Norwegian director Ingvild Søderlind says her new film, “The Murder of Benjamin”, revisits the 2001 neo-Nazi killing of teenager Benjamin Hermansen as a warning against renewed far-right extremism. Closing the Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund, the film aims to confront racism, prejudice and the search for belonging, while presenting Benjamin as an ordinary Norwegian teenager whose life was abruptly ended.

Hermansen, who had a Norwegian mother and Ghanaian father, was stabbed to death after a 1990s wave of neo-Nazism and his death prompted a major anti-racism movement. Søderlind said funding was initially difficult because people feared depicting the killers, and the trailer has already attracted abusive comments; the film follows Benjamin, his killers and his mother Marit, who became an anti-racism activist before her death in 2019. The director plans school screenings and discussions, stressing that racist language and everyday microaggressions can cause real harm.