Tonje Hessen Schei is an award-winning filmmaker known for her investigative lens on intersections of nature, technology, power, and human rights.
Since 1996, she has directed illuminating documentaries that reveal the hidden systems and narratives that influence public perception and policy, encouraging critical reflection and dialogue. Through her work, Tonje invites audiences to reflect on the ethics of the global power dynamics, with a focus on how we can create a sustainable impact for a better future.
Her most recent film, Praying for Armageddon (2023), examines the growing political influence of fundamentalist US Evangelical Christians and their push to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. With unprecedented access to key figures and behind-the-scenes operations, the film unveils the significant political power of this movement, raising urgent questions about the role of religion in global geopolitics.
Tonje’s earlier films laid the foundation for her incisive storytelling. Independent Intervention (2006) critically examined media manipulation during the Iraq war, highlighting how corporate interests can shape democratic discourse. In Play Again (2010), Tonje turned her lens to the relationship between children and screens, showing the consequences of a childhood disconnected from nature.
Her 2014 documentary DRONE (2014) brought international attention to the secret CIA drone war, showing the human costs, psychological impacts, and ethical challenges of remote killing. The film helped catalyze global discussion on the accountability of unmanned warfare.
With iHuman (2019), Tonje shifted her focus to artificial intelligence, following the booming AI industry, questioning who holds power over this transformative technology and advocating for ethical oversight and responsible governance.
Tonje’s films have screened at major international festivals including CPH:DOX, IDFA, and Hot Docs, and have earned numerous awards and accolades. Known for her investigative rigor and thoughtful storytelling, Tonje has established herself as a leading voice in political and technology-focused documentary filmmaking, now also continuing her passion for climate storytelling.
A TEDx speaker and recipient of the Chicken & Egg Award (2020), Tonje is the co-founder and CEO of Dox Division, a documentary production company in Norway, co-led with Tommy Gulliksen. The company’s latest film, Facing War (2025), an in-depth look at NATO’s “war room” during the most pivotal moments in modern history, was the opening film at CPH:DOX in 2025. It went on to win the Grand Jury Award at Movies that Matter, qualifying for the Oscar run in 2025.
Tonje is currently in production on The Whale Mystery, a film exploring the rise in whale mass strandings and the pioneering efforts to decode interspecies communication with AI.
Films
In Production
In Development
Guardian Short
Selected Press Highlights
“If for any reason you’ve recently been feeling complacent about global security...here to herald the end of all that comes...“Praying for Armageddon,” a glossy, persuasive and increasingly alarming documentary exposing the influence of the fundamentalist Christian lobby on US politics…[the film] is a compelling, sobering Revelation all its own, revealing the hitherto unimagined scale of a type of political insanity that would entrust the future to people who don’t want there to be a future at all.”
“Imagine not only believing the world is coming to an end, but wanting it to happen. Eagerly. Then, take it a step further and imagine people with such a mentality engineering American politics and foreign policy to bring about the very thing they seek — the apocalypse…an alarming movement explored in the documentary Praying for Armageddon.”
“Are the robots going to kills us? Filmmaker Tonje Hessen Schei speaks to a range of interviewees including Elon Musk’s computer scientist in an eye-opening, anxiety-inducing film”
“It is no exaggeration to say that reality surpasses fiction when you watch Tonje Hessen Schei's iHUMAN. In this dystopian documentary - the horror film, I would not hesitate to call it - she has interviewed 70-80 of the world's pioneers in the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI/KI)…This film will keep you awake at night.”
“Drone, a documentary by the Norwegian filmmaker Tonje Hessen Schei, has a lot to say that needs to be heard.”
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