FEATURING CINEMATIC LEGENDS, AWARD WINNERS AND DISTINCTIVE VOICES
Palace is delighted to announce the full programme of the 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival, screening nationally through the wintry months of July and August at Palace, Palace Nova and Luna Palace Cinemas. Featuring the best new cinema from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, this year’s formidable line-up 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.
Naming rights partner for the second year, Hurtigruten, are long associated with the Nordic region. Damian Perry, Managing Director APAC, Hurtigruten says, “As the original and undisputed travel expert in the region and along Norway’s stunning coastline for over 130 years, Hurtigruten has always been about genuine and authentic experiences with a deep connection to the Nordic people. We’re proud to partner with Palace to celebrate the richness of Nordic storytelling. which is a natural extension of who we are.”
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.
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value, Fjord) delivers another standout performance in Special Presentation BUTTERFLY, an intriguing drama about a pair of estranged sisters who reunite after their mother’s sudden passing. The sisters travel to the Canary Islands, where they grew up at a resort, after their mother’s mysterious death at an esoteric retreat in the mountains.
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.
In the fascinating documentary BEING BO WIDERBERG (I huvudet på Bo) the acclaimed and eccentric Swedish director Bo Widerberg’s journey is chronicled. In the shadow of Ingmar Bergman, Widerberg became Sweden’s most influential filmmaker. From the progressive early 1960s in Malmö, where he worked as a writer and film critic, to his successes as a director in Stockholm and adventures in Cannes and New York, the film showcases Widerberg’s incredible artistic legacy.
In conjunction with the documentary, there are selected screenings of Bo Widerberg’s films including ÅDALEN 31, a gripping blend of political history and adolescent awakening; RAVEN’S END (Kvarteret Korpen) his unflinching 1936 Malmö portrait that follows young dreamer Anders, as he pursues his writing ambitions while slowly suffocating beneath poverty and dysfunction; and arguably Widerberg’s masterpiece, ELVIRA MADIGAN, which follows two lovers who abandon everything for each other.
In sharply observed drama THE GUEST (Gæsten), Trine Dyrholm stars as an estranged mother determined to prove herself. Hoping to rejoin the family, Vibeke (Dyrholm) appears unannounced at her grandson’s naming ceremony.
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.
Also from Denmark is the dark comedy THE LAST VIKING (Den sidste viking), reuniting writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice) with Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Department Q) in their sixth project together. The pair star as brothers on a crime adventure filled with unpredictable twists and turns as they attempt to unlock Mandfred’s (Mikkelsen) memory to recover stolen loot.
In OFFROAD, an entertaining Danish comedy from Rasmus Heide, a woman’s stable life begins to unravel during a girls’ trip, leading her and her friends into an impulsive and chaotic journey; and winner of the New Director’s Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival is Emilie Thalund’s WEIGHTLESS (Vægtløs). A bold and intimate exploration of adolescent desire and identity, this coming-of-age drama follows the transformative summer of a fifteen-year-old girl at a Danish summer health camp.
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.
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; and in 1890s Finland, TELL EVERYONE (Kerro kaikille) portrays a free spirited young woman who fights to hold on to hope, friendship and forbidden love while confined on an isolated sanatorium island.
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.
Also from Sweden is THE QUIET BEEKEEPER (Biodlaren), winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival. This meditative drama set in the small, rustic town of Åmotfors in the Swedish region of Värmland, close to the Norwegian border, is an exploration of love, nature, and the cycles of life, seen through the eyes of a father and daughter longing for connection.
When 39-year-old Anni has to move back in with her mother after a scandalous incident on live television, her life goes off the rails in HOME (Heim), a darkly funny, brutally honest, and unexpectedly tender romantic dramedy from Norway; in THE PENSION HEIST (Pensjonskuppet) three women set out to steal from the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund after one discovers her husband is having an affair in this feel-good crowd-pleasing heist comedy featuring some of Norway’s most beloved actors.
Norwegian box office hit drama THE BATTLE OF OSLO (Blücher) is a gripping true story of courage under fire recounting the decisive actions of Colonel Birger Eriksen during World War II, whose fateful choice in 1940 shaped his nation’s destiny.
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.
The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival will take place at cinemas listed below from July to August (dates vary by location).
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
Tickets are now on sale!
For more information, visit nordicfilmfestival.com.au and follow us on Instagram/Facebook @NordicFilmFest
