Production Design: Two Perspectives

Two nordic production designers reflect on practice, process, teaching and artistic research.

The National Film School of Denmark and The Norwegian Film School invite to a masterclass with Danish production designer Jette Lehman and Norwegian production designer Jørgen Stangeby Larsen in Oslo on January 16th and in Copenhagen on February 27th.

Production designers Jette Lehmann and Jørgen Stangebye Larsen bring different generations, experiences and perspectives to a conversation about the role and practice of production design today.

In dialogue with writer and director Gunhild Enger as moderator, they will draw on their recent work, including Lehmann’s production design for Joshua Oppenheimer’s apocalyptic musical The End and Larsen’s production design for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, alongside examples from other films and projects. Through these works, they will explore how production designers approach a project, develop cinematic worlds, collaborate with directors and other creative departments, and navigate the artistic and practical realities of filmmaking.

The masterclass is structured around dialogue, accompanied by film clips, images and other visual material from their work. Questions and discussions with the audience will be invited throughout the day.

The masterclass will also consider how production design can be taught, articulated and investigated. Lehmann brings her experience as a production designer and educator at the National Film School of Denmark, while Larsen draws on his ongoing artistic research at the Norwegian Film School, where his PhD explores production design and new approaches to filmmaking.

Rather than presenting a single methodology, the masterclass brings together two perspectives on the field, reflecting on how production design is practiced today, how it is changing, and how new generations of production designers might continue to develop the field.

Meet Jette Lehman and Jørgen Stangebye Larsen 

Jette Lehman, production designer

Jette Lehmann is a Danish production designer and architect with more than three decades of experience across film and television. Her work includes Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom and Melancholia, Ole Christian Madsen’s Flame & Citron, Bille August’s A Fortunate Man, Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, and most recently Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End.

Trained as an architect at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, Lehmann began her career in architecture before moving into production design. Her work has received a European Film Award as well as Robert and Bodil Awards.

Alongside her professional practice, Lehmann is a lecturer in Production Design at the National Film School of Denmark, where she is part of the team responsible for developing the school’s new Production Design programme, established in 2024.

Jørgen Stangebye Larsen, production designer

Jørgen Stangebye Larsen is a Norwegian production designer whose recent collaboration with Joachim Trier on Sentimental Value won him the Amanda Award for Best Production Design and earned him a nomination for European Production Designer at the European Film Awards. The film won Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards, following its Grand Prix at Cannes in 2025. His earlier collaborations include Trier’s Oslo, August 31st and Eskil Vogt’s Blind, as well as Maria Sødahl’s Hope, Hans Petter Moland’s Out Stealing Horses, Cold Pursuit and Absolution, and John Andreas Andersen’s The Quake.

Alongside his film work, Larsen is a PhD candidate in Artistic Research at the Norwegian Film School. His project, Cyclorama of the Future, explores how production design can expand into On-Set Virtual Production and real-time In-Camera VFX. Through concepts including Globe Building and the Audiovisual Construction Site, he investigates new forms of creative collaboration and the production designer’s evolving role in constructing hybrid film worlds. His experimental short Don’t Winter, Don’t Spring, Don’t Summer, Don’t Fall was developed through these methods as part of his artistic research.

Moderator: Gunhild Enger

The masterclass will be moderated by writer and director Gunhild Enger.

Gunhild Enger is known for her short films that blend dark everyday humor with themes of failed communication. She has a BA from Edinburgh College of art and a master from Gothenburg school of directing (now Valand). Gunhild has screened and received prizes and recognition at festivals internationally. Her graduation film Bargain, was nominated for a BAFTA and her short films "A Simpler Life" and "Premature" was nominated for the Norwegian Amanda prize. Her short films "The Committee" and "Play Schengen" premiered at the Locarno film festival. Enger has also co-directed the children’s animation feature Two Buddies and a Badger. She is set to shoot her first fiction feature film, Stone Life, next year. Alongside being a filmmaker Gunhild has been moderating film talks for over a decade at film festivals and other industry events.