About
Kristian Håskjold is an award-winning Danish/Norwegian filmmaker and alumnus of the independent film school Super16 in Copenhagen, where he specialized in directing. Alongside his directing work, he also writes and edits professionally.
His miniseries Chemo Brain premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and received the Special Jury Recognition for Drama at SXSW. In 2024, he directed season two of Hooligan, which the Danish newspaper Politiken called “one of the best Danish series right now”. The season went on to win Best Short Fiction at TVPrisen 2024.
Kristian’s short films have screened at over 120 international festivals, collecting 20 awards, including the Grand Jury Award at SXSW for Forever Now and Best European Short at Leuven International Short Film Festival for A Worthy Man, which was later shortlisted for the European Film Awards.
His work has also earned two Vimeo Staff Pick Premieres, two Oscar qualifications, a nomination for Adobe’s Nordic Creative Talent Award and a selection for EFP Future Frames. In 2023, he was named Artist in Focus at Leuven International Short Film Festival.
Currently, Håskjold is developing several new film projects and continues to explore emotionally driven storytelling across film and series.
Award highlights
SXSW 2020 - Special Jury Recognition for Drama: Chemo Brain
“The Jury is pleased to bestow its Special Recognition for Drama Jury Award to the unapologetically honest, deeply touching yet unsentimental Chemo Brain. Told over five complete episodes — a huge achievement in itself — Kristian Håskjold directs a series he co-creates with Johan Wang that depicts the indignities of illness and the struggle of hope with an understatement that only the best dramas achieve.”
TVPrisen 2024 (National Danish TV award) - Winner of “Best Fiction - Short”: Hooligan II
"Hooligan is a credible depiction of an authentic environment and characters. The series encompasses great sensitivity while also being dangerous. It is eminently told through glances and body language, and alternates between silence and poetry. The characters are portrayed precisely, and it is extremely well-acted and well-directed. Quite simply, it makes one want to see more."
Festival highlights
Press highlights
Keskipohjanmaa - Top 10 shows of 2022 // Hooligan nr. 4 (2022/12/29)
Politiken: The locksmiths exit from Aalborg’s drug scene is deeply touching (2023/01/09)
Cineuropa - Kristian Håskjold - Future Frames 2020 (2020/06/17)
Variety - European Film Promotion, Karlovy Vary Unveil Future Frames Lineup (2020/06/16)
Cineuropa - EFP selects ten filmmakers for the 6th Future Frames (2020/06/16)
Cineuropa: Interview with Kristian Håskjold - Director of Chemo Brain (2020/03/27)
Variety: SXSW Film Festival Unveils 2020 Winners After Cancellation (2020/03/24)
Danish Film Institute: Series Chemo Brain picked for Sundance (2019/12/11)
IndieWire: Memo to Distributors: Buy These 2020 Sundance TV series (2020/1/29)
DR: 2019 was a wild year! Here are the shows, which overwhelmed us! (DK) (2019/12/25)
Politiken: New TV2-series selected to prestigious festival in USA (DK) (2019/12/11)
No Film School: Watch: ‘A Worthy Man’ and Making Dark Subjects Feel Light (2018/9/4)
DR: Is One of These Three Short Films An Oscar Contender? (DK) (2018/8/30)
The Daily Dot: Trending: The award-winning Danish filmmaker you need to know about (2017/03/25)
Vimeo: Staff Pick Premiere: The ecstasy of breaking up (on MDMA) (2018/2/28)
