Director

DIRECTOR

Hilse De Groote

Travelling around the world as A Girl From Earth, Hilse makes her own documentaries. The Path to Nidaros is the second documentary in the series of Norway, at the beginning of 2017 she introduced her debut documentary ‘The Riders of the Arctic’ to the public. And it became a real success: one award for Best Documentary Director and several selections. Hilse’s purpose is to reach the world, the first documentary was sold in 16 countries and has 3 distribution points, which is definitely a step in the good direction. She made the series in Norway with her own budget, by selling them she hopes to create a budget to make more documentaries. In the summer of 2017 Hilse is travelling to Canada to continue chasing her dreams.

To film The Path to Nidaros Hilse carried all the film equipment by herself, 643 km from Oslo to Trondheim, which made it a very hard task. Nothing was set or arranged, everything you see is exactly how it happened. During the trail she was known for her huge backpack, but Hilse believes the determination to make the documentary gave her extra power to reach Nidaros and to finish the trail. Giving up on the trail would be as giving up on her dreams, which is not an option. An inspiration for many people worldwide.

Hilse De Groote was born in Belgium, as a little girl her dream was to become a knight, later on she found out she was born in the wrong century and decided to study film school. But the world was calling for her, after working in the film/TV industry for a few years she left everything behind to travel the world. In the past few years she worked and lived in several countries. By the end of 2015 Hilse came up with the idea to combine her two passions. The series of Norway is the result: “The Riders of the Arctic” and “The Path to Nidaros”.

Director Hilse de Groote

“The hardest walk
is walking alone.
But it’s also
the strongest.”