Last month, Metal Insider had the opportunity to attend the Inferno Metal Festival in Norway. Among the multitude of bands playing, there were a handful of presentations and panels at the Inferno Music Conference, one of which included the extended trailer of a forthcoming documentary about the Norwegian black metal scene and its international release. Blackhearts is being produced by Christian Falch, who also worked on The Exorcist in the 21st Century, a documentary about exorcism in the Catholic church.
Blackhearts is currently in development, but it’s expected to come out in 2015. In the below clip, we’re introduced to Sina, who’s described as the only active black metal musician in Iran. While Heavy Metal in Baghdad explored somewhat similar territory in looking at Acrassicauda in Baghdad, they weren’t black metal. In this clip, there’s a long and dramatic pause when Sina is asked what might happen if Iran finds out that he attended the Inferno Metal Festival. But like the initial concept behind Lamb of God’s As the Palaces Burn, the film appears to be more about the international reach of metal, in this case, Norwegian Black Metal.
We asked Falch to explain the film to us, and he told us the following:
The idea of BLACKHEARTS is to show the great impact Norwegian Black Metal has had on fans and musicians far away from Norway. We trying to explore what happens when this music and the ideology behind it meets with cultures that is very different from Norway. After a long period of research we ended up with three totally different, but exciting characters. Even though they do not have much in common, they share the passion for black metal and the music have inspired them to a great degree in their lives.
In the clip we meet Sina, the only active black metal musician in Iran. He runs a great risk because of this. During the process of shooting, he got the chance to play his first ever concert at the Inferno Festival in Norway. A big deal for him, not only as an artist, but as a human being. We are currently filming the aftermath of this event and we have been following him for almost two years with out cameras.
In Greece, we meet a totally different person. Since December 2012 we have been shooting with the black metal artist Kaiadas, known from the band Naer Mataron. He is truly passionate about Norwegian black metal and I have never met anyone with more detailed knowledge about the genre than him. He is also a passionate musician himself, but at the moment what used to be his second career consumes most of his time. Kaiadas is a member of the Greek parliament as a representative for the controversial party Golden Dawn. So, is there a connection between his love for black metal and the politics of the political party he represents? Hopefully the film will answer that question. We are aware of the fact that some people find this a bit too controversial, but as documentary makers, we feel that this is an important part of the whole story and for sure it is a fascinating topic to explore.
Finally we meet Hector and his Colombian friends in the band Luciferian. As the film will show, being a Satanist in the strickly catholic county Colombia is not always easy, but Hector refuses to give up his fight against religion and the society he finds himself in. Hector is 100 % devoted to his band and to raise his 14 year old son as a good black metal fan. Passion does not get stronger than this. The dream he shares with many other musicians is to play in Norway. The dream came true in March this year, but you won´t believe what Hector and his band mates went through to make it happen. This will make jaws drop even for the most passionate metal fans out there…..you have to wait for the documentary to get the answer, but I don´t think anyone will be dissapointed in the end!
On top of this comes also the fact that several Norwegian artists will appear in the film. I can mention names like Obsidian C, Tjalve, Destructhor, Nocturno Culto and Vyl. These guys are known from bands such as Darkthrone, Keep of Kalessin, 1349, Gorgoroth etc.
A little treat that I am particularly proud of is the fact that the one and only Snorre Ruch ( Mayhem / Thorns ) have composed a special score for the film. There is a lot to say about this documentary project, but to keep it short I would say that the finished result will be nothing like people have seen before and can not be compared to any other film on black metal out there. We hope to release it in late 2015.
You can follow the film’s progress on its Facebook page.
