Elvira Lind has shot and directed documentaries of various lengths for TV, cinema, and the web on four different continents. Her first feature documentary, “Songs for Alexis,” competed at IDFA in 2014 and screened at a many international festivals. Lind’s new documentary TV series, “Twiz and Tuck,” will be launched on Viceland this year.

“Bobbi Jene” premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

EL: “Bobbi Jene” is about a woman’s fight for creative independence [at a time when] love suddenly throws a wrench into her life. It is a film about making it on your own in the very competitive world of dance, breaking boundaries on stage, finding your own voice as an artist, and staying on track while juggling a relationship with a man who is 10 years younger.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

EL: When I begin working on a new project I don’t look for a particular story but rather an outline of a theme that I am prepared to change if the film takes a new turn. I always search for a person I’d want to follow around for long periods of time with my camera and I have to hope that a story will shape itself as we go along.

When I met Bobbi five years ago I instantly knew that here was a film I’d like to pursue. I wanted to make a film about a woman around my own age who was facing the consequences of her choices as an artist — the loneliness, the struggle, and the doubt that comes with the lifestyle, but also the satisfaction you experience when you follow your instincts and find your path.

Bobbi was strong and inspiring. She was unchained by taboos. She was honest and she was about to change her life dramatically. When we met it was like we had known each other for years. It was an easy choice to pick up my camera and begin shooting.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

EL: I hope this film can help challenge the criteria of success. We are so focused today — obsessed, really — on making it big and loud rather than being brave and making it honest. The size of the stage we are on should not define how successful we are.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

EL: It is always challenging to fund a film, but funding a film where you have no clue how the story will unfold and your lead character is by no means a high profile figure can feel almost impossible. However, my longtime producer Julie Leerskov always believed in the story about Bobbi — even when I couldn’t tell her exactly what that story was.

We were located in an office in Copenhagen above a motorcycle shop with no heating and no internet. We scraped together everything we had to send me off on various trips to Tel Aviv and eventually we got a little bit of funding together from the Danish Film Institute as well as help from producer Sara Stockmann, founder of Sonntag Pictures, which then set things in motion.

Sara, Julie, and I continued to fight for years to get a budget together for the film. I ended up filming on three continents for almost three years before we had our full funding together. Both the Danish and Swedish Film Institute got involved and we eventually landed an important pitching session in Sweden that helped us get money from a long list of TV stations.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Tribeca?

EL: It is a dream come true to have a documentary in competition at Tribeca, a festival I have long wanted to be a part of.

I am Danish but have lived in New York the past four years and this is where Bobbi and I begun filming in 2012, so it feels like the right place for this film to start its journey.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

EL: The worst piece of advice given to me was to get some kind of proper education since this film stuff would probably fail and it is important to have something proper, like being a dental assistant, to fall back on. Maybe it was also the best piece of advice since it did fuel extreme determination to never give up on my projects.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

EL: Stay true to your work and your voice as a filmmaker. Stay focused on the stories you feel most compelled to tell and don’t let anyone tell you that you need a backup plan as a dental assistant in case you fail.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

EL: One of my favorite films of all times is Kim Longinotto’s “Sisters in Law.” It’s a documentary about two women — a judge and a prosecutor — fighting women’s cases in the extremely patriarchal, rural Cameroon. It is a film with incredible intimacy, humor, and disturbing truths about a society where women are completely unaccustomed to fight for their justice.

It is an extremely moving film that somehow manages to balance humor in the most outrageous moments. The story doesn’t present us with an endless line of female victims: instead, we meet strong-willed, feisty women ready to take on what seems to be an impossible mission. It should be obligatory in schools to watch this one.

Longinotto shot the footage herself on 16mm film. Her work and her methods have been huge inspirations to me for the past 10 years.

W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have.

EL: I am very hopeful that this will begin to change more and more. I also strongly believe that for this to happen women have to thoroughly support each other in the industry by helping each other kick in doors and encouraging big thoughts, big ambitions, and big challenges.

I see a huge female force in Scandinavian documentary films and it may be because we have a lot of strong female producers.