Nordic cinema is definitely on- trend at the moment and so it was only fitting we came up with the Irresistible top picks for the Nordic Film Festival.
This year’s formidable line-up through July and August showcases cinematic legends, breathtaking landscapes and the unique storytelling and profound cultural insights that has earned Nordic cinema a distinct place in the film world.
Opening the festival is the powerful Icelandic drama ÁRRU from debut director Elle Sofe Sara, that follows a family of Sàmi reindeer herders whose community and way of life is threatened by a proposed mining project. Weaving together grounded drama with bursts of exquisite traditional song (joik) and movement, the film draws on cultural expression to explore a breathtakingly genuine connection to the environment.
In a festival exclusive, the highly anticipated FJORD, direct from winning the Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, screens as the Festival Centrepiece. Shot on the picturesque western coast of Norway, the film stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as a Romanian-Norwegian conservative couple facing scrutiny after moving to the wife’s progressive remote Norwegian hometown.
Icelandic comedy/drama THE LOVE THAT REMAINS (Ástin sem eftir er) from director Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day, Godland) is this year’s Special Presentation. This brilliant and bittersweet film tenderly captures a year in the life of a family of five, as the parents navigate their separation, exploring love, family and shared memories. It also features a ‘Palme d’Og’ winning performance from Pálmason’s own dog Panda, an Icelandic sheep dog.
Winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival, THE LAST RESORT (Paradis), is an absorbing drama that follows a Danish family on holiday at an all-inclusive resort. Anticipating a well-deserved and restful break, reality hits hard when they witness boat loads of refugees hitting the shores and they are forced to question how much they should risk to help a person in need.
Bo Widerberg’s masterpiece, ELVIRA MADIGAN, which follows two lovers who abandon everything for each other.
THE KIDNAPPING OF A PRESIDENT (Presidentin Kyyditys) is a blackly comic drama based on a bizarre true story about the chaos that ensues when a group of far-right Finnish officers drunkenly decide to start a revolution in 1930. Lieutenant Colonel Eero Kuussaari (Jussi Vatanen, Fallen Leaves) impulsively orders the kidnapping of retired former president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (Pertti Sveholm, 100 Litres of Gold), but then doesn’t recall his orders the following day, having left the escapade to a group of young, eager and inexperienced soldiers.
Sweden’s stylish psychological thriller DOCTOR GLAS (Doktor Glas) brings a bold and fresh new perspective to Hjalmar Söderberg’s acclaimed 1905 novel. Desire, guilt and obsession are portrayed through the eyes of Gabriel Glas (played by Isac Calmroth, also one of the co-writers), a reclusive young doctor whose fascination with fashion icon Helga Gregorius spirals into madness.
In the heartfelt and delightful drama A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT (Jossain on valo joka ei sammu), a successful flautist who returns to his hometown in need of recuperation is drawn into the world of experimental music when he reconnects with an old school friend.
Recently winning six Icelandic Film Awards, the thriller THE FIRES (Eldarnir), based on the best-selling novel, tells the story of an accomplished volcanologist’s life which is upended by both a romantic affair and a volcanic eruption that threatens Reykjavík.
Closing the festival is the 60th anniversary screening of Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece PERSONA. Liv Ullmann, in the first of many iconic collaborations with the director, plays a screen actress who has fallen into an unexplained silence, while Bibi Andersson is captivating as the talkative young nurse assigned to her care in a secluded island retreat. The two women mysteriously experience a slow merging of the inner lives in an isolated, dreamlike meditation on the human psyche.
The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival
Canberra: 9 July – 2 August – Palace Electric
Melbourne: 10 July – 2 August – Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Church St, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema and The Astor Theatre
Ballarat: 10 July – 2 August – Palace Regent Cinema
Brisbane: 22 July – 16 August – Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Adelaide: 22 July – 16 August – Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Sydney: 23 July – 16 August, – Palace Norton St, Palace Moore Park and Palace Central
Perth: 23 July – 16 August – Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square
Byron Bay and Ballina: 23 July – 16 August, – Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
