Life

Several times during our conversation, Director Rune Milton Olsen literally jumped out of his chair and started pacing around the room when talking about the production of Life. DP Paul Meyers, ASC would laugh, as if this was nothing new, mirroring his enthusiasm. They’re the two minds behind the short film, made for Doctors Without Borders, and to say it was a passion project is quite the understatement.

But, these two filmmakers are connected for different reasons. For Rune, as a father, he wanted to bring a universal perspective to birth and life. For Paul, he was bringing personal trauma to the situation; it was something “sacred” he needed to do. Either way, Life was more than a commercial project.

“Birth is universal and life is universal—for rich people, poor people, whoever,” Rune said. “I wanted everyone to be able to feel and experience this story, to tell it backward, to understand the context at the end instead of establishing the scene around this beautiful, horrible context.”