Naming rights partner for the second year, Hurtigruten, are long associated with the Nordic region. Damian Perry, Managing Director APAC, Hurtigruten says, “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, that follows a family of Sàmi 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, the film draws on cultural expression to explore a breathtakingly genuine connection to the environment.

In a festival exclusive, the highly anticipated FJORD, direct from winning the Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, screens as the Festival Centrepiece. Shot on the picturesque western coast of Norway, the film 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 comedy/drama THE LOVE THAT REMAINS (Ástin sem eftir er) from director Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day, Godland) is this year’s Special Presentation. This brilliant and bittersweet film tenderly captures a year in the life of a family of five, as the parents navigate their separation, exploring love, family and shared memories. It also features a ‘Palme d’Og’ winning performance from Pálmason’s own dog Panda, an Icelandic sheep dog.
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value, Fjord) 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 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 an unexplained silence, while Bibi Andersson is captivating as the talkative young nurse assigned to her care in a secluded island retreat. The two women mysteriously experience a slow merging of the inner lives in an isolated, dreamlike meditation on the human psyche.

In the fascinating documentary BEING BO WIDERBERG (I huvudet på Bo) the acclaimed and eccentric Swedish director Bo Widerberg’s journey is chronicled.

In the shadow of Ingmar Bergman, Widerberg became Sweden’s most influential filmmaker. From the progressive early 1960s in Malmö, where he worked as a writer and film critic, to his successes as a director in Stockholm and adventures in Cannes and New York, the film showcases Widerberg’s incredible artistic legacy.

In conjunction with the documentary, there are selected screenings of Bo Widerberg’s films including ÅDALEN 31, a gripping blend of political history and adolescent awakening; RAVEN’S END (Kvarteret Korpen) his unflinching 1936 Malmö portrait that follows young dreamer Anders, as he pursues his writing ambitions while slowly suffocating beneath poverty and dysfunction; and arguably Widerberg’s masterpiece, ELVIRA MADIGAN, which follows two lovers who abandon everything for each other.

In sharply observed drama THE GUEST (Gæsten), Trine Dyrholm stars as an estranged mother determined to prove herself. Hoping to rejoin the family, Vibeke (Dyrholm) appears unannounced at her grandson’s naming ceremony.

Winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival, THE LAST RESORT (Paradis), is an absorbing drama that follows a Danish family on holiday at an all-inclusive resort. Anticipating a well-deserved and restful break, reality hits hard when they witness boat loads of refugees hitting the shores and they are forced to question how much they should risk to help a person in need.

Also from Denmark is the dark comedy THE LAST VIKING (Den sidste viking), reuniting writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice) with Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Department Q) in their sixth project together. The pair star as brothers on a crime adventure filled with unpredictable twists and turns as they attempt to unlock Mandfred’s (Mikkelsen) memory to recover stolen loot.

In OFFROAD, an entertaining Danish comedy from Rasmus Heide, a woman’s stable life begins to unravel during a girls’ trip, leading her and her friends into an impulsive and chaotic journey; and winner of the New Director’s Award at the San Sebastián Film Festival is Emilie Thalund’s WEIGHTLESS (Vægtløs). A bold and intimate exploration of adolescent desire and identity, this coming-of-age drama follows the transformative summer of a fifteen-year-old girl at a Danish summer health camp.

THE KIDNAPPING OF A PRESIDENT (Presidentin Kyyditys) is a blackly comic drama based on a bizarre true story about the chaos that ensues when a group of far-right Finnish officers drunkenly decide to start a revolution in 1930. Lieutenant Colonel Eero Kuussaari (Jussi Vatanen, Fallen Leaves) impulsively orders the kidnapping of retired former president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (Pertti Sveholm, 100 Litres of Gold), but then doesn’t recall his orders the following day, having left the escapade to a group of young, eager and inexperienced soldiers.

In the heartfelt and delightful drama A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT (Jossain on valo joka ei sammu), a successful flautist who returns to his hometown in need of recuperation is drawn into the world of experimental music when he reconnects with an old school friend; and in 1890s Finland, TELL EVERYONE (Kerro kaikille) portrays a free spirited young woman who fights to hold on to hope, friendship and forbidden love while confined on an isolated sanatorium island.

Sweden’s stylish psychological thriller DOCTOR GLAS (Doktor Glas) brings a bold and fresh new perspective to Hjalmar Söderberg’s acclaimed 1905 novel. Desire, guilt and obsession are portrayed through the eyes of Gabriel Glas (played by Isac Calmroth, also one of the co-writers), a reclusive young doctor whose fascination with fashion icon Helga Gregorius spirals into madness.

