The Art of the Impossible

A roadmovie with Eugenio Barba, back to the origins of Odin Teatret

In 1964 the Italian immigrant Eugenio Barba started Odin Teatret in an air shelter in Oslo. Today, it is one of the most famous theatre companies in the world, and Eugenio Barba is considered as one of the great innovators of modern theatre. They have the whole world as their stage, and have made the small Danish town Holstebro renowned as a city of culture. But what is driving Barba, why does he still think culture is so important to fight for, and what is the mea-ning of playing theatre in times of commercialism, apathy and terror? How does he inspire a group to be creative together for so long, and how will it be for him to return to Norway, where it all started?

The music of the film has been written by the well-known Norwegian composer Henning Sommerro.
Directed by: Elsa Kvamme
DOP: Nils Petter Lotherington, Tore Vollan, Claire Coriat
Editors: Claire Coriat, Erik Thorvald Aster

Duration: 66 minutes, with subtitles in English, Spanish, Italian, Danish and Norwegian.

Elsa Kvamme is a filmmaker who has, among others, made the feature film "Fia!" and the documentaries "A Streetcar to Auschwitz" and "The Doctors' War". She was an actress at Odin Teatret (1973-75), and started her own theatre company, Saltkompagniet in Oslo, which she led for six years. She attended film school in New York, and is also known as a cabaret artist and songwriter.