Nordic Film Talks

As the Annecy International Animation Film Festival kicks off, Nordic Film Talks sits down with internationally acclaimed filmmaker Linda Hambäck and producer Tonje Skar Reiersen to discuss the future of animation in the age of AI. Will artificial intelligence reshape the industry? Hambäck and Reiersen explore the opportunities and ethical challenges of new technology, while arguing that human cre...

From neon-lit dystopias to quiet emotional realism, this Cannes special explores reinvention, vulnerability and the thrill of creative risk. Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn returns with his first feature film in a decade, 'Her Private Hell' a mysterious Copenhagen-shot sci-fi horror melodrama inspired by everything from opera to fairytales. Refn reflects on building an entire futuristic world f...

Danish director Martin Zandvliet, known for 'Land of Mine', joins the Nordic Film Talks podcast to talk about his first TV series, 'Harvest'.  The eight-episode drama follows a farming family thrown into conflict when the patriarch leaves the farm to his daughter instead of her two brothers. Zandvliet says he wanted to make a character-driven story about ordinary people and family relationships. A...

Swedish filmmaker Ester Bergsmark spent seven years shaping 'A Sweetness from Nowhere', a hybrid film premiering at CPH:DOX that moves between essay, documentary, fiction — and what she sometimes calls a fable. In this episode, Bergsmark talks about the nerve-racking creative process behind the film, which blends abandoned sci-fi footage, disco-like jellyfish and deeply personal reflections on tra...

After her breakout horror hit Hatching, Finnish writer-director Hanna Bergholm returns with Nightborn, a dark, Grimm-style fable about motherhood, identity, and the fears we don’t talk about. Premiering in Berlinale Competition, the English-language film follows a new mother who becomes convinced something is terribly wrong with her baby. In this episode, Bergholm dives into the personal experienc...

Norwegian screenwriter Eskil Vogt is having a huge season. His latest film Sentimental Value, co-written with longtime collaborator Joachim Trier, has swept the European Film Awards and landed a record-breaking nine Oscar nominations and eight BAFTA nods. On the Nordic Film Talks podcast, Vogt breaks down how the film grew from two simple ideas: reuniting with Renate Reinsve and exploring the comp...

Faroese producer Jón Hammer joins Nordic Film Talks to discuss making history with The Last Paradise on Earth — the first Faroese film to win the Nordic Council Film Prize. He reflects on the film’s message, the rapid growth of Faroese filmmaking, and his own path from Zentropa to building Outlier Projects. Hammer also shares insights from international shoots like No Time To Die and How To Train...

Swedish filmmaker Isabella Eklöf – known for 'Holiday', 'Kalak' and 'Border '– joins us to talk about her bold new TV series 'The Death of Bunny Munro', starring Matt Smith. She reveals why England’s decaying seaside towns inspired her “crumbling empire” story, how adapting Nick Cave’s manic novel became her proudest work yet, and what it’s like to be a first-time showrunner. Eklöf also teases her...

Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason doesn’t start his films with a fixed idea — he lets them emerge. In a conversation with Nordic Film Talks at the San Sebastian Film Festival, he describes how narratives “come by surprise” as he writes, shoots and edits, often across several years. His two latest films, Joan of Arc and The Love That Remains, both star his three children and capture the mix of pl...

Sofie Gråbøl talks about punching Mads Mikkelsen in their new film 'The Last Viking', acting with Donald Sutherland in her first film and experiencing how the grpundbreaking series 'The Killing' changed the international outlook on Denmark. Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/ Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm Logo des...

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/ Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm Logo designed by: Tine Seerup Music artist: Bail Bonds  Title: Swimming Lessons

In this special bonus episode from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, we speak to Danish actor Claes Bang about his role in the majority French production 'The Great Arch', directed by Stephane Demoustier, which had its world premiere in Cannes Premieres. Bang plays the Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen who tries to protect his artistic integrity after winning a competition to build an important F...

In this special Cannes 2025 episode of Nordic Film Talks, we delve into two Cannes world premieres with the writer/director and lead actor of Eagles of the Republic and one of the lead actors of The Love That Remains. Swedish writer/director Tarik Saleh says his new film Eagles of the Republic is not a political satire. “I love satire, but this is absolutely not satire. It is a very serious film,...