Also from Sweden is THE QUIET BEEKEEPER (Biodlaren), winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival. This meditative drama set in the small, rustic town of Åmotfors in the Swedish region of Värmland, close to the Norwegian border, is an exploration of love, nature, and the cycles of life, seen through the eyes of a father and daughter longing for connection.

When 39-year-old Anni has to move back in with her mother after a scandalous incident on live television, her life goes off the rails in HOME (Heim), a darkly funny, brutally honest, and unexpectedly tender romantic dramedy from Norway; in THE PENSION HEIST (Pensjonskuppet) three women set out to steal from the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund after one discovers her husband is having an affair in this feel-good crowd-pleasing heist comedy featuring some of Norway’s most beloved actors.

Norwegian box office hit drama THE BATTLE OF OSLO (Blücher) is a gripping true story of courage under fire recounting the decisive actions of Colonel Birger Eriksen during World War II, whose fateful choice in 1940 shaped his nation’s destiny.

Recently winning six Icelandic Film Awards, the thriller THE FIRES (Eldarnir), based on the best-selling novel, tells the story of an accomplished volcanologist’s life which is upended by both a romantic affair and a volcanic eruption that threatens Reykjavík.

The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival will take place from July to August.
Canberra: 9 July – 2 August, Palace Electric
Melbourne: 10 July – 2 August, 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, Palace Regent Cinema
Brisbane: 22 July – 16 August, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Adelaide: 22 July – 16 August, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Sydney: 23 July – 16 August, Palace Norton St, Palace Moore Park and Palace Central Perth: 23 July – 16 August, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square Byron Bay and Ballina: 23 July – 16 August, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
www.nordicfilmfestival.com.au

Palace is delighted to announce five of the first highlights ahead of the full programme being unveiled in late June.

This year’s Special Presentation is QUISLING: THE FINAL DAYS (Quislings siste dager). Set in 1945 Norway, this bold and fascinating drama from acclaimed director Erik Poppe (The King’s Choice, ScandiFF 2017) follows the post-liberation trial of the country’s infamous and controversial head of state Vidkun Quisling, in a stirring meditation on complicity, faith and the capacity for self-deception.

The powerful and visually stunning drama THE MOUNTAIN (Fjallið) is the first officially vetted sustainable production in Iceland and has been awarded the prestigious Green Film Sustainability certification. Starring Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney (daughter of singer Björk), it explores how the cosmos and a road trip to the Icelandic highlands offers comfort to a family whose life is upended by a twist of fate.

Starring Festival favourite Trine Dyrholm is SECOND VICTIMS (Det andet offer), a Danish-set medical drama. Featuring stellar performances from Dyrholm and Özlem Saglanmak (Borgen), this timely reflection on the challenges faced by healthcare professionals today follows a neurologist on a shift that will change her life forever, exploring the weight of guilt and the power of compassion.

Debut director Paula Korva’s Finnish comedy/drama SUDDEN OUTBURSTS OF EMOTIONS (Kenraaliharjoitus) is the story of an ordinary couple who decide to open their relationship to new sexual encounters to reignite their passion. Although everything seems fine to start, emotional chaos is soon unleashed in this witty and heartfelt story.

From Sweden is LIVE A LITTLE (Leva Lite), a bold and intimate story about two best friends on a couch surfing adventure across Europe, navigating uncertainty and intimacy as they strive to find themselves.

The 2025 Hurtigruten Scandinavian Film Festival will take place from July to August (dates vary by location).

The full programme will be announced later in June when tickets go on sale. Listing details:
Melbourne: 11 July – 3 August, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema and The Astor Theatre
Ballarat: 11 July – 3 August, Palace Regent Cinema
Canberra: 16 July – 10 August, Palace Electric
Sydney: 17 July – 10 August, Palace Norton St, Palace Moore Park, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinema Adelaide: 23 July – 13 August, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas Brisbane: 23 July – 14 August, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Perth: 24 July – 13 August, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square
Byron Bay and Ballina: 24 July – 13 August, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

The son, Casper (Jakob Oftebro), an artist himself operates in a less obvious manner under a secret identity known as The Ghost (similar to a Banksy type character). To say they clash is an understatement but Casper has a hidden agenda and the joy in discovering this is one of the film’s highlights.

This Man is a real treat for fans of both graffiti art and human stories told without unnecessary gloss and glamour.

The Man is screening around the country this July and August as part of the Scandinavian Film Festival.

The region of Scandinavia – culturally comprised of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark – has produced some of the most iconic films ever made. From the masterpieces of Ingmar Bergman, to the radical, back-to-basics guerrilla-style filmmaking of the Dogme revolution, to the contemporary and transnational diversity of Nordic cinema.

