---
name: "Hans Petter Moland"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/hans-petter-moland"
fi1m_id: "hans-petter-moland"
imdb_id: "nm0596407"
tmdb_id: 95972
wikidata_id: "Q1581762"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "17 October 1955"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T02:39:48.475048+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hans Petter Moland

## Identity

Hans Petter Moland

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/hans-petter-moland
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** hans-petter-moland
- **IMDb ID:** nm0596407
- **TMDB ID:** 95972
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1581762
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Petter_Moland, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1581762, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0596407/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/95972

Director. Born 17 October 1955 in Осло, Норвегия.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 17 October 1955, Осло, Норвегия
- **Also known as:** Hans-Petter Moland
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Petter_Moland, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1581762, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0596407/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/95972

## Coming up

- *Growth of the Soil* (2026-10-27), Director

## Fi1m on Hans Petter Moland

> Hans Petter Moland uses remote landscapes to make difficult company harder to escape. We rate his patient handling of actors and setting, though *Zero Kelvin* shows how sustained antagonism can leave too little else to discover.

In *Zero Kelvin* (1995), the men have an Arctic landscape around them and nowhere that seems to offer relief from one another. Moland makes the open space oppressive without treating the people as incidental figures in an attractive view. It is a tense, patient thriller, and the clearest reason we have for recommending his work. The reservation is there too: he keeps returning to the same antagonism until we begin to want another kind of encounter.

That early drama was followed by *Aberdeen* (2000), before comedy became a more prominent part of his work. *A Somewhat Gentle Man* (2010), about an ex-convict, continued his collaboration with Stellan Skarsgård. *In Order of Disappearance* (2014) made the turn towards black-comedy thrillers explicit, handling absurd humour and revenge with assurance. He remade it in English as *Cold Pursuit* (2019), with Liam Neeson. The remake is more conventional, and its mixture of humour and violence is less settled.

The care with actors matters as much as the changes of genre. Moland plans composed shots with his cinematographers while leaving room for the performers to work within a take. In *Zero Kelvin*, Philip Øgaard makes the Arctic large enough to dwarf the men, with little in the view to suggest comfort. We felt hemmed in by those expanses because the distance made the men's conflict seem harder to escape. Skarsgård keeps us interested in the human friction even when the film risks exhausting our patience with it.

Careful composition can become a problem elsewhere. The polished images of *Out Stealing Horses* (2019), adapted from Per Petterson’s novel, sometimes simplify what the writing leaves complicated. We prefer the direct discomfort of *Zero Kelvin*, where the landscape has a clear effect on how we watch the characters. The antagonism is wearing, but the performances keep it from becoming merely repetitive. Start there, provided the prospect of a tense evening with little relief appeals.

## Biography

Hans Petter Moland is a Norwegian film director. He was born on 17 October 1955 in Oslo and trained at Emerson College in Boston. He began his career directing award-winning commercials before making his feature debut with *The Last Lieutenant* (1993).

Moland is known for films including *Zero Kelvin* (1995), *Aberdeen* (2000), *The Beautiful Country* (2004), *A Somewhat Gentle Man* (2010), *In Order of Disappearance* (2014), *Out Stealing Horses* (2019) and *Cold Pursuit* (2019). He has frequently collaborated with actor Stellan Skarsgård. He is married to film director and screenwriter Maria Sødahl.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Zero Kelvin* (1995), Fi1m 80, Co-Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/zero-kelvin.md)

## Complete filmography (19)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Growth of the Soil* (2026), Director, Writer
- *Absolution* (2024), as Larry the Drunk · Director
- *Hope* (2019), Thanks
- *Out Stealing Horses* (2019), Director, Screenplay
- *Cold Pursuit* (2019), Director
- *A Conspiracy of Faith* (2016), Director
- *In Order of Disappearance* (2014), Director, Story, Executive Producer
- *When Bubbles Burst* (2012), Director
- *A Somewhat Gentle Man* (2010), Director
- *Rottenetter* (2009), as Advokat Hodne
- *Comrade Pedersen* (2006), Director
- *The Beautiful Country* (2004), Director
- *United We Stand* (2003), Director
- *Most People Live in China* (2002), Director
- *Aberdeen* (2000), Director, Screenplay, Idea
- *Zero Kelvin* (1995), Director, Co-Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/zero-kelvin.md)
- *The Last Lieutenant* (1993), Director, Co-Writer
- *Life Is Hard and Then You Die* (1990), Editor
- *The Indian Bride*, Director

## Awards

### Other awards — 5 won

- The Amanda Committee's Honorary Award 2025: The Amanda Committee's Honorary Award (won)
- Amanda Award for Best Direction 2019: Amanda Award for Best Direction (won), for *Out Stealing Horses*
- Norwegian Film Critics’ Award 2011: Norwegian Film Critics’ Award (won), for *A Somewhat Gentle Man*
- Kanon Award for Best Direction 2004: Kanon Award for Best Direction (won), for *The Beautiful Country*
- Arne Skouen's Honour Award 2000: Arne Skouen's Honour Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/hans-petter-moland
