Nordic contenders at Cannes Film Festival
BY ANDERS LORENZEN | PHOTO: COURTESY OF STUDIOCANAL
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.
Fresh off the Nordic Oscar success, the focus now shifts to the next major date in the awards season – the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, running from 12 to 23 May.
In 2025, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. This year, a host of Nordic films and co-productions have been announced across the festival’s various selections.
In competition
In the main competition selection is Fjord by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu. A Nordic co-production between Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the film is Mungiu’s sixth and his first to take place outside his home region. It features an accomplished Nordic and international cast, led by US actor Sebastian Stan, who portrayed Donald Trump in Danish-Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s award-winning The Apprentice.
In Fjord, a Norwegian-Romanian 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 of the children is called into question when their daughter turns up at school with bruises.
Out of competition
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is back at Cannes with the thriller, Her Private Hell, an English language film featuring an international cast taking place in Tokyo.
Nordic co-productions
The Austrian/Swedish co-production Gentle Monster, the Norwegian/Nepalese co-production Elephants in the Fog (Tinihāru), and the Norwegian/Rwandian co-production Ben’Imana could also add to Nordic success in the main competition.
Outside competition, we have Eivind Landsvik’s first feature film Low Expectations (Lave Forventninger) – a Norwegian/Danish co-production. The film has been chosen for the Director’s Fortnight selection.
Also in Director’s Fortnight, we have the Norwegian/Thai co-production 9 Temples To Heaven (9 Wat Su Sawan) and the Finnish/French co-production Viva Carmen (Carmen, L’Oiseau Rebel).
In the Critic’s Week selection, we have the Danish/Mexican co-production Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building (Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul) and the Norwegian Yemen/Jordan/French/German/Dutch/Qatar co-production The Station (Al Mahattah).
Anders Lorenzen is a Danish blogger and film and TV enthusiast living in London.
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