"How long will the adventure last? Maybe one night, one day, one week... But I am not allowed to be away for that long..."

The Betrayal is Karen Winther's graduation film from the MA in Documentary Directing at the National Film & Television School in London. The film is the result of her decision to turn the camera onto herself while looking back at some questionable actions from her teenage years, which still haunt her today.

In the mid-1990s, when Karen was a teenager, a violent conflict broke out in Norway between two extremist youth groups: on one side were the neo-Nazi groups united by their hate of foreigners and their visions for a 'pure' Norway; on the other side were the Blitzers, who loved alternative music and hated everything that the neo-Nazis stood for. A lonely adolescent in search of a sense of purpose and belonging, Karen attached herself to one of the sides, and then to the other. By doing that, she embarked on a dark journey during which she would hurt many people who were close to her at the time.

By combining archival footage, readings from her teenage journal, and raw dialogues with people from her past, in an attempt to gain some perspective into what happened with her, the film-maker accomplishes an honest portrait of the seductive power of extremism and the vulnerability of younger people in search of an identity and a place for themselves.

Are you looking for forgiveness or for understanding?