Los Angeles filmmaker/musician/educator Hans Fjellestad has produced and shot on location throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Europe, Australia, Japan, Afghanistan, and Haiti, filming hundreds of interviews and numerous concerts, live events, and documentary film projects. His award-winning work has screened in theaters and festivals worldwide and on top broadcast networks and streamers (Showtime, ABC, Netflix, Sony Japan, Adult Swim, Amazon Prime, Arte, MTV, BET, PBS, BBC).
Hans directed/produced the feature-length documentary films Sunset Strip (2012), Moog (2004), Radio Caroline (2018), Sounding the Space (2014), When the World Breaks (2010), Frontier Life (2002), and was writer/producer for The Heart is a Drum Machine (2009), M-ON! Monthly Icon: L'Arc-en-Ciel (2012), Rock Camp (2021). His video production work also includes projects for Mode Records, Steinway, GLAAD, Health Corps Haiti, RTI Cables, Community Corporation of Santa Monica, Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, Not Real Art, and California Roots Festival. He is lead producer at arts-oriented media production house Crewest Studio.
A classically trained pianist and electronic music composer/performer, Hans studied music improvisation, composition, and technology at UCSD (BA in Music, 1993) and has composed original scores for theater, dance, and film. He has recorded and performed extensively, appearing on over 50 albums and touring in over a dozen countries. He is a recording artist and partner at independent music label Accretions, which marked its 35th anniversary with a limited edition 12” compilation, released September 2020. Hans’ newest work is available on Bandcamp and his recent retrospective compilation Let’s Pretend This Happened (New High Recordings) is available on all platforms.
As faculty lecturer at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music since 2015, Hans specializes in music for visual media. He has also lectured at Columbia University, Amherst College, San Francisco Art Institute, McGill University, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow, National Taiwan University, Yebisu Music Conference Tokyo, Mexico's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico City, Palomar College, Miami Art Central, Centro Cultural Tijuana, and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Hans worked as curator/producer for international art initiative inSite_05 and has served as an Organizational Grant Program panelist for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. He was artist-in-residence at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood 2008-2011, where he curated and hosted the live music series ResBox. He also serves on the advisory board for the West Hollywood History Center.
Several new documentary films and solo music projects are set to drop in 2024, including tour dates in Japan.
(Please direct project proposals, work or press inquiries here.)