The Love Cycle: From a 10-Minute Drawing to a 6,000-Mile Biking Journey and Lasting Romance - MovieMaker

      Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel, known for his film The Cycle of Love, was at a Nobel Prize event in Sweden in 2017 when two young adults approached him with a book. “This is our parents’ story,” they informed Einsiedel. “We recognize your work. Would you be interested in adapting it into a film?”

      Even after winning an Academy Award that year for the documentary short “The White Helmets,” Einsiedel took the book but didn’t read it right away.

      “From my experience, when someone approaches you unexpectedly at an event, it rarely leads to the story you hope for,” Einsiedel stated. “However, as soon as I began reading, I realized I had been foolish.”

      The book, titled The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled From India to Sweden for Love, recounts the tale of PK Mahanandia, a destitute street artist from Delhi, and Anne-Charlotte von Schedvin (Lotta), a Swedish traveler. In 1975, PK sketched Lotta’s portrait for 10 rupees during a brief 10-minute interaction, which turned out to be destiny. PK and Lotta quickly fell in love.

      Einsiedel found the narrative and its “rich tapestry of universal themes” fascinating. Consequently, in 2023, he began producing The Cycle of Love, a 98-minute documentary that narrates PK and Lotta’s extraordinary love story and the 6,000-mile journey through Iran and Afghanistan that PK undertook in 1977 to reunite with Lotta two years after they first met.

      Utilizing old letters, photographs, contemporary interviews with PK and Lotta, as well as reenactments featuring actors, this inspiring documentary presents the compelling true adventure of a man who risked everything for love.

      Einsiedel was in Denmark to showcase The Cycle of Love at the 23rd edition of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX). The film had its premiere at Telluride.

      We spoke with Einsiedel about directing actors, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ role in the documentary, and why he felt CPH:DOX was a fitting venue for The Cycle of Love.

      Orlando von Einsiedel on Making The Cycle of Love

      MovieMaker: Your earlier documentaries centered on challenging topics, such as the rescue initiatives of Syria's Civil Defence in conflict-ridden Aleppo (“The White Helmets”) and the perilous battle to protect Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Virunga). The Cycle of Love is a feel-good documentary. How was the experience of switching to such a story?

      Orlando von Einsiedel: The short answer is that perhaps I’m becoming soft as I get older. There are certainly many significant and urgent stories that deserve to be highlighted. However, I’ve increasingly desired to create a film that is unapologetically optimistic and evokes feelings of joy and human connection—emotions that are often underappreciated yet essential for all of us.

      MovieMaker: Did you hesitate to make this documentary due to the lack of old footage capturing PK’s 6,000-mile journey?

      Orlando von Einsiedel: Yes, I did. I was thrilled to tell the story after meeting PK and Lotta, but there were numerous challenges. Specifically, as you mentioned, the scarcity of archival footage from an event that occurred over five decades ago. Unfortunately, PK didn’t have a documentary crew following him during the 1970s. Nonetheless, as a filmmaker and storyteller, I appreciated how this limitation prompted me to think innovatively.

      MovieMaker: What was your experience like working with actors for this documentary?

      Orlando von Einsiedel: We had a fantastic theater actor, Chirag Lobo, who portrayed a younger version of PK as we retraced parts of PK’s original cycling route through Asia and Europe, encountering people along the way just as he did. We would cast people on the filming day, explain that we were recreating PK’s journey 50 years later, and invite them to engage in a conversation with our actor.

      The final result in the film builds on the work of directors like Chloe Zhao, The Ross Brothers, Walter Salles, Michael Winterbottom, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, and others who have been innovating and expanding documentary storytelling techniques.

      MovieMaker: Did you ever think about creating a narrative film instead of a documentary for this love story?

      Orlando von Einsiedel: Yes, I considered that early in the project when I was unsure how to approach it in a documentary format. PK and Lotta’s story is so dramatic that it almost seems fictional, and it certainly follows the typical story arc found in narrative films. However, since both PK and Lotta are still living and are so warm and engaging, it felt more appropriate to figure out how to present this as a documentary at this time