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Films

Festival Highlights

Opening Night

Based on real events, this moving portrayal of the indigenous peoples’ struggle for survival in 1970s Norway follows a young woman’s personal journey to reclaim her Sámi identity.

Australian Premiere
Centrepiece

Award winning writer/director Hlynur Pálmason’s follow-up to his breakout hit A White, White Day is a stunning historical drama about a Danish priest who goes on a pilgrimage across a largely unexplored Iceland in the late 1800s.

Special Presentation

Winner of the 2023 Cannes Jury Prize, the beguiling new comedic romance from beloved Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki follows two lost souls who meet by chance in the Helsinki night and then try, in turbulent times, to find companionship.

Closing Night

When Oskar, a shy 12-year-old boy meets the mysterious and moody Eli, their bond forever changes their lives in this influential tale of love that gets the blood pumping.

Denmark

A father and daughter set out on the Camino de Santiago walking trail in Spain in this poignant comedy-drama about family baggage and bonds from internationally acclaimed director Birgitte Stærmose.

Australian Premiere

A complex psychological drama about the power of memories, based on the novel Sander by Terje Holtet Larsen, in which a young man agrees to be locked in an apartment and interrogated by his missing girlfriend's father.

Australian Premiere

From critically acclaimed director Fenar Ahmad comes the highly anticipated successor to the Danish box office smash hit Darkland starring Dar Salim as an anti-hero re-entering the Copenhagen underworld undercover.

Australian Premiere

Combining earnest drama and absurd comedy, this period piece exploring power dynamics and interdependence follows a mistress and her beloved housekeeper living in the Danish West Indies in 1848.

Australian Premiere

A humorous portrait of the challenges of being parents to school-aged children, this all-star ensemble comedy from Denmark follows a couple who must navigate hierarchy, rivalry and hidden agendas at their daughter's new school.

Australian Premiere

A slick dramatic thriller with a supernatural twist, Superposition follows a couple on a tree change from Copenhagen to the Swedish forest, who hope to find themselves and reignite their relationship.

Australian Premiere

This warm-hearted modern comedy about belonging and community from Danish comedy queen Hella Joof follows a Copenhagen couple’s new life in a West Jutland town after one takes on a teaching position at the high school.

Australian Premiere

Crowned best Nordic film at the 2023 Göteborg Film Festival, Unruly is an unsettling 1930s-set drama inspired by real-life events from the notorious women’s institution on the Danish Island of Sprogø that taught compliance to ‘morally deficient’ girls.

Australian Premiere

Finland

A warm-hearted dramatic comedy featuring stellar performances, Bubble follows the story of 16-year-old small town girl whose world collapses when she finds out her mother is having an affair.

Australian Premiere
Special Presentation

Winner of the 2023 Cannes Jury Prize, the beguiling new comedic romance from beloved Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki follows two lost souls who meet by chance in the Helsinki night and then try, in turbulent times, to find companionship.

A modern love story with touching and funny moments alike, a middle-aged couple on the verge of a breakup decide to open their relationship and enter the complex world of polyamory.

Australian Premiere

In this feel-good story about reconciliation and forgiveness, directed by Finnish filmmaker Mika Kaurismäki, an ageing widower travels to Germany to buy a 1972 Ford Escort but ends up settling accounts with his past.

Australian Premiere

Iceland

Centrepiece

Award winning writer/director Hlynur Pálmason’s follow-up to his breakout hit A White, White Day is a stunning historical drama about a Danish priest who goes on a pilgrimage across a largely unexplored Iceland in the late 1800s.

An all-star Icelandic cast including Aníta Briem, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Hilmar Guðjónsson comes together in this wildly entertaining comedy of manners, where seven friends at a dinner party decide to play a dangerous game.

Australian Premiere

Norway

Opening Night

Based on real events, this moving portrayal of the indigenous peoples’ struggle for survival in 1970s Norway follows a young woman’s personal journey to reclaim her Sámi identity.

Australian Premiere

A gripping dramatisation of Edvard Munch's life, sumptuous biopic Munch depicts four defining periods in the Norwegian artist’s life, providing an intimate insight into a distinctive and unique artistic mind.

Australian Premiere

An observant coming-of-age drama set in a fish factory on the coast of Norway about the search for identity and the difficulty in loving others when you cannot accept yourself.

Australian Premiere

Sweden

A passionate drama inspired by true events from internationally acclaimed director Björn Runge and starring Bill Skarsgård and Asta Kamma August, Burn All My Letters sees a fiery love affair lead to unexpected consequences.

Australian Premiere

Revolving around desire, this elegant psychological thriller with unexpected twists and turns follows a divorcing couple who meet for a final weekend to empty and sell their summer house.

Australian Premiere

In this offbeat drama of dysfunctional domestic dynamics, a successful cartoonist and her siblings gather at their family farm in northern Sweden to discover how the land that has been in their family for generations is to be divided between them.

Australian Premiere

A pulse-pounding Nordic noir thriller, featuring a cast of up-and-coming talent, in which an aspiring meteorologist sets off to a deserted island in the Barents Sea in search of the truth about his father's passing.

Australian Premiere

Taking us behind the castle’s well-polished façade, The King is a thought-provoking and poetic documentary about Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, a man always in the spotlight, but never truly known.

Australian Premiere

Scandi Screams

Tina, a customs officer, becomes attracted to a mysterious man who challenges her unusual abilities in this unique narrative that pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling, exploring universal themes of identity and acceptance.

Closing Night

When Oskar, a shy 12-year-old boy meets the mysterious and moody Eli, their bond forever changes their lives in this influential tale of love that gets the blood pumping.

In an Ari Aster cult classic, a group of friends travel to a remote Swedish village to participate in a seemingly innocent midsummer festival that gradually turns into a disturbing and nightmarish experience.

Watch out, Santa Claus is coming to town in this inventive dark fantasy following young Pietari who thinks a secret mountain drilling project has uncovered the tomb of Santa Claus.

An adventurous fusion of folklore and fantasy, this immersive drama revolves around a secretive government employed troll hunter who is responsible for maintaining the troll population and protecting the public.

A subversive Viking epic starring Mads Mikkelsen, Valhalla Rising is the story of One Eye, a pagan warrior who escapes his captors with a boy and joins a group of Crusaders on their quest to the Holy Land.