Beneath the Surface at Sheffield Doc Fest 2022

June 23, 2022

“Beneath the Surface, directed by Alex Irvine-Cox premièred to acclaim at the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival.  It was a harrowing and strongly emotional film touching on distressing themes such as sexual abuse, racism and prejudice in Norway, a country normally admired for its liberal and inclusive social behaviour. This was a film needing sensitivity, and the visual landscape became as much a part of the character of the film as were the human participants.  Working with Onsight to deliver those demanding needs was always a pleasure and the production team is hugely grateful for their skill and dedication that contributed to this important and moving feature documentary.” – André Singer, Executive Producer, Spring Films.

Beneath the Surface, is a powerful feature documentary highlighting silenced stories of abuse from indigenous Sámi women, men and children in Tysfjord, Norway. Directed by Alexander Irvine-Cox, in his feature length directorial debut, Beneath the Surfaceinvestigates generations of negligence and suffering through recovered evidence and unseen archival footage. The community undertakes a legal challenge against the Norwegian authorities to break the cycle of generations of racial subordination and systemic discrimination against Norway’s Indigenous peoples.  

Beneath the Surface is a co-production between England and Norway by Spring Films and Medieoperatørene with Ingvil Giske as Producer and Cinematography by Tore Vollan. BBC Storyville presents the documentary in collaboration with Norwegian pubcaster NRK. Executive Producers are Fiona Stourton, André Singer, Mandy Chang and Lucie Kon.

This June, Beneath the Surface has featured at both Krakow Film Festival and Sheffield Doc Fest and was nominated for the Tim Heatherington Award in Sheffield!

Post Production at OnSight:

OnSight provided full Picture and Sound Post production services for Beneath the Surface, overseen by Post Producer Joana Coelho. The story behind Beneath the Surface is an incredibly important, but delicate, story to tell. As such, OnSight handled the footage with the utmost care, discretion and sensitivity. 

OnSight’s Adam Sample carried out the Online edit and Alfie Mitchell was Conform Editor. We created two versions of the feature, for both international cinema and BBC broadcast.