Palace Cinemas is proud to present this festival, created to offer a dedicated focus to an area of screen culture that has for too long been under-represented in Australia. Join us and celebrate the best in Nordic Cinema this July and August with the fourth Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival, exclusive to Palace Cinemas. Go North to the breathtaking coast of Iceland with the 26-time award winner Heartstone, discover the best in contemporary Nordic noir with A Conspiracy of Faith, or laugh out loud with stylish arts world satire The Man.

With 20 films, now’s the time to treat yourself to a hot chocolate, rug up in your winter favourites, and immerse yourself in the iconic style of Nordic cinema.

Scandinavian Film Festival 2017
Sydney – 11 July – 2 August 2017
Melbourne – 13 July – 2 August 2017
Canberra – 18 July – 2 August 2017
Adelaide – 19 July – 30 July 2017
Brisbane – 20 July – 6 August 2017
Perth – 20 July – 2 August 2017
Hobart – 20 July – 26 July 2017
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

Now a much anticipated fixture on the festival calendar, the third Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival presented by Palace will see some of the most exciting and fresh movies from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland grace Palace Cinema screens around Australia from 5 July.

National Festivals Director Elysia Zeccola Hill who has been running the festivals at Palace Cinemas for the last 18 years said: “Scandinavia has produced some of the most iconic films ever made. This festival screens the hottest talent from the most current crop of films. Over the past 10 days in Cannes I have locked in the final films for this edition and they will premiere on the big screen in Australia less than two months later.”

To whet cinema goers appetite, here is a preview of the 2016 program:
Finland’s official Oscar contender, and winner of Best Film at Finland’s 2016 Jussi Awards, THE FENCER, offers a fictionalised take on a real-life fencing teacher who took a stand against Stalinist oppression in Soviet-era Estonia. Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. However, the past catches up with him as he comes face to face with a difficult choice.

Meanwhile, more in the spirit of recent Nordic fare, tense suspense thriller ABSOLUTION starring the brilliant Laura Birn (2014 Festival guest) tackles the moral questions of guilt and revenge after a hit-and-run accident spirals out of control. Mari Rantasila (2015 Festival film Armi Alive!), took the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in this film at Finland’s recent Jussi Awards

Also from Finland, OTHER GIRLS (Toiset Tytöt) is a survival story about those moments when life gives you a brutal kick, but you decide to kick back. HARD! Based on true events, it follows 18-year-old girls Jessica, Jenny, Taru and Aino who are on the verge of adulthood as they lose their innocence and, at times, their faith.

From Sweden, the documentary comedy NICE PEOPLE is a real-life “Cool Runnings” which has won over audiences’ hearts worldwide. The predominantly white community of the rural Swedish town of Borlänge are confronted by the influx of Somalis who have fled war. Integrating has proven difficult, so entrepreneur Patrik Andersson decides that all the Swedes and Somalis need is something to talk about together, and so he encourages them to learn Bandy (a cross between ice hockey and soccer). This highly entertaining and touching documentary follows the young Somalis’ long journey from their first hesitant steps on the ice to the very first goal in the history of their country, coached by legendary former bandy player Per Fosshaug and Cia Embretsen, and accompanied and commented on by the well-known Swedish duo of entertainers Fredrik Wikingsson and Filip Hammar.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Guldbagge Awards (Swedish Academy Awards) Staffan Lindberg’s LOVE IS THE DRUG is a comedy about super rich Veronica (played by international star Izabella Scorupco) and Mike, a carpenter, and all that stands between their love, including stepchildren, ex partners and new parents-in-law.

Danish Director Christina Rosendahl makes her mark with her second feature film THE IDEALIST (Idealisten) starring Peter Plaugborg, Søren Malling, Thomas Bo Larsen, Arly Jover and Jens Albinus. Based on real events of the 80s and 90s, THE IDEALIST deals with the conspiracies about Thule airbase during the cold war and a young journalist whistle-blower who tries to reveal the secrets behind a nuclear disaster.

The first feature film of Swedish-born Dane Daniel Dencik, GOLD COAST (Guldkysten) is a story of beauty and brutality, partly based on personal letters and diaries from the Danish botanist Wulff Joseph Wulff. In 1836, the young and visionary botanist (played by 2014 Berlin Film Festival Shooting Star award winner Jakob Oftebro) is sent to Africa by the King of Denmark to establish coffee plantations. What follows is an adventure into unknown territory that will change his young life forever.

Norway heralds Scandinavia’s first disaster movie THE WAVE (Bølgen). Starring Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro and Fritjof Såheim, the action packed film is based on the real-life event of the 1934 tsunami which hit Norway’s Tafiord as two million cubic metres of rock from a landslide triggered a wave of more than 85 metres high, and left 40 people dead in communities along the shore.

