrace the beautiful complexities of human experiences. Her art is a testament to the power of storytelling as a means to connect, provoke thought, and foster understanding in an ever-evolving world.
Key cast: Hanna Asefaw (herself)
Looking for: distributors, journalists, sales agents
Facebook: Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
Instagram: @signe_rosenlund
Hashtags used: #Society, #childhood, #immigration, #housing policies, #economic inequality, #class, #performing art, #poetry, #experimental
Website: signerosenlund.com
Other: IMDb
Funders: The Fritt Ord Foundation, Viken Film Center, Oslo City Council
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
January 23-28th: Minimalen Short Film Festival, Trondheim, Norway. Official selection, in competition. Screening on the 25th of January.
January 19-25th: Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, United States. Official selection, in competition for the Grand Jury Award. Screening on Mon, Jan 22nd, 12:00 PM @ Slamdance HQ @ The Yarrow - Theater B, and Wed, Jan 24th, 5:00 PM @ Slamdance HQ @ The Yarrow - Theater A.
January 19-28th: Flickerfest International Short Film Festival, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. Australian premiere. Official selection, in competition. Screening on Sunday 21 Jan, 6.30pm.
January 19-27th: Fipadoc, Biarritz, France. French premiere. (Screening time not yet announced).