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Norway’s recent contribution to genre movies has largely been via disaster (“La Palma,” “The Quake”), horror comedy (“The Ugly Sister”), supernatural terror (“Handling the Undead,” “The Innocents”) or fantasy thriller (“Troll”).
With his feature debut “Light Years” (“Lysår”) to be pitched at Cannes’ Frontières Platform next month, rising talent Vegard Dahle (“Penthouse”) will expand Nordic Noir into the rarely explored sci-fi realm.
Based on the eponymous novel by Dridrik Moritz Hallstrøm, which Dahle adapted for the screen together with the author and Anna Lian, the story turns on astronaut Norway as he awakens on a failing spaceship, his past erased to keep him sane on the lifelong mission. When he stops taking the suppression drug and memories of his daughter left behind start to resurface, the astronaut must decide – either to restore the illusion or face the hard truth, no matter the cost, reads the logline.
“I knew immediately that this book was meant to be a film, and that I had to make it,” Dahle told Variety. “At first, I thought it was because of its exciting premise — an astronaut on a lifelong journey who discovers his forgotten past and must solve the mystery of why he left his child on a dying planet. But as I started working on the adaptation, I gradually realised that what really resonated with me was how I saw myself in the abandoned child. As I watched the protagonist remember his past where he failed as a father, I started asking myself: Does my own father ever think about what kind of father he was? Does he regret anything? Would he have done things differently now? I don’t know. But I hope he does.”
Turning on his take on sci-fi, Dahle said “‘Light Years’ has more in common with Nordic Noir than it does with typical Hollywood sci-fi. Yes, there’s a spaceship, but in terms of tone and style, it wants to hang out with “Aftersun,” not “Dune” or “Star Wars” (no offense).”
“Thematically, the movie deals with the importance of memory, how it shapes who we are and what we do,” added the filmmaker for whom William Strauss and Neil Howe’s best-selling literary phenomenon “The Fourth Turning” was “an eye-opening” read that gave him hope. “We as a society can still fix things if we’re able to recognise recurring patterns and learn from them,” he noted. “I guess, that more than anything, I wanted to tell a story about learning from our mistakes, and I hope most of us can agree that’s something we should be doing a bit more of right now.”
Summarising his vision, Dahle said ““Light Years” is at its heart, a universally resonant story about loss, memory, and connection, told in a Nordic style that’s emotional, grounded, and genre-bending.”The project, in late development, is being produced by Bente Maalen (line producer on “The Trip,” “Let the River Flow”) for Trondheim-based Blaane Film. Maalen who co-founded the Norwegian horror film festival Ramaskrik in central Norway, said the pic’s participation at the European Genre Forum was “a strategic step” in the development process.
So far, the project has received development coin from the Norwegian Film Institute, Filminvest and mid-Norway Film Centre. The producer is now looking for sales agents, festival programmers, and distributors -whatever the platform. “What we’re hoping to find [at Cannes’ Frontières Platform] are partners who connect with the heart of the film, who can help with financing and bring the story to new audiences. Creative chemistry is just as important as strategy. With “Light Years,” we see a strong opportunity to establish lasting collaborations that can extend beyond this film,” she said.
Filming is scheduled to start in Feb. 2026.
Frontières, Cannes’ premium co-production, co-financing market and networking platform for genre professionals, is due to unspool May 17-18 at the Palais des Festivals.