Volvo Scandinavian Film Festival 2016
Sydney: Tues 5 – Wed 27 July Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona
Melbourne: Wed 6 – Wed 27 July Palace Cinema Como, Brighton Bay, Westgarth
Canberra: Tues 12 – Wed 27 July Palace Electric
Brisbane: Wed 13 – Wed 27 July Palace Centro & Barracks
Adelaide: Tues 19 – Wed 27 July Palace Nova Eastend
Hobart: Wed 20 – Wed 27 July State Cinema
Perth: Thu 21 – Wed 3 August Cinema Paradiso
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com

Competition will be drawn 12 July 2016, winners will be notified by mail.

The second Scandinavian Film Festival will open with the uproarious HERE IS HAROLD (Her er Harold), a Norwegian road movie, about a man who sets out to kidnap the founder of Ikea. For over 40 years, Harold has been running a successful business, “Lunde Furniture”. But this comes to an end when IKEA decides to open a new superstore right next door to his small furniture shop. In mounting anger and desperation, Harold wants revenge. He arms himself with a pistol and sets off for Älmhult, Sweden, in order to kidnap his Nemesis – the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad. But unfortunately, Kamprad is quite happy to be kidnapped.

Having picked up Best Film, Actor, Actress, Director and seven more awards at the Edda (Icelandic Academy) Awards, unsparing Icelandic drama LIFE IN A FISH BOWL (Vonarstræti) tells three congruent tales of three people who have a lasting effect on one another. This naturalistic portrait of everyday life in Reykjavik on the eve of the country’s 2008 economic meltdown touched a nerve on home turf, becoming one of the countries biggest-ever domestic hits.

Based on a series of Finnish radio plays, THE GRUMP (Mielensäpahoittaja) is a broad satire from director Dome Karukoski (Heart of a Lion Scandinavian FF 2014) who returns to the comedy-of-bad behavior mode of his 2010 box office hit LAPLAND ODYSSEY. The film tells the story of a set-in-his-ways, 80-year-old farmer from rural Finland, who raises hell when he is forced to move in with his city-dwelling son.

A modern take on class conflict plays out in the critically acclaimed debut film UNDERDOG (Svenskjävel) by Swedish director Ronnie Sandahl. The drama tells the story of 23-year-old Dino (magnetic comedian Bianca Kronlöf) who dreams of a different life. Like an abundance of Swedes her age, she has fled the mass unemployment of her home country in search of a more worthwhile existence in a nouveau-riche Oslo. But her new life is caught in destructive loop of temporary jobs, financial trouble and hard partying, until she lands a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy ex-sportsman. During a few sultry summer weeks she ends up in the centre of an odd love triangle, an unpredictable struggle for affection as well as dominance. UNDERDOG is a tender and raw story of privilege and longing, yet at the same time a humorous and unmerciful observation of the shifted power balance between Sweden and Norway.

Named by Variety as one of the “TOP 10 EUROPEANS TO WATCH”, Norwegian Writer/Actor/Director Ole Giæver brings us OUT OF NATURE (Mot nature) a commentary on middle-class life and the Norwegian penchant for idealizing nature. With a wry Scandinavian sense of humor, OUT OF NATURE is a sharp and compelling film about a put-upon salary man who seeks spiritual and sexual renewal in the great outdoors.

Danish thrillers once again take center stage with this taught sequel to smash hit THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES. In THE ABSENT ONE (Fasandræberne), a troubling affair involving a double murder of twin siblings is reopened by the Copenhagen cold-case division after the kids’ father commits suicide. The Nordic noir-style mystery that toggles between the past and the present as it uncovers what really happened in the 1990s at one of the country’s poshest boarding schools is the second adaptation of a Jussi Adler-Olsen novel in the Department Q series. This film brings the entire behind-the-scenes team back together with director Mikkel Norgaard and lead actors Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares.

From Sweden, YOUNG SOPHIE BELL (Unga Sophie Bell) is Amanda Adolfsson’s longed for debut feature, and the second film to come out of Stockholm Film Festival’s scholarship for female directors. In the drama, two university friends move to Berlin after graduating, but their dreams are shattered when one suddenly and mysteriously disappears.

Scandinavian Film Festival 2015
QLD THU 16 JULY – SUN 26 JULY: PALACE CENTRO
NSW WED 8 JULY – SUN 26 JULY: PALACE NORTON STREET, PALACE VERONA
VIC THU 9 JULY – SUN 26 JULY: PALACE CINEMA COMO, PALACE BRIGHTON BAY
ACT TUE 14 JULY – SUN 26 JULY: PALACE ELECTRIC
BYRON FRI 17 JULY – THU 23 JULY: PALACE BYRON BAY
SA WED 22 JULY – WED 29 JULY: PALACE NOVA EASTEND CINEMA
WA THU 23 JULY – WED 29 JULY: CINEMA PARADISO
HOBART THU 23 JULY – WED 29 JULY: STATE CINEMA
www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com