We recently connected with Kristjan Thor and have shared our conversation below.

Kristjan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

It is hard to pick the “most” meaningful project, because it feels like being forced to pick a favorite child! That said, my second feature film, “Astraea” was a transformative experience for me. We filmed in the mountains of western Maine during a particularly cold and snowy winter, Given the budget, it was a remarkably ambitious project. As I think back on it, the difficulty of the task along with the obstructions that were baked into the circumstances allowed for a beautiful flourishing of creativity. Dollie’s were built from old roller blades, fireplaces burned for days at a time, and the entire crew walked for miles following the same set of footprints so as not to leave additional tracks in the snow. What was so meaningful for me was watching a community come together by way of the sheer impossibility of what we were trying to do-and all to simply tell a beautiful story.

Kristjan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was always a maker. As a kid, I would create films on an old camcorder, I started my own theater when I was in third grade, and there was always an insane “project” brewing. I think my professional life has carried on in a similar fashion insofar as I am always seeking a new experience. Through the years, I’ve directed many plays, films, commercials and immersive experiences. All the while, teaching and coaching actors and professionals has also played an important role in my life.

What do I want people to know about my “brand”? Much in the way an actor is drawn to the profession in order to bring truth to people who have a different life experience than they do, I yearn to create worlds different from my own. In doing so, I want the world Im asking an audience to invest in to challenge the viewer-give them an undeniable experience. If I design a fear experience or haunted house, I want to invest everything into what is the nature of fear and why do we as humans “like” to feel fear for their personal entertainment. If I a directing a post apocalyptic film, I hope to ask all the REAL questions about that experience, the quiet, the resilience not just the zombie’s nipping at a character’s feet. If I am asked to work commercially, I’m as interested helping the brand or client understand and investigate the nature of their product as we aim to sell or promote it. Not just asking for the impressions we receive, but also how closely that impression aligns with the vision of the client.

For me, there is something glorious about this profession because there is a moving target. Directors are asked not to bring vision to a piece but also to adjust to the needs the project brings up. That element of problem solving while keeping the vision at the forefront of the audience’s mind excites me personally and keeps me engaged and excited about the work.

My mother told me when I was young, “Never be boring. To be boring is the worst thing”. That is certainly something I have strived for and do my best to bring to all my collaborations.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

This is such an important question. Of course, I support any and all support for creatives in our society. I think it is a fundamental building block and in I believe access to art to be a human right. A society that supports the arts is always a more engaged and enlightened place. It is imperative to remember, though, that even if you do not identify as a creative, it is so important that you find a way to engage with those that do.

Sometimes I see “the arts” living in its own bubble and that seems like a missed opportunity to me. To integrate the arts into a society is WORK- both on behalf of the creatives and the community as a whole. When I have seen a successful creative culture, it has always been the result of active and even aggressive gestures to find a way to get a creative spirit into the world. It is more than funding (though that is important too!) but it is about getting community leaders and businesses to push hard to integrate the arts into their world.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A mentor once told me that I should “learn to watch the world without desire.”

I think about that statement a lot. It may not be a lesson that one “unlearns” but it was a practice that took me some time to fully grasp. What I think is important about the notion “watching without desire” is that the urge to please an audience plays a huge part in any creatives life. There is nothing wrong with wanting people to “like” your work, but when you can divorce yourself from the desire to please, you begin to see the world more objectively. You must find a way to see moments for what they really are, not what you want them to be.

A great exercise for this is to look through a frame…a window, the space between two parking spots, anything that has a clearly defined parameter. As you watch this space, try to see it without an ounce of desire. Both personally and creatively. Watch it without coveting the nice watch on the gentleman that walks by… dont hope something interesting happens so you can snap a pic. Just watch. It is a great meditation and when you can take desire out of the equation, you’ll start to see the beauty in being purely objective to the world around you. And for me, I discover much more about the world, relationships, dramatic structure etc after spending a few hours doing this exercise.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kristhor.com
• Instagram: #kristjan.thor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristjan-thor-a2286a34/

Image Credits
Jean-Marc Joseph (for the winter shots)