Three young Norwegian women form a coven and start the black metal band Witch Club Satan. They don’t know how to play music, but they paint their faces and grab instruments, and before long, they are playing at major international festivals. But the battle has only just begun.
No, that wasn’t the pitch for a fiction feature film. It is the real-life story of Nikoline, Victoria, and Johanna, which director and cinematographer Maja Holand tells us in the feature documentary Hex, which celebrates its international premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on Friday and next hits CPH:DOX, theCopenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
In Norway’s macabre, male-dominated black metal scene, the new female, and feminist, stars face criticism, opposition and other challenges, press notes highlight. But by trying to tap into witches’ power, they scream and shout like hell to shake up the world by bringing the noise and show their raw and often hidden powers as women.
Cat&Docs is handling sales on Hex, which was produced by Mari Nilsen Neira and edited by Holand and Hilde Bjørnstad. The music is, of course, all courtesy of Witch Club Satan.
Check out an exclusive first look at Hex here.
Holand talked to THR about how she decided to embark on a wild journey to make the film, the theme of fighting strict societal norms, and what makes a witch a witch.
Thank you for showing me a scene that I didn’t know about.When and how did you find out about Witch Club Satan, and why did you want to make a film about the band?
As a new mother of three, during a period when I felt I might have to give up being a filmmaker and the world seemed to collapse around me, I walked around feeling completely dead inside. Thenthe band appeared, and I was immediately captivated by their project. They wanted to awaken from a numbness they felt – something I deeply related to. They were going to learn to play instruments and knew they would never be “good enough” before stepping onto the stage. They called themselves witches, and their universe was bloody, primal, and grim.
I had a strong feeling this extreme journey was the perfect film. I first sent them an email just to make sure someone was making a film about their journey. And if not – well, I just happened to be a cinematographer. It felt very much like a filmmaker’s instinct. I’m actually a cinematographer and hadn’t planned on becoming a director. But that’s how it had to be, once they felt comfortable having me around.
I loved that you show us their evolution as a band and rise to fame, but also their paths to finding their personal witches and following personal paths. How early did you know you wanted to highlight the personal journeys along with the band’s collective journey?
I feel that a good documentary is about character journeys, so that quickly became a goal – especially once I realized how different they are and how differently they entered the project. This was also a very personal project for them, about transforming themselves, so it felt natural from the start. But it did take some time to find the direction of each individual journey. I always thought of the band’s development as the outer framework of the film.
‘Hex’
Courtesy of Maja Holand
How key was the theme of bringing out from rigid societal norms for you in taking on the film? What other themes could you explore via Hex that spoke to you?
It became clear very early on that this theme was central because it was important to the witches from the beginning. Diving into the historical witch trials really appealed to me, especially when I realized how little I actually knew about that history. I had mostly related to the word “witch” as an insult. I’ve done a lot of witch research for this film, and I still want to learn more.
How would you describe what a witch or what witchiness is?
For me now, being a witch is an honorary title – it means you have the power and courage to truly feel and live out who you really are.
When did you decide to use the cool witch trial/courtroom set-up, and how did you come up with that idea?
I struggled for a long time with how, in a cinematic and visual way, I could include all the resistance and social media comments without simply putting text bubbles on screen. Then suddenly it came to me like a lightning bolt while I was out jogging. What if I staged a modern witch trial where Witch Club Satan were on trial, and a judge could read the accusations aloud?
From there the idea developed further, and I dared to start calling around to find real witnesses who could physically show up and say what they meant. It also solved many structural challenges – the judge could quickly explain complex events in the film. And instead of traveling around interviewing people about them, I could bring everyone into this one setting.
I also think it creates a powerful parallel between how we judge witches today and how they were judged in the past. But it felt risky, and for a long time I was unsure whether it would actually work in the film.
‘Hex’
Courtesy of Maja Holand
The film highlights the themes of the bandmates unleashing their raw female power and also breaking into the male-dominated, macabre black metal scene. Do you consider the film a feminist film or yourself a feminist filmmaker?
Witch Club Satan explicitly described themselves as a feminist project. They called themselves a feminist black metal band and entered a very male-dominated genre. I sometimes recognize aspects of that in myself – though not as extremely – as a female cinematographer. And since I work with Herstory, which aims to strengthen female perspectives in film because the industry is still so skewed, I do call myself a feminist filmmaker.
What’s next for you?
For now, we want the film to travel and make it seen by those who are interested in diving into the world of Witch Club Satan. Fans of the band, the music scene, witches all around and far beyond. From a professional side, I could imagine stepping back a bit and working more with shorter formats like music videos, short filmsand working again as a cinematographer alongside directors for a while. Directing takes a lot out of me. But I hope my strong cinematic intuition will return soon.