"Tim Had Big Dreams": Avicii Film Director Shares Challenges of Capturing DJ's Tragic Story
Exploring the fragile line between the genius and vulnerability of Avicii, director Henrik Burman has opened up about the emotional weight of his upcoming documentary, Avicii - I'm Tim.
Due out December 31st on Netflix, the film is set to release in tandem with Avicii – My Last Show, which revisits the night he graced the stage of Ibiza's storied Ushuaïa club for what would be his final performance. Less than two years later, the DJ, whose real name was Tim Bergling, tragically died by suicide.
Burman says the project began in 2019 as a concept for a TV documentary about Avicii's final album, Tim. It came with its own unique set of challenges, like trying to unearth fresh footage of the late EDM icon while taking on a "huge amount" of research.
"Everyone around Tim had gone through an extremely difficult time, and of course, everyone deals with it in different ways—there were many long conversations. We in the team were determined to give this the time it needed and move forward slowly and carefully," Burman explained in a Netflix Q&A, which the streaming service shared with EDM.com. "Then there is always the challenge of the edit itself. To allow yourself to make mistakes and redo and to seek the essence of the story in a large amount of material. To find the right tone. Making the right choices."
Avicii DJing at Ushuaïa Ibiza on August 28th, 2016, in what was ultimately his final performance.
Netflix
The acclaimed Swedish director's journey into Bergling's world was driven by a profound curiosity—not just about the universal appeal of his music, but about the man behind it. What began as a quest to demystify the seemingly untouchable "Avicii universe" evolved into an intimate search for the human truths that shaped his artistry.
As the threads of Bergling's life, creative ambitions and public persona intertwined, the filmmaker found both clarity and complexity.
"When I started working on the film, my biggest driving force was trying to find the opposite—a closeness to Tim as a person, to search for something I heard in his music and understand where it really came from. Quite early on, I felt sparks between who he was as a person, what he was striving for artistically, and how he was perceived as an artist. That was the basis for my story... Weaving that narrative with his life story and at the same time taking a holistic approach to his entire career was a huge challenge but was also what constantly drove me forward."
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A striking warmth and humor emerged, particularly in Bergling's early years, surrounded by friends, family and the untainted joy of creation. This balance of light and darkness set the tone for a nuanced portrayal, unflinchingly capturing both the struggles and the brilliance that defined his career.
"The first thing I noticed when I saw all the archive material was how much warmth and humor there was in and around Tim with his team, friends and family," Burman recalls. "In particular, this was a dominant feeling in the early years before everything became more complicated and big."
"But also towards the end of his life. I just saw a lot of passion. It was a side I hadn't seen so clearly before and it became a good foundation to stand on to set the tone for the work; without shying away from the difficult parts and issues in Tim's life. It was also important for me to carefully try to portray the complexity that came to dominate Tim's life. Because even though it was extremely dark in the darkest parts, there was also a lot of light."
Tim Bergling, the late EDM icon known as Avicii.
Netflix
Burman says he ingested thousands of hours of private archives, recordings, interviews and Avicii's music to viscerally understand his plight. The film features never-before-seen archival footage from every chapter of his journey, including childhood moments captured on family VHS tapes and candid snapshots from friends' phones. Through these fragments, he hopes "to give the viewers a greater understanding of who [Bergling] was, both as a person and an artist."
He paints a picture of a documentary that's both an intimate portrait of Bergling and a reflection of something universal—the beautiful, messy complexity of life, where nothing is simple and every story is layered. It invites fans to look beyond the icon of Avicii and uncover the tender, human heart beneath the beats.
"A viewer said to me that 'the film is so specifically about Tim—but at the same time is so universal.' And I thought that was beautiful. Life is not simple, there are no easy answers, everything is complex and multi-layered. That's what I aim to contribute to Tim's story. I also hope that the dedicated fans will gain a fresh perspective on both Tim as a person and Avicii as an artist. It's a documentary film that captures a life!"
Watch the official trailer for Avicii - I'm Tim below.
