Denise Hauser

Film Director and PhD Candidate in Artistic Research
Norway (residence), Switzerland (citizenship)
research interests: filmmaking, documentary, fiction, mixed media, animation, animated documentary, autoethnography, moving image
affiliation: NTNU - Department of Art and Media Studies
en

Denise Hauser is a director/filmmaker and the first PhD candidate in Artistic Research at NTNU's Institute of Art and Media Studies at the Faculty of Humanities. Her short films have been showcased at over 100 international festivals, including Nordisk Panorama, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Fantoche, and the Hiroshima and London International Animation Festival, as well as national events like the Norwegian Short Film Festival, Bergen International Film Festival, and Minimalen. Working across live action, animation, and hybrid forms, she creates films for both children and adults, often centering on complex female protagonists. Hauser is interested in interdisciplinary approaches, such as exploring the interplay between dance and filmmaking, as well as combining digital and analogue techniques to expand visual storytelling.


Alongside her artistic practice, she has lectured at Høyskolen Kristiania and NTNU, and worked as an assistant professor in Film & TV production at Nord University. In the commercial sector, she has directed films for various production companies and clients, including the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and DOGA Norway. With a background in animation and design, Hauser holds an MA in Directing Animation from the Royal College of Art (2008) and a BA in Graphic Design from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (2006).

research

research expositions

  • HYBRID NARRATIVES: Approaching Maternal Experience through Collecting, Writing, and Doubling in the Development of Mixed Media Film (last edited: 2025) author(s): Denise Hauser This exposition is in revision and its share status is: visible to all.
    Motherhood in cinema is often a side plot – this PhD project in Artistic Research seeks to challenge that. Through collecting, writing, and “doubling” as methods, it explores the maternal experiences of three filmmakers and how these complex realities can take shape in a hybrid film blending fiction, documentary, live action, and animation. The research addresses a gap in representation, where female doppelgängers and alter egos are rarely linked to motherhood, despite its deeply transformative nature – an obvious foundation for doubling. In filmic narratives, female doubles are often cast as antagonists or disruptions rather than reflections of a mother’s evolving self. The lens post-birth shifts to the child’s development and perspective, leaving the mother’s transformation – her shifting identity and sense of self – largely unexplored. This project takes a different approach, using interviews, video recordings, animated investigations, and personal reflections to explore the challenges of balancing motherhood and filmmaking. By aligning maternal experience with cinematic doubling, it highlights the multifaceted roles women navigate in both fields. The research also engages with filmmakers and artists who challenge conventional portrayals of motherhood. Though caregiving perspectives appear in short-form animation, hybrid long-form representations are still rare. Influences include literary works exploring motherhood, identity, and doubling, such as Matrescence by Lucy Jones and August Blue by Deborah Levy. Rather than aiming for a traditional completed film, the outcome prioritizes the process. It includes a synopsis and excerpts from the evolving script Make Her See, alongside documentary footage, interviews, animation tests, and live-action experiments. Incorporating doppelgängers and animated alter-egos, the project blends realism and surrealism to examine a woman’s vulnerabilities and resilience as she redefines herself. This artistic research expands the representation of motherhood in mixed media film, connects the maternal experience to cinematic doubling, and opens new possibilities for nuanced maternal narratives.
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