EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales outfit CAT&Docs has acquired rights to HEX ahead of the film’s international premiere at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece.
Maja Holand’s feature tracks Witch Club Satan “from their underground beginnings to becoming the world’s fastest-growing metal band,” according to a release. “The rare behind-the-scenes journey underscores the band’s intimate evolution, capturing their international rise alongside their way of finding their personal witches.”
HEX holds its world premiere on March 2 at the Kosmorama film festival in Norway, followed by the international bow at Thessaloniki in the Newcomers competition. From TiDF it heads to CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, where the film will screen in that festival’s Sound & Vision strand.
Johanna Holt Kleive performs with Witch Club Satan at the Roskilde Festival on July 4, 2025 in Roskilde, Denmark.
Rune Hellestad – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
“HEX takes place in the heart of Norway’s world-renowned, male-dominated, macabre black metal scene, the perfect breeding ground for witches to come to life again,” notes a synopsis. “Three ordinary young women—Nikoline, Victoria, and Johanna—make a three-year pact to transform into the black metal band Witch Club Satan, using their music to express women’s raw, hidden powers and scream the screams of all women, despite not knowing how to play a single instrument beforehand. To succeed, they seek witches’ power, and over three years, the director follows as the band ignites rapidly, its flame spiraling out of control with a will and force that pulls them in different directions.”
The synopsis continues, “The story tracks their struggle to hold onto the dream of freedom and magic in a contradictory, masculine world that’s difficult to balance as three vastly different girls, as doubts arise about what female freedom and qualities truly mean and whether they can live up to their shouts. However it ends, they definitely make a hell of a noise and start screaming.”
Holand, a noted cinematographer and editor, makes her directorial debut with HEX.
“Working on the documentary has led me deeper into the story of Witch Club Satan as a band and their journey within the black metal scene,” Holand said. “The film has evolved into an in-depth exploration of the personal and artistic struggles of Nikoline, Viktoria, and Johanna – the band members. To strengthen the connection between the characters’ internal journeys and the visual narrative, I delved deeper into their personal stories and the historical context surrounding them. This involved a detailed exploration of the witch trials in Norway, parallel to the band’s evolution and challenges in today’s society.”
The director added, “HEX was created to challenge and inspire, shedding light on both the historical roots of the witch trials and the modern implications for women in today’s society. Hopefully, it will give the audience an opportunity for introspection and inspiration to dare to be more themselves with all that entails.”
CAT&Docs is handling world sales. The firm’s recent titles include 9-Month Contract, Black Water, Facing War, and Jōhatsu.
Nikoline Spjelkavik and Victoria Roysen perform with Witch Club Satan at the Roskilde Festival on July 1, 2023 in Roskilde, Denmark.
Rune Hellestad – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
“This film doesn’t just document a band — it documents a reckoning,” CAT&Docs said in a statement. “In reviving the witch as a symbol of resistance, these artists tap into a cultural wave that stretches from underground metal stages to the millions engaging with WitchTok online. It’s a reclamation of a figure historically used to silence women, and a bold confrontation of the patriarchal structures embedded in both the scene and society at large. At a time when gender narratives are being fiercely contested, this story feels urgent and necessary.”
HEX is produced by Mari Nilsen Neira for Norway’s Herstory. Of note about the production, “HEX experiments with new technology to create a strong, physical and embodied audience experience,” according to a release. “Through a research collaboration with Nomono, the creators tested and developed the use of ambisonic field recording in documentary filmmaking — combining this type of immersive location sound capture with a conventional sound mix.
“Spatial sound has been used in cinema for decades, but HEX explores how new, portable technology can be used to capture multi-channel audio directly during production. This approach has given the filmmakers a unique methodological and creative freedom, and contributes to strengthening the film’s sense of presence and atmosphere — both visually and sonically.”
Along with its innovative approach to sound, the documentary features stunning visuals. You can get a sense of that by watching a teaser below.