Director, teacher, all around rebel Itonje Søimer Guttormsen premiered her latest film, the buddy comedy-drama BUTTERFLY (2026) at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and came here to talk about the film, her career, and all the bad advice she got at film school for the podcast.

When you watch BUTTERFLY, you get the sense of an assured filmmaker at work: a close to two hour runtime that goes quickly and a work of art that doesn't feel like it was made by a committee. It was made by a truly unique voice.

In this episode, Itonje and I talk about:

• the world premiere of BUTTERFLY at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in February, 2026;
• what she wants them to feel when watching the film;
• how she decided to get into filmmaking;
• the best way to encourage rebelliousness in film students;
• why we can't see her directorial debut, GRITT (2021);
• her focus on depicting artists in her films;
• the strong female protagonists in BUTTERFLY and why we don't see more of that on-screen;
• the balance of following the script versus giving actors room to maneuver;
• finding female role models as a director and whether things are getting better for female stories;
• how she didn't make compromises in her films;
• incorporating spirituality into her films without turning it into a punchline;
• what's next for her and what she has learned about the process.

Itonje's Indie Filmmaker Highlights: Guy Maddin; Denis Côté; MAGIC FARM (2025) dir. by Amalia Ulman; Camilla Figenschou; Mariken Halle

Memorable Quotes:

"The audience [at International Film Festival Rotterdam] was, they're so attentive, they have a lot of questions and everything is arranged beautifully. So we had a blast."

"There's no hierarchy. Everyone goes to the same party. You speak with short filmmakers, you speak with distributors or festival assistants."

"I felt so many of the things I learned was wrong, kill your darlings. Less is more. All of this bullshit that I don't believe in."

"It was my first feature feature film idea. It came in 2008. So I've been working with this for 18 years."

"I think the sibling relationship...it must be the most defining relationship we can have." 

"I always felt that there's my way or no way for me."

Links:

Hollywood Reporter Interview With Itonje

Follow Mer Film On Instagram

Andropia

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