Norwegian co-directors Espen Jan Folmo, Ph.D. and Nini Caroline Skarpaas Myhrvold fuse psychology, cultural research and visual poetry into films designed to spark collective transformation. Folmo spent a decade leading Norway’s Quality Lab for Psychotherapy, advancing research on mentalization and cultural change, while Myhrvold’s background spans trauma-sensitive environmental therapy and executive studies at Hult International Business School. Their debut feature, "Look up - The science of cultural evolution", distils cutting-edge science and mythic storytelling into an animated odyssey that has earned more than 100 international awards -including multiple Gold Awards at the “Florence Film Award”s, Best Educational Film at the “Cannes World Film Festival”, and Best Picture & Best Animation at the “London Movie Awards”.
NINI CAROLINE SKARPAAS MYHRVOLD - IMDB PAGE
Q. Hello Nini Caroline and Espen, it's a pleasure to have you with us for this interview. Congratulations on your ‘Best Documentary Feature’, ‘Best Editing’ and ‘Best VFX’ awards at last October's edition of the “Rome International Movie Awards” (click HERE).
Your new documentary is “Look up: The science of cultural evolution": in a few words, what is it about?
A. “Look up” is a three-hour documentary essay built on one invitation-raise your gaze. We braid evolutionary biology, psychotherapy research, myth, and music into a single through-line: cooperation is nature’s master-code. From the first microbial mergers to today’s global networks, the film asks how cultures heal, stall, or leap forward, and what each of us can do to widen the circle of “we.”
Q. Why did you decide to make a documentary on this subject?
A. Because the subject started making us. Years of clinical work revealed how personal trauma mirrors cultural fracture. A book felt too silent; only cinema could let viewers feel the evidence, not just understand it.
Q. What got you into the film production industry? Have you ever received any formal training in this area?
A. Our “film school” was psychology labs, concert halls, and midnight philosophy debates. We entered film sideways—writing research by day, scoring music by night—until the camera united every discipline we loved.
Q. Before "Look up - The science of cultural evolution", what can you tell us about your film?
A. We cut our teeth on a 50-minute animated explainer about Bitcoin’s cultural ripple effects. The lessons in pacing, clarity, and digital craft became “Look up”’s spine.
Q. What kind of directors do you describe yourself?
A. We call our practice scientific poetry. One of us lays down Bach-like architecture; the other paints silence and texture around it. We’re happiest when the film starts directing us.
Q. Directors (and indeed actors) who inspire you?
A. Tarkovsky for turning time into prayer, Kubrick for forensic gaze, Jodorowsky for lucid dreaming. Acting inspirations: Max von Sydow’s gravitas and Rooney Mara’s interior stillness.
Q. Your favourite movies? And of course, films you really deplore?
A. "Love: the mirror", "Groundhog day", "The mission". Deplore: any algorithm-driven sequel that quotes without listening.
Q. Any future projects you'd like to share?
A. The Doula School—film-rich coursework on parenting as cultural genesis—and a hybrid feature about AI ethics told through three epochs of human dreaming.
Q. Where can people see your work?
A. The trailer and the whole documentary can be watched on "Youtube" (HERE and HERE) and we are also on "Imdb" (HERE).
Q. Thank you for this very inspiring interview, Nini Caroline and Espen. Here at the “Rome International Movie Awards” we look forward to seeing and appreciating your new film productions!
A. We are grateful to the “Rome International Movie Awards”, where “Look up” won 'Best Documentary Feature', 'Best Editing', and 'Best VFX' in 2024. Thank you for offering a stage where philosophy and craft can dance; until our next reel-keep looking up.
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