Overview

Hana Korea is a feature documentary directed by Frederik Sølberg that premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2025. The film takes its name from “Hanawon,” an educational center in South Korea where North Korean defectors spend their first months after fleeing across the border. There, they are introduced to everyday freedoms that most South Koreans take for granted — learning how to use the subway, open a bank account, or shop in a mall. Through the story of Hye-Sun, a young woman beginning her new life in the South, the film explores the profound disorientation of moving from oppression to freedom and from community to individuality.

Told through a carefully crafted mix of documentary and reenactment, the film follows Sun’s emotional journey: her first encounters with the internet and consumer goods, her longing for family left behind, and her struggle to find belonging in an unfamiliar society. By weaving authentic testimonies into staged sequences, Hana Korea gives voice to experiences rarely seen on screen, offering a poetic and deeply human insight into the cost of freedom.

As Director of Photography and producer through my company Contented, I shot the sizzle reel that laid the visual and narrative foundation for the project. This reel was instrumental in securing international recognition, including the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at CPH:DOX. While the final feature film was produced independently of my direct involvement, my close collaboration with director Frederik Sølberg on the sizzle reel helped set the cinematic tone and ambition that carried through into the production.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

NILS CLAUSS

PRODUCTION

A CONTENTED PRODUCTION IN COLLABORATION WITH LOOKING FORWARD