The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival has announced its full programme, bringing cinematic legends, award winners and distinctive voices from across the Nordic region to Perth this winter.
Screening from July 23 to August 16 at Palace Cinemas Raine Square, Luna Cinemas Leederville and Luna on SX Fremantle, this year’s festival will showcase the best new cinema from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
The programme features breathtaking landscapes, unique storytelling and the profound cultural insights that have helped Nordic cinema earn such a distinct place in the international film world.
Naming rights partner Hurtigruten returns for the second year, continuing its long association with the Nordic region. Damian Perry, Managing Director APAC, Hurtigruten, said the partnership was a natural fit for the company.
“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,” Perry said. “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, which follows a family of Sámi reindeer herders whose community and way of life is threatened by a proposed mining project. Weaving together grounded drama with bursts of traditional song and movement, the film draws on cultural expression to explore a breathtakingly genuine connection to the environment.
This year’s Special Presentation is the Icelandic comedy/drama The Love That Remains from director Hlynur Pálmason, known for A White, White Day and Godland. The bittersweet film captures a year in the life of a family of five as the parents navigate separation, love, family and shared memories. The film also features a “Palme d’Og” winning performance from Pálmason’s own dog Panda, an Icelandic sheep dog.
The Love that Remains
Renate Reinsve 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 a 60th anniversary screening of Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Persona. Liv Ullmann stars as a screen actress who has fallen into an unexplained silence, while Bibi Andersson plays the talkative young nurse assigned to her care on a secluded island retreat. The two women mysteriously experience a slow merging of their inner lives in an isolated, dreamlike meditation on the human psyche.
The programme also includes the documentary Being Bo Widerberg, which chronicles the journey of acclaimed Swedish director Bo Widerberg. In conjunction with the documentary, selected screenings of Widerberg’s films will also feature, including Ådalen 31, Raven’s End and Elvira Madigan.
Other highlights include the sharply observed Danish drama The Guest, starring Trine Dyrholm as an estranged mother determined to prove herself, and The Last Resort, winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival.
The Guest
Also from Denmark is the dark comedy The Last Viking, reuniting writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen with Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas in a crime adventure filled with unpredictable twists and turns. The Danish line-up also includes Rasmus Heide’s comedy Offroad and Emilie Thalund’s coming-of-age drama Weightless.
From Finland, The Kidnapping of a President brings a blackly comic take on a bizarre true story from 1930, while A Light That Never Goes Out follows a successful flautist drawn into the world of experimental music after returning to his hometown. Tell Everyone is set in 1890s Finland and follows a free-spirited young woman fighting to hold on to hope, friendship and forbidden love while confined on an isolated sanatorium island.
Sweden’s line-up includes the stylish psychological thriller Doctor Glas, a bold new perspective on Hjalmar Söderberg’s acclaimed 1905 novel, and The Quiet Beekeeper, winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival.
The Norwegian selection features Home, a darkly funny romantic dramedy about a 39-year-old woman forced to move back in with her mother after a scandalous incident on live television, and The Pension Heist, a feel-good heist comedy about three women who set out to steal from the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.
Also from Norway is the box office hit drama The Battle of Oslo, a gripping true story of courage under fire recounting Colonel Birger Eriksen’s decisive actions during World War II. Iceland is further represented by The Fires, a thriller recently awarded six Icelandic Film Awards, following an accomplished volcanologist whose life is upended by both a romantic affair and a volcanic eruption threatening Reykjavík.
The Battle of Oslo
Listing Details: The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival returns to Perth from July 23 to August 16 with a line-up that will warm the winter chill. The festival showcases the best new cinema from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at Palace Cinemas Raine Square, Luna Cinemas Leederville and Luna on SX Fremantle.
For more information, visit www.nordicfilmfestival.com.au and register your email to receive updates.
For more film festival news, visit the Accessreel news section.
