Meet, Ole Hansen, another exhaustingly tall, blonde, and handsome Norwegian, who is the gentleman behind the smokery business Hansen & Lydersen. Using the noun ‘gentleman’ in order to describe this fellow is not a literate mistake, thus Hansen definitely doesn’t embody the bourgeois look of a salmon-smoker one might first come think of. He is a clean-cut man who occasionally likes to wear a suit and read on top of his salmon empire. It is precisely here in Stoke Newington, North London, where Hansen has created his personal home, a Norwegian cabin à la modesty that features a bed and that’s about it. But he is right, what else does one need besides a perfectly salted, smoked fish and a place to seek rest at night?The salmon formular has been carefully passed down for generations into surgical hands that are to be trusted. It is, nonetheless, the probably most wanted smoked salmon recipe in Northern Europe. This particular method is followed by a family tradition, dating back to the year 1923 and is now in high demand at the best restaurants in London such as NOPI, The Albion, and other similar habitats. What makes this fish so exceptional? We partially like to blame the peculiar captain for this doing.The ex-connoisseur in sound art lives with the notion that perhaps one might fear the exhaustion of knowledge, but it is always important to keep looking. Hansen has incorporated this within his business and realized hereby the salmon dream. Director Nikolaj Belzer made sure to portray the Norwegian as truthful as possible. One doesn’t really notice the great heights Hansen & Lydersen has achieved, thus throughout the film he stays completely humble and within himself.
Credits:
Director & Editor: Nikolaj Hans Belzer
Director of Photography: Daniel Chaytor
Production: Everything is Okay & Freunde von Freunden
Music: ‘Butterfly’ by Edvard Grieg performed by Edvard Grieg
‘Notturno Op 54 No. 4’ by Edvard Grieg performed by Mark Gasser