Lotte Nielsen is a Danish artist and filmmaker based in Copenhagen. Her films often feature groups of young LGBT people across different cultures and center on exploration of group identity and the repercussions of national political conditions in every facet of these individuals’ lives. Her primary motivation is to amplify the voices of groups whose voices are suppressed and to enable these people to share their stories and the difficulties they experience; those that are specific to them, and those which are the result of specific national political circumstances.

One of the most important aspects of her projects is collaboration with the participants of the films, who share their experiences in their own words. Nielsen blends these stories and perspectives on issues faced by the LGBT community with her own observations and aesthetic interpretation of the local atmosphere and architecture. The resulting projects have qualities of both documentary and art films. She is concerned with how her films can be used as an effective tool in social policy work.

In Letters from St. Petersburg, Nielsen uses poetic, color-saturated imagery to draw an empathetic portrait of a group of young people from the Russian LGBTQ + organization Coming Out. Founded in their personal universes, from which they share music, lyrics and stories, we experience a group of young people who stand by their identity, expression and way of life in a country where the government seeks to forcibly oppress all who do not adhere to the conservative, patriarchal values that they promote.

Lotte Nielsen attended the Kunstskolen Spektrum in Copenhagen, and the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths University in London. Her works have previously been shown at Nikolaj Kunsthal, GL. Strand in Copenhagen, KUNSTEN in Aalborg, CPH: DOX, and Whitechapel Gallery in London, among other festivals and venues.