Artistic Research Week: Bunadsgerlijaen

The NTNU Film Prize is awarded in collaboration between NTNU and Kosmorama and honors individuals who promote film production in Trøndelag and contribute to highlighting and developing the film community in Trondheim and Trøndelag. On Tuesday, September 22 and Friday, September 25, we will highlight four previous award winners and their film work: Mari Nilsen Neira (2025), Leiv Igor Devold (2023), Bente Maalen (2021), and the first recipient of the NTNU Film Prize, Håvard Bustnes (2016).

The award winners will be present at the screenings and give a brief introduction to their work on the films.

The screenings are free and open to everyone.

NTNU Artistic Research Week is an initiative that aims, among other things, to showcase art and artistic research at NTNU and strengthen collaboration between NTNU and the city’s art institutions.

Bunadsgerlijaen, Mari Nilsen Neira, NTNU Film Prize 2025

In the spring of 2019, Anja Cecilie Solvik puts on her traditional Nordmøre bunad and vows not to take it off until the maternity ward in Kristiansund has been saved. The local health authority has decided to close the maternity ward when the new hospital in neighboring Molde is completed. The film follows guerrilla leader Anja and the women’s fight along Norway’s coast to preserve maternity services in a number of smaller communities across the country. Who are the women behind the guerrilla movement, and why have so many people become engaged in this cause? This is a story about the struggle between the center and the periphery – the deepest fault line in Norwegian society.

Bunadsgerlijaen is a documentary directed and written by Helen Komini Knudsen and Mari Nilsen Neira, and produced by Tore Buvarp/Fenris AS.

Mari Nilsen Neira has been a central figure in the Trøndelag film industry for more than 20 years, working as a director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and entrepreneur. She helped establish the company Herstory, which has worked to bring female perspectives to the forefront of film and contribute to a more equal film industry. She has also worked across disciplines and with technological innovation in film production.

When Neira received the NTNU Film Prize in 2025, the jury also emphasized her commitment to including young professionals and students in her productions, thereby contributing to the regional film community. In 2023, she made her theatrical debut as lead director with the documentary Bunadsgerlijaen. She is also a producer on the documentary HEX, about the Norwegian black metal band Witch Club Satan.