Umbra is a personal project that explores an ancient phenomenon in a contemporary setting. I was interested in the idea of how a group of strangers, all living within the same area, would be forced to interact and expose themselves as human beings when faced with a mythical threat greater than themselves. The performance in the film, except for the intro, is purely improvised. We did workshops in advance where the actors got the chance to explore movement directions and get acquainted, but all the interaction on screen is non-scripted and comes from real and unplanned connections. We shot the film in Oslo in late June during one of the brightest nights of the year as an attempt to mimic the actual mood of a total solar eclipse.

Born and raised in Oslo, Norway, Niels Windfeldt is a multi-disciplinary director, with a great sense for compassionate and precise storytelling. Niels is a former professional athlete. Photographer. Skateboarder. Bachelor in Economics. Life enthusiast and problem solver. With a great eye for detail and pacing, he seeks to explore dynamic narratives, looking for deeper meanings of human belonging. Drawing a lot of his inspiration from his own from life experiences.