Private Project

Lobsterium

Lobsterium is a surrealistic exploration of identity, dissociation and the sometimes grand sacrifices we have to make in order to be freed from our past.

  • Hannah Karine Giske
    Director
    Insectum, Undulatum
  • Thor Lønning Aarrestad
    Director
    Insectum, Undulatum
  • Hannah Karine Giske
    Writer
    Insectum, Undulatum, Muk
  • Hannah Karine Giske
    Producer
    Insectum, Undulatum
  • Tuva Hennum
    Key Cast
    "Birgitta"
    House of Normality, Muk
  • Jonathan Chedeville
    Key Cast
    "Dorian"
    Beforeigners, Beatles, Victoria
  • Hannah Karine Giske
    Key Cast
    "Ludwiga"
    Muk, The Psychics
  • Unni Askeland
    Key Cast
    "Unni Askeland"
    The Songpoet, Nytt på Nytt, Trygdekontoret
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Lobsterium
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 12 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 10, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Norway
  • Country of Filming:
    Norway
  • Language:
    Norwegian
  • Shooting Format:
    h.264 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Portland
    United States
    October 16, 2020
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Hannah Karine Giske, Thor Lønning Aarrestad

Hannah Karine Giske is a working actress and is also producing her own film and theatre-projects. She is a member of the Theatre company Normaliteten, and she has together with the film collective Frognerkontoret produced and directed a short film trilogy.

Thor Lonning Aarrestad have been working many years as a cinematographer for film and television, in addition to having been the leader of The Norwegian Film Union (NFF). Thor Lonning Aarrestad have directed several short films, having the unique capacity of creating original expressions and at the same time following the story arc with a steady hand.

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Director Statement

Director/producer/writer Hannah Karine Giske has together with the film collective Frognerkontoret created a trilogy of short films, to be seen isolated or all together; Insectum, Lobsterium and Undulatum. At the core of her artistry is the fascination for anything that is split; views, personalities, the ego, and the never-ending longing for a resolution or closure that may or never may come. Her work is always rooted in personal experience and most often shrouded by dark comedy and surrealism.

fun things about creating this movie:
I want to highlight the presence of wonderful Norwegian visual artist Unni Askeland in the project, I really love her sitting in the dimly lit living room saying this strange poetry of our film out loud. Working with a live lobster on set though, was a bit rough. I´m a vegetarian and animal lover, and was so scared it would get hurt (until the end where we kill the way we kill lobsters here in Norway). I was also scared it would snap a finger off. 
The inspiration for the lobster is the french poet Nerval, who supposedly had a pet-lobster that he was seen talking for a walk in the gardens of Palais-Royal in Paris. I have heard he did this to piss off the burgois, which is kind of fun because I see Lobsterium, with all its long silk dresses, lit candles and crystal glasses as a sort of picture of the burgoise lifestyle I myself always have tried to escape (grew up ijn a really posh subburb outside of Oslo in Norway) and then my love for punk and escpesially No Wave that I discovered living in New York in the 2000´s is part of what really inspired the language of this movie.