Palace Cinemas has announced the complete lineup for the 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival, bringing the best new cinema from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden to Australian screens throughout the wintry months of July and August.
The festival will screen nationally at Palace, Palace Nova, and Luna Palace Cinemas, with programming that spans powerful contemporary dramas, black comedies, documentaries, and a milestone classic restoration.
The official festival partner Hurtigruten returns for their second year with Managing Director APAC Damian Perry saying the partnership was a natural fit for the brand: “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. The film follows a family of Sami 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. If you loved 2023’s fantastic Let The River Flow, this sounds like this could also be the one to watch this year.
In a festival exclusive, the highly anticipated FJORD will screen as the Festival Centrepiece. The film, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, was shot on the picturesque western coast of Norway and 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 filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day, Godland) delivers this year’s Special Presentation with THE LOVE THAT REMAINS (Ástin sem eftir er), a brilliant and bittersweet film capturing a year in the life of a family of five as the parents navigate their separation. The film also features a “Palme d’Og” winning performance from Pálmason’s own dog Panda, an Icelandic sheep dog. Count us in!
Reinsve also appears in a second Special Presentation, BUTTERFLY, an intriguing drama about estranged sisters who reunite following their mother’s sudden passing and mysterious death at an esoteric retreat in the Canary Islands.
Closing out the festival this year 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 unexplained silence, while Bibi Andersson captivates as the talkative young nurse assigned to her care. It is going to be a massive line-up and the perfect way to get through Melbourne winter with these f
Other festival highlights include:
- THE LAST VIKING (Den sidste viking), a dark comedy reuniting writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen with Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas as brothers on a crime adventure to recover stolen loot.
- THE LAST RESORT (Paradis), winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival, following a Danish family whose holiday turns morally complex when they witness refugees arriving by boat.
- THE KIDNAPPING OF A PRESIDENT (Presidentin Kyyditys), a blackly comic drama based on a bizarre true story about far-right Finnish officers who drunkenly decide to start a revolution in 1930.
- DOCTOR GLAS (Doktor Glas), a stylish Swedish psychological thriller offering a fresh perspective on Hjalmar Söderberg’s acclaimed 1905 novel.
- THE QUIET BEEKEEPER (Biodlaren), winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival, a meditative drama about love, nature, and the cycles of life.
- THE FIRES (Eldarnir), a thriller based on a best-selling novel about a volcanologist whose life is upended by romance and a volcanic eruption threatening Reykjavík.
- BEING BO WIDERBERG (I huvudet på Bo), a documentary chronicling the acclaimed Swedish director, screened alongside selected works from his filmography.
The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival will take place at the following venues:
- Canberra: 9 July – 2 August at Palace Electric
- Melbourne: 10 July – 2 August at 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 at Palace Regent Cinema
- Brisbane: 22 July – 16 August at Palace James St, Palace Barracks
- Adelaide: 22 July – 16 August at Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
- Sydney: 23 July – 16 August at Palace Norton St, Palace Moore Park and Palace Central
- Perth: 23 July – 16 August at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square
- Byron Bay and Ballina: 23 July – 16 August at Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit nordicfilmfestival.com.au and follow the festival on Instagram and Facebook at @NordicFilmFest.
