The Seduced Human

2011, Truls Lie, 70 minutes, Norway

The Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth has spent his life provoking audiences worldwide. His 40 documentaries and 20 years in chaotic Haiti—where he stayed until the earthquake destroyed his home in 2010—all beg the question: What is the meaning of such a life? Jørgen Leth is existentially torn between desire and despair, always ready to seduce or be seduced. The Seduced Human is a moral inquiry into modern aesthetics and those who shape them. Is the filmmaker’s life without ethics?

Truls Lie is a documentary filmmaker born in Norway. He is the editor-in-chief of DOX -European Documentary Magazine and a film critic at Le Monde diplomatique Scandinavian edition. He has a degree in media and philosophy from The New School and the University of Oslo.

Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth has lived in chaotic Haiti for 20 years. In 2010, the catastrophic earthquake destroyed his home, dramatically changing his life. Did this disaster also push the director away from his pure aesthetics and towards a more ethical mode of filmmaking? This documentary follows Jørgen from the making of his film The Erotic Man in Haiti before the earthquake up to its premiere.

CPH:DOX, 2011

Oslo International Film Festival, 2011

Krakow Film Festival, 2012

Odense International Film Festival, 2012