A lovely short about the detours we take in life from cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (previously featured here). The project is just one of many Benjamin had planned to create with close friend and collaborator, Johannes Greve Muskat (previously featured here). Johannes was originally set to co-direct the film, which they wrote together alongside Norwegian beat poet Fredrik Høyer and composer Bendik Baksaas. Sadly, Johannes passed away in May of 2019, at just a year past 27 and only two weeks before funding for the project came through.
“Elegi over Avicii” is a meditation on the digression of time and how things move on even through the roughest of times. The track is part of Bendik Baksaas’s Til alt Ute — an album narrated through the spoken word poetry of Fredrik Høyer — which explores the younger generation’s view on the future: apathy, eco-sorrow, lack of hope, but also the importance of expressing yourself and what is most difficult to talk about. Benjamin and Johannes especially connected with the Tortusa Remix and Fredrik’s attempt at describing the zeitgeist in the time following Swedish DJ Avicii’s suicide in 2017. For Fredrik it left a vacuum and the kind of grief that isn’t often discussed. As Benjamin explains further:
“After multiple conversations we discovered that the lyrics were also written for a specific stretch of road between Skjærhalden and Fredrikstad, just outside of Oslo, Norway. A road Fredrik travelled multiple times when he was dealing with the passing of one of his own closest friends. Conceptually the idea of time and what affects and shapes us as we move along this path was very interesting to us. Change usually occurs quite slowly, and over longer periods of time, which makes it tricky to even notice. A significant ‘marker’ is usually needed to even form a dent. And from personal experience, having witnessed close friends and friends of friends pass in untimely and unfortunate ways makes you think, reassess – and one usually ends up with emotional weight that is often difficult to talk about or express.
As if the lyrics didn’t already bear an emotional weight – they now also became a sort of hyper reality. Being aware of the fact that communication can be something of a lost art at times, appropriating these feelings or emotions into a piece like this can be a cathartic process. At least it was for me. A way to process, or perhaps just a momentary distraction…”
Watch “Elegi over Avicii” above and see full credits below!
Starring
Fredrik Høyer
Kine Sofie Berntsen
Bendik Baksaas
Sarah Francesca Brænne
Directed by Benjamin Loeb
Produced by Magnus Castracane & Martin Myhre
Written by Fredrik Høyer
Photography by Håvard Byrkjeland
1st AC / Grip by Thomas Bjørnstad
Precision Driving by Matijas Loeb
Edited by Benjamin Loeb
Music Composed by Bendik Baksaas
Remix by Tortusa
Additional Sound Design by Vidar Grande
Color Grading by Sabina Tornberg
This video was submitted by Benjamin Loeb and selected by our team. Click here if you have a project you’d like us to check out!
