Nordic co-production Fjord wins Cannes’ top prize
By Anders Lorenzen
Fjord. Photo: Tudor Panduru
Following last month’s preview of the Nordic films heading to Cannes, June brings the result: Cristian Mungiu’s Norway-set drama Fjord has won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest prize.
This marks the second year in a row of Nordic Cannes success after Joachim Trier’s 2026 Oscar-winning Sentimental Value won the Cannes Grand Prize of the Festival award in 2025.
Fjord is Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu’s sixth feature and his first to be filmed and set outside Romania. The film, a Nordic co-production between Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, features an accomplished Nordic and international cast led by Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. Stan previously portrayed Donald Trump in Danish-Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s award-winning The Apprentice.
In Fjord, a Romanian-Norwegian couple move from Romania to Norway with their five children, hoping to live closer to their faith. Their new life in an isolated coastal village seems idyllic at first, but their strict religious upbringing is called into question when their daughter turns up at school with bruises.
Cristian Mungiu at 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Photo: John Sears
After receiving the award, Mungiu used the moment to reflect on values, coexistence and social division. He said it was important to recognise that “there is no single truth” and that people can live alongside one another without sharing the same values. Without dialogue, he warned, society risks “high levels of social violence.”
The film’s multilingual production reflects its cross-border story. Alongside Stan and Reinsve, Fjord features Romanian and Nordic actors and moves between English, Romanian and Norwegian. It is co-produced by Romania’s Mobra Films, France’s Why Not Productions, Norway’s Eye Eye Pictures, Finland’s Aamu Film Company, Denmark’s Snowglobe Films, Sweden’s Filmgate Films and Garage Film International.
Anders Lorenzen is a Danish blogger and film and TV enthusiast living in London.
SHARE
Requests to commercially license our content for republishing are now being processed through PLSclear. Please visit www.plsclear.com to complete your permission request. You can search PLSclear by title, ISBN/ISSN, author, or keyword.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Receive our monthly newsletter by email