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson discusses his new production company ACT4 and their first series, Reykjavik Fusion, which premieres at Canneseries. He wanted the show to feel more vibrant than typical Nordic noir, following a chef rebuilding his life after prison. Ólafsson balances Icelandic work with international projects like Severance and Somebody Somewhere, while keeping his base in Reykjavik. ACT4 is...

After his acclaimed 2018 film Woman at War, Benedikt Erlingsson thought he was done with stories about headstrong women bending the rules for a greater cause. But then The Danish Woman emerged. “I knew I couldn’t make another film with the same concept, so a TV series was the perfect way to explore it further. If Woman at War had a ‘white witch,’ The Danish Woman is the ‘black witch,’” he says in...

The acclaimed Danish actress discusses why she likes spend time exploring her complex characters, such as an infamous criminal in Oscar-nominated The Girl With The Needle and a wife and mother recovering from a stroke in Berlinale world premiere Beginnings. Nordic Film Talks is a podcast offering in-depth interviews with filmmakers and other creatives from the Nordic countries, offering insight in...

Forget Disney princesses—Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister reimagines Cinderella with a feminist twist and moments of body horror. In this episode, Blichfeldt discusses her feature debut, exploring themes of beauty standards and bodily perfection. Producer Maria Ekerhovd shares insights into the film’s ambitious €5.5m production and its journey to Sundance and Berlinale. Tune in for behind-t...

The director and producer reveal how Jacques Demy and an oil tycoon’s secret bunker inspired their ambitious first fiction feature, 'The End', a six-country co-production with a budget of about $17m. Producer Signe Byrge Sørensen and writer/director Joshua Oppenheimer set their ambitions high for their first fictional feature together. It’s not only the world’s first post-apocalyptic musical, it’s...

The head of the International Sami Film Institute talks about boosting indigenous filmmaking through smart collaborations with the Netflix, Disney, NRK, Telefilm Canada and more — and she reveals what’s next for Sami filmmakers. Anne Lajla Utsi is the head of the International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI), which she co-founded in 2009 and has now grown to include partnerships with Netflix and major...

Producer Aleksi Bardy, like most people in Finland, grew up loving the Moomins. When Bardy was a young adult and read Moomins author Tove Jansson’s adult fiction book 'The Summer Book' (Sommarboken), he adored it. Later, when he became a screenwriter and producer, he read it again with an eye to bringing it to the big screen. 'The Summer Book' stars Glenn Close, celebrated its world premiere in Oc...

In this episode of the Nordic Film Talks podcast, veteran Danish writer and director reveals that he had wanted to create a TV series ever since his 1998 feature Festen, the Dogme film that became his breakout international success. Thomas Vinterbergs Families Like Ours is set in a scarily realistic near-future, and follows one family – teenage daughter Laura, her now-single mom, her dad and his n...

Frida Kempff’s  The Swedish Torpedo tells the forgotten story of Sally Bauer, the first Scandinavian to swim across the English Channel in 1939. Despite this groundbreaking achievement, Bauer never became a household name. After digging deeper, Kempff found Bauer’s personal reflections from the year before her swim in a small regional library, inspiring her to bring Bauer’s story to life. Kempff,...

Norwegian filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud discusses his ambitious trilogy Sex Dreams Love: “Three films are not enough to talk about sex.” The trilogy, which explores themes of sexuality, relationships, intimacy, and queerness, took about 10 months to shoot. Sex follows two heterosexual men whose views on sexuality and identity are challenged. Love centers on a woman in her 40s exploring casual sex,...

It's only halfway through 2024 and Danish producer Lina Flint has already had a very exciting year: Her most recent production, Gustav Möller’s Sons (Vogter), premiered at Berlinale competition in February and will start its international rollout in French cinemas starting in July.  And she also joined forces with Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster to co-found Square Peg Nordic, which develops internation...

This episode features Swedish-born, Poland-based writer/director Magnus von Horn, talking about his third feature film, The Girl With The Needle , premiering at Cannes Competition 2024. Magnus talks about the decision to shoot in black-and-white, why he avoided a typical criminal biopic, and casting Vic Carmen Sonne and Trine Dyrholm in key roles. Nordic Film Talks is a podcast offering in-depth i...