“I THINK EVERYONE HAS ART IN THEM, BUT SOME OF US CAN’T LEAVE IT ALONE.“
What do you do when the one thing you’ve sacrificed everything for stops working? That’s the question driving Norwegian director Eivind Landsvik’s Low Expectations (2026). The film follows Maja, a musician now facing life outside the industry after a mid-tour collapse. Landsvik wrote this story while facing down his own creative blocks. Below, our conversation about his intuitive writing process, the generational divide of the high school classroom, and why he tries to keep his expectations on the floor.
Creative blocks, ambition, fame, and artistic identity
Eivind Landsvik:
I think everyone has art in them, but some of us can’t leave it alone. I’ve thought about quitting so many times, but, you know, it hasn’t been an active choice to continue.
It’s just something I do.
EL:
I don’t know. When I started writing this film, I think I was confronting my fear of never being able to make this film. What happens if I have to give up and find a regular job, what would that be? What should I do? That’s what Maja is dealing with in the film. She is put in a situation where she is forced to figure out if there is a life outside of music that is worth living.
In most cases that might seem obvious, but when you’re reaching your thirties, you have sacrificed everything to do this one thing, and… All of a sudden, your identity is more based on what you do or what you’re trying to be and not who you are, and I think that can be very dangerous.
EL:
I try to have low expectations from the get go, but I always have high ambitions for what I’m trying to achieve through my films. I like having those dreams, but then
keeping them grounded. To me, if you don’t have ambitions, this job (as director) will be very difficult. At the same time, I try not to expect anything because I can’t really expect you to like the film. That would be crazy
to me. But, when you do, of course I’m happy. So I’m trying to separate the ambitions and the expectations.
EL:
I don’t think everyone creating art is comfortable with being famous. I’m not famous, but seeing my photo this week in the Norwegian newspapers made me somewhat
uncomfortable. I like the idea of fame. I just don’t want to be faced with it.
The film, characters, and social layer
EL: Yes, it’s shot on 16mm. Some parts are shot on 8 mm, like when Maja is touring in the beginning.
EL:
I have a very close relationship with my own mother. As far as the Maja
character, she just appeared somehow. So there wasn’t much thought given to the choice of gender. The way I work is, I just start to write, and the characters kind of show up. I don’t like having a pitch and then starting something.
EL:
In a lot of European countries, we feel that people coming here owe us
gratitude, and I don’t agree with that. We are not even aware that we are acting in such a way.
To me, we should feel way more gratitude for having avoided living in countries of war.
EL:
I think because there was something so vulnerable about being thrown into
this. She’s maybe a bit too young for the other teachers in that school, but she’s also too old for the teenagers. They have everything she’s had still in front of them. It can be heartbreaking for
Maja to recognise that teenage time is when you make the decisions, and she has made her decision by choosing to become a musician, which ruined a lot of relationships in her life, like the one to her mother.
Beginnings, writing process, and directing
EL:
I started writing it in 2020, but I didn’t write so much that year and I put it away.
I started again, finalized the first draft in the fall of 2021 and sent it to my producers in January with low expectations. We started working in 2022 and shot the film at this time last year. Our
first shooting day was the 14th of May 2025. I think in February this year the sound mix was completed.
EL:
A lot of people ask me if I could direct anyone else’s screenplay. I think I could, but I didn’t get into film school, so no one would give me a script. I just had to write my own films to have something to direct. That’s how I started making short films. Before that I also
did some music videos, which I had produced myself.
The corresponding conversation with starring actors Marie Ulven and Anders Danielsen Lie can be found here.
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