Traces Grow Out of Words

A portrait of the Faroese writer Jóanes Nielsen
Gentle and tough. Fragile and existentially hard hitting. Those are a few of many labels you can put on Jóanes Nielsen (f. 1953), a fisherman, workman, socialist, nationalist, and - not least - writer and poet from the Faroe Islands - a small, self governing part of Denmark, situated in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Jóanes Nielsen is the strongest voice in modern Faroese literature and in this portrait film he generously shares the experiences, which have formed him as a writer. He is not afraid of showing his vulnerability as a human being and as a man. Alternating between narrative and poetry, the filmmaker Katrin Ottarsdóttir gives us a fascinating portrait of what drives Jóanes as a writer

Katrint Ottarsdóttir, film director
Born 1957 in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. Now living in Denmark.
Graduated as a film director from The National Danish Filmschool 1982.
Website: www.bluebirdfilm.dk

Filmography:
BUDAM: LAST SONG. Music video, 5 min. Blue Bird Film, 2011.
MEMORIES FROM AN APARTMENT. A film installation and/or a short film suite of 5 short films. Blue Bird Film, 2011.
TRACES GROW OUT OF WORDS. Documentary, 75 min. Blue Bird Film, 2010
A LINE A DAY MUST BE ENOUGH! Documentary, 58 min. Blue Bird Film, 2008
NO ONE CAN ACHIEVE PERFECTION. Documentary, 85 min. Blue Bird Film, 2008
REGIN SMIÐUR - UNE DANSE BALLADE. Dance film, 5 min. Barok Film and others, Denmark, 2004.
BYE BYE BLUE BIRD. Feature film, 85 min.. Peter Bech Film, 1999.
- Audience Award & Youth Jury Award, Rouen, France, 2000.
- VPRO Tiger Award, RRIF, Holland, 2000.
- NDR Förderpreis, Nordische Filmtage, Lübeck, Germany, 1999.
- Special Award and Honorable mention, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Germany, 1999.
THE MAN WHO WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE. Short feature, 58 min. Herremagasinet Film & TV og Danish Television, 1995.
ATLANTIC RHAPSODY. Feature film, 75 min. Kaleidoskop Film, 1989.
- Main Award, Nordische Filmtage, Lübeck, Germany, 1989.
HANNIS. Children's film, 30 min. UmbiFilm et al., Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands,1992. (Faroese part of West Nordic childrens films trilogy).
REGIN ÚTISETI (Regin Dahl – A Faroese Poet In Denmark). 1987.
EITT KVØLD Í HAVN (Tórshavn by Night). SvF (Faroese Television), 1984.