Click here to read the full article.
Jens Lien, the Norwegian filmmaker behind cult dystopian comedy “The Bothersome Man” and HBO Nordic sci-fi satire “Beforeigners,” is returning to speculative territory with “Joe’s Assignment,” a near-future comedy starring
Lilyhammer’s Trond Fausa Aurvåg and turning on work, automation and what happens when society no longer needs people to do very much at all.
The Norway-Greece co-production, now in post, was showcased Thursday in the Works in Progress strand at New Nordic Films in Haugesund. Norway’s Einar Film Drama produces with Greece’s Filmiki.
The pic is backed by the Norwegian Film Institute, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond and NRK in Norway, alongside Greek public broadcaster ERT and Alto Invest. Scanbox/Ymer holds the Nordic distribution rights.
Trond Fausa Aurvåg stars as Joe, an ambulance driver who loses his job when self-driving vehicles take over. He is then absorbed into a government system under which people without work are assigned mandatory tasks to prevent them from becoming too passive. Joe’s problem is that his own assignment appears to have vanished somewhere inside the machinery of the system.
His attempt to discover what he is supposed to be doing propels him through a succession of increasingly strange encounters, as his search for purpose becomes entangled with his desire for love, friendship and some kind of place in the world.
“There’s something both intriguing and frightening about robots and automated processes operating without human involvement,” Lien told Variety. “And there’s something deeply comic and absurd about the question they raise: Why on earth are we working so hard to make ourselves redundant?”
Producer Kristin Emblem presented three clips from the film at Haugesund’s Edda Cinema. The first depicted Joe at a government NAV office, while the following two tracked his search for the missing assignment.
“The film is not dystopian,” Emblem told attendees. “It’s a warm and humorous look at what happens when society no longer needs us and when we no longer have any purpose. It’s all about the human capacity for kindness and meaningful relationships.”
The premise places the film inside a debate that has moved rapidly from speculative fiction into everyday working life, but Lien’s approach leans away from techno-thriller territory. Instead, Joe’s bureaucratic limbo provides a route into questions of usefulness, intimacy and belonging, combining an absurdist view of the future with a warmer, more humanist register.
Lien describes “Joe’s Assignment” as a spiritual successor to “The Bothersome Man,” his 2006 breakthrough, although he stresses that the two films are stylistically distinct. “They nevertheless share a certain tonal affinity and a distinctive sense of humor,” he said.
“The Bothersome Man” established Lien internationally through its deadpan depiction of an apparently ideal society drained of meaning. The film won the ACID Award at Cannes and went on to collect more than 30 international prizes. “Joe’s Assignment” revisits some of the same existential territory through a distinctly contemporary anxiety: the gradual removal of human beings from processes they once assumed required them.
Lien singles out Aurvåg as central to the film’s emotional balance. “I never tire of watching Trond Fausa Aurvåg,” he said. “He has a face that conveys an openness and vulnerability that immediately draws you in, and he is immensely likeable.”
The cast also includes Agnes Kittelsen as Siri, Alba August as Jenny, Sven Nordin as Joe’s father and Atle Antonsen as his colleague. Per Schreiner wrote the screenplay. Anders Flatland serves as director of photography, Christian Siebenherz as editor, Danai Elefsinioti as production designer and Ginge Anvik as composer.
Filming wrapped in mid-November, according to Emblem. The project has since reached a locked edit and is moving through sound, music and VFX, with completion expected by the end of October. The producers are pursuing an international festival launch ahead of the film’s Norwegian premiere in 2027.
The Norwegian-language feature continues Lien’s longstanding interest in using genre to examine social systems and individual alienation, a thread also running through “The Bothersome Man” and “Beforeigners.” His other credits include the drama “Sons of Norway” and the Prix Europa-winning SVT series “Viva Hate.”
The 32nd edition of New Nordic Films runs Aug. 25-28 in Haugesund, alongside the Norwegian International Film Festival.
