Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the Göteborg Film Festival, Best Medium-Length Documentary at the Krakow Film Festival, and the F:ACT Award at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival. She is currently working on developing a fictional television series based on the film.

“On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship” will premiere at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 26.

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

KSP: This is a film about the power play happening in Burma. It focuses on the year-long battle between the military and [State Counsellor] Aung San Suu Kyi and shows darker sides of both of them than we could have imagined. It mostly adds a lot of grey to the black and white picture that has been portrayed.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

KSP: I thought it was a miracle story of a military regime that voluntarily started to democratize and an extraordinary woman who had won a decade long non-violent fight for democracy. I am interested in telling surprising stories from the closed rooms of power, which give complexity and nuances to what we know, but mainly I am looking for stories that give hope for change for the better.

In this case, things unfolded in such a tragic way, and the story was much darker than I had anticipated, so the objective became to tell as truthful a story of this complex universe and these characters as possible.

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

KSP: That democracy is more complex than we think. That goes not only for authoritarian regimes that are trying to democratize, but for any country, society, and human interaction. Democracy is difficult and requires compromise.

Even the worst of dictators have a human side, and the apparent icon can be cynical, but all of them are human, and humans can change and make the world change. Even the strongest structures and systems depend on psychology and human will.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

KSP: The access. To build trust and to craft a story that made sense of a very complex reality and a long list of characters.

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

KSP: The film is a Danish-French co-production, so there were two producers finding the financing. It’s a combination of Danish/Nordic funding through the Danish Film Institute, DR, SVT, NRK and the Nordic Film and TV Fund, and French funding through ARTE France, CNC, and Procirep.

The overall budget is around 750k USD, and it has taken nearly four years to get all the financing in place.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

KSP: I always wanted to write and create. It was not until my late teenage years that I fell in love with films and how magical the film language is and how strongly you can tell your stories through film.

It was actually Lars von Trier’s films that moved me the most at that time and made me want to make films.

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

KSP: Best: You can’t do everything, and you should stop trying. There are places where you can blossom, and it feels like you are able to achieve anything, because you have placed yourself where you can grow.

Worst: Probably many pieces of advice, but I have let myself forget them.

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

KSP: Demand respect and a salary.

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

KSP: Documentary: “Sisters in Law,” directed by Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi, because the film shows, in the most magnificent way, how a group of women took back power through law and social [understanding of] women’s rights in a very suppressive, male-dominated society.

Fiction: “You Were Never Really Here” by Lynne Ramsay. Lynne Ramsay has the most beautiful cinematic language—she dares to make surprising and unconventional choices, and she gets under the skin of her characters. I really admire her and wonder how she found a role and a place in the tough, competitive world [of fiction filmmaking].

W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched? 

KSP: I have fortunately never been sexually harassed myself, but I obviously live in the same world as all other women. I have become more aware of when I am being treated condescendingly because I am a woman in a non-powerful position.

I have become more aware of not trying to [conform to] society’s rewarding of “the right behavior,” but to stay true to my moral convictions and my freedom to be the person I am with the professional [goals] I have.