Erich Løchen was a writer, director, editor and professional jazz musician. He started his career in film in the early fifties making documentary shorts. He was one of the co-founders of the production company ABC-Film A/S in 1950, and made most of his films (including commercial advertising films) through the company.
Løchen made his feature film debut with the drama The Hunt in 1959. The film was heavily influenced by the narrative and dramaturgical theories of Bertolt Brecht, and was an unconventional and somewhat experimental film in the modernist vein, making Løchen a pioneer in Norwegian cinema history, and one of its true modernists.
His second feature, Remonstrance, from 1972 was an even more experimental film, with clear political undertones. Experimenting with non-linear storytelling, Løchen constructed the film so that, to challenge conventional storytelling, one could show each of the five separate acts of the film in any order, thereby presenting a film that could be viewed in 120 different ways - and as such also appear as 120 different films. The film has later been called a study in twisting of narrative levels and circular time.
In addition to his own films, Løchen also wrote the screenplays for the films Knut Formos siste jakt (1973) and Fabel (1979), both directed by his friend Jan Erik Düring. From 1981 until his passing in 1983 Løchen also served as artistic director for the national production company Norsk Film A/S.
Norsk Filminstitutt
