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Norway’s first female film producer became a star in Berlin – and was then forgotten
New research gives her the starring role she deserves.
Aud Egede-Nissen leans back in an armchair, dressed in a pinstripe suit, blowing smoke rings. That’s how a German film magazine portrayed her in 1917.
She had achieved what no Norwegian woman had done before: she had built her own film company.
“It's completely unique for a Norwegian actress to build such a career in Berlin during the First World War, at a time when women barely had any rights,” says researcher Maria Fosheim Lund at the University of Oslo.
But how did Egede-Nissen get there?
She was born in Bergen in 1893, the first of 11 siblings. At just 18 years old, she made her acting debut in Trondheim.
Two years later, she was offered the opportunity to work in film in Copenhagen. Then, in 1914, she moved on to the film capital of Berlin.
There, she gradually achieved star status as a silent film actress, and in 1916 she founded her own film company, Egede Nissen Film Compagnie.
Enormous output
Between 1917 and 1918, Egede-Nissen produced no fewer than 29 films in Germany. By comparison, only 16 feature films were made in Norway during the entire 1910s.
“In Norway people have been a bit sceptical, assuming that since there were so many films, they probably weren’t that good. But Germany was the biggest film nation at the time, and the industry was so much more advanced on every level – technically, in terms of acting, and in the quality of the scripts,” says Lund.
Comparing Norway with Germany at that time would be like comparing a region of Norway with Hollywood, she believes.
She was forgotten for several reasons
Despite being Norway’s first female film producer, Aud Egede-Nissen has been almost forgotten in Norwegian film history.
“The most banal explanation is simply that almost everyone is forgotten to begin with. It’s not exactly easy to name a film star from the 1910s. On top of that, she changed her surname because of three marriages,” says Lund.
She is probably best known in Norway as Aud Richter, the name she took after her second marriage.
“The fact that she had her own film company in Germany has hardly been known afterwards, nor that she was Norway’s first female film producer. It seems this was quickly forgotten,” says Lund.
The researcher believes it is also a question of how film history is written. Each new account confirms what has already been told and builds on established ideas. Egede-Nissen’s career has become something of a footnote.
But how did she manage to establish a film company in the film capital of Berlin at a time when women hardly had any rights? Egede-Nissen was not even allowed to open a bank account.
“A man had to approve all documents, so it was absolutely crucial that her husband, Georg Alexander, was interested in the same things. He was also an actor and director,” she says.
But the company was in her name, and she was the managing director. Thanks to her star status, she had a product the audience wanted and could decide which films to make and who would act in them. She gave work to several of her actress sisters.
Powerful female destinies on screen
The star producer had a strong interest in melodramas, films that often appeal to a female audience.
“It's easy to see the feminist dimension in her project. She made films about powerful female destinies and delivered impressive performances herself,” says Lund.
She addressed issues that mattered to women of her time: motherhood and how to be a good mother while still wanting to attend balls and dance, working as an artist, and being able to choose one’s own partner.
Her films were about navigating limitations, but also about exploring opportunities.
“The men were at the front, and women started to fill the cinemas,” says Lund.
Precisely these themes – and the fact that the films were made for women – have later contributed to them being looked down upon.
“Films by and for women have always had a much lower status in a film-historical context,” says the researcher.
Returned to Norway
Egede Nissen-Film Compagnie stopped producing films around the end of the First World War. Towards the end of the 1920s, Aud Egede-Nissen decided to return home to Norway.
There, she tried to gain a foothold in her homeland and once again sought to take on the role of film producer.
“It's extremely striking how difficult it was for her to enter the Norwegian film industry. Her experience and expertise surpassed that of any man in the Norwegian film business, yet she was met with zero interest. She seems to have encountered incredible resistance,” says Lund.
She did manage to produce a few films in Norway, but according to Lund, they have been rather neglected in Norwegian film history.
A bunch of men in knickerbockers
“They are often left out of filmographies because they were co-productions with Denmark and Germany. She also produced the first sound film in Norway and Denmark, a co-production called Eskimo,” says Lund.
But both countries have named other films as their first sound film.
“It's clear that she has been underestimated and has not received the recognition she deserved. I think a lot of it comes down to envy and competition. I simply don't think people believed that women could possess this kind of expertise,” the researcher says.
In an interview from this period, Aud Egede-Nissen described the Norwegian film industry as a bunch of men in knickerbockers running around with a megaphone, thinking that this is how you do film production.
“It’s quite funny. I think she was very unimpressed by what people were doing in this country, compared with what she herself had been working with,” says Lund.
The films were thought to be lost, but…
Egede-Nissen left no diaries or notes behind. Even her living relatives know little about her film work, so the entire period she spent in Germany has been poorly documented and remains little known.
But what about the films?
As many as 85 per cent of all films from the silent era were considered lost, including Aud Egede-Nissen’s films. That was the case until Lund began her detective work.
“I’ve been in contact with various archives here and there and managed to track down five of the films. A lot of it comes down to luck and coincidence,” she says.
The researcher is now finding that there is growing interest in screening Egede-Nissen’s films at silent film festivals around the world.
“The films appeal to today’s audiences as well, which has been a very big and very welcome surprise,” the researcher says.
Lund believes that women in the European film industry have long been a blind spot in film history.
“This is a huge jigsaw puzzle. I’ve placed a few pieces in my corner, and I hope other researchers can add more,” she says, adding:
“Just imagine how much richer our understanding of national film culture would be if we broadened what we count as Norwegian film history and adopted a more international perspective. What if we rewrote Norwegian film history so that it included Aud Egede-Nissen and the film company she founded in Berlin in 1916?”
Reference:
Lund, M.F. Aud Egede-Nissen: Star Producer, Doctoral thesis at the University of Oslo, 2026. (About the thesis)
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