Fredrik S. Hana. Foto: Sondre Oldereide Michaelsen
The Norwegian Film Institute has awarded NOK 7,268,000 in production funding to the feature film Planet by Fredrik S. Hana. Planet will be the first feature film from the acclaimed filmmaker.
Planet has received support through the Norwegian Film Institute talent development scheme Neo.
“Fredrik S. Hana is an exciting filmmaker who has made a name for himself internationally through his short films. We look forward to seeing him take the step into feature films. This is exactly what the Neo scheme was created for,” says Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI).
In the NFI assesment of Planet, Film Commissioner for Short Fiction and New Talents Rodrigo Stoicheff describes Fredrik S. Hana as “one of the most boundary-pushing new film talents in Norway” and Planet as “a rare example of pure science fiction cinema in Norway.”
Fredrik S. Hana has written and directed a number of short films, music videos, and documentaries over the past 15 years. His documentary feature Code Name: Nagasaki (2021) was nominated for the Norwegian Amanda Award for Best Documentary. In 2023, he was named Stavanger Artist of the Year by Stavanger municipality.
Hana is known for personal storytelling with elements from horror and fantasy genres. Planet will be Hana’s first feature film and is based on his short film From.Beyond (2022), where the discovery of extraterrestrial life sparks existential discussions. The film is produced by Julia Joner at Chezville. Joner made her feature film producing debut earlier this year with Everything Must Go (Alt skal bort, dir. Arild Østin Ommundsen, 2025).
Planet is a film that tries to understand who we are when faced with the unknown, presented as a series of character portrayals from all across the world. The film imagines the human race being confronted by the undeniable fact of extraterrestrial life. What follows is a total shift of how we perceive our existence and place in the universe.
The Norwegian Film Institute’s Neo debut scheme was established in 2021 for filmmakers with proven talent who wish to debut in long-form formats. The scheme includes funding for idea development, project development, and production—for feature films, drama series, and documentaries. Fredrik S. Hana’s Planet previously received NOK 232,000 through Neo Development.
Feature films produced with funding from the Neo scheme include:
