Raw, bold, risky: the Nordic shows shining at Canneseries 2025

The 2025 edition of Canneseries unspooled from 24-29 April. The French Riviera event showcasing some of the buzziest upcoming shows saw a robust contingent made up of seven new Nordic series, including three Norwegian productions taking the top prizes. In this story, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond takes a closer look at each one of them, unpacking their USPs, their production and development processes, and what audiences should expect from these exciting new stories.

The first award-winning project from Norway is A Better Man (Ølhunden Berit), a co-production between Maipo and Lithuania’s Artbox, with NRK and ZDFneo attached as the broadcasters. The show scooped the top prize - the Best Series award - as well as the High School Award for Best Series.

This quirky 4x51 show revolves around Tom (Anders Baasmo, who also snagged Best Performance), who blames feminism for everything that is wrong with modern society. He works in his mother’s clothing store by day, and trolls the Internet by night. When hackers expose his identity and reveal his most embarrassing secrets, he hides in what he has closest at hand: women’s clothing. The world opens up to him in surprising ways.

“Artistically, the challenge has been to find the right balance between the comic and the tragic, the intelligent and the ridiculous. I find it fascinating to see how it all comes together,” writer-director Thomas Seeberg Torjussen tells NFTVF.

Zooming in on the main themes explored by the series, producer Christian Frederik Martin explains: “It’s a unique drama series project that tackles issues such as online harassment, gender roles and ‘cancel culture’ through compelling characters, but most importantly, it shows a surprising path from alienation and isolation to intimacy and reconciliation.”

“The story will hopefully spark conversations, encourage viewers to think more and engage with people of different opinions. With the current polarisation and increasingly hostile online comment sections, we believe we urgently need new perspectives to help bridge the divide,” he continues.

Coming also from Norway is Rebound, directed by Daniel Fahre, penned by Melike Leblebicioglu Kaveh, and staged by Fenomen. It follows the heartbroken Alex (Mathilde Storm), who returns from Bali, hoping to reconnect with her ex. Instead, she’s dumped and heartbroken. Her best friend encourages her to find a rebound to help her move on. To Alex’s surprise, she starts falling for her new rebound.

“Rebound is a small series designed for the new Null47 streaming platform,” says producer Aurora Bjørnhaug. “As Null47 is a recently launched streamer and their aim is to reach a specific target audience, young adults, we were faced with a very tight budget and limited resources to produce the series. We were inspired to think outside the box, and planned the production setup with certain dogmas in mind, such as shooting the entire story in one room and using as much second-hand material as possible. This approach kept the project on budget, but also gave it some unique qualities that we are very proud of.”

Touching on the project’s USPs, she adds: “This is a story about a young heartbroken girl trying to figure out life. Everyone has experienced heartbreak and can therefore relate to our main character. The story is warm, and the acting is natural and honest, which makes the series unique and, in our opinion, a pleasure to watch.” Beta Film is selling the 10x7 show worldwide.

From Iceland, Canneseries hosted Reykjavík Fusion, created by Hörður Rúnarsson and Birkir Blær Ingólfsson and co-directed by Samúel Bjarki Pétursson and Gunnar Páll Ólafsson. The story follows talented chef Jonas After. After wrongful imprisonment, he struggles to rebuild his life and win back his family. Forced to launder dirty money through a fine-dining restaurant, he risks everything — his freedom, his loved ones, and his future.

Leading actor and producer Ólafur Darri Ólafsson admits the team didn’t want “right from the start for it to look like the typical Scandi noir”.

“The series takes place at the end of summer, so long days and short nights. Our creators wrote it to be fast-paced and full of action, and our directors come from the advertising world, so they’re used to working on material that edits fast and tells the story quickly. Our DP Óttar Guðnason is well known for his work on film, TV, and commercials. So we needed a few things to up our game — we imported a car with a top crane to shoot our car chases, for example,” Ólafsson reveals.

“We wanted first and foremost to be respectful in telling the story of someone who is released from prison and the challenges that brings. Also telling the story of a top chef, which required us to bring to the table a real top chef, which we found in Þráinn Freyr Vigfússon, who owns and runs Sumac and the Michelin-starred restaurant Óx in Reykjavík. He designed a menu for Reykjavík Fusion and cooked most of the food seen on screen,” he added. The project, co-produced by ACT4, ARTE France, Helsinki Filmi, Wild Sheep Content, and Skot Productions, is being sold by Mediapro.

Next, the third Norwegian project is Nepobaby. Created by Henriette Steenstrup and Siri Seljeset and helmed by duo Gunnar Vikene and Hallvar Witzø, the 6x30 show snagged the award for Best Screenplay and the Special Interpretation Awards, bestowed upon the entire cast. The story begins when Emma learns she’s an heir to one of Norway’s oldest and wealthiest shipping dynasties. Her estranged father, who recently passed, secretly added her to his will and the family business. However, her four newly discovered siblings aren’t exactly thrilled by her sudden arrival.

For producer Ida Håndlykken Kvernstrøm, the production process has been overall smooth, but she mentioned as the main hurdles “balancing the show’s satirical tone with emotional depth” and “creating a high-end visual identity”. “With quite a limited budget, the HoDs worked closely to build a world that was both stylish and emotionally resonant — reflecting the wealth and complexity of the story’s universe without losing its human core,” she emphasised.

“The series offers a sharp and timely take on wealth and inheritance, set against the backdrop of one of Norway’s richest fictional shipping families,” Kvernstrøm underscores, adding how the show blends “emotional drama with biting social satire, and tackles globally relevant themes like privilege, identity, and dysfunctional family dynamics, making it highly relatable for audiences far beyond Scandinavia”. She described it as a “returnable format built around a strong ensemble and rich story arcs, with room for long-term development, character growth, and new dramatic turns each season”.

Kvernstrøm revealed that while Season 1 is currently in post, development for Season 2 has already started. Supported by TV 2 Norway, NFI and NFTVF, Nepobaby is being brought to international audiences by Oble and Nordisk Film Distribution in the Nordics. Season 1 is slated to premiere in October.

Next, we spoke to Jani Pösö, who penned and produced Dorm No. 13 (Tupa 13). Helmed by Teemu Nikki (who co-wrote it with Pösö), the 7x13 Finnish show is a black comedy about living in a human herd and the responsibility that follows when learning how to kill. It follows young conscripts through basic training as they grow from strangers to friends — only to realise that true strength lies in responsibility, trust, and friendship.

“A defining feature of the series is the constant talk of the young rookies living in the dorm. It’s kind of never a quiet moment,” discloses Pösö. “When filming, Teemu and our DoP wondered whether they had to use two cameras. But in the end there’s no camera no. 2, but two masters. That defined the look and the style of the series.”

Pösö defined Dorm No. 13 as “pretty unique and timely”. “Mandatory military service is quite a hot potato right now in many countries, but that is just a premise of the series. The real story is universal — how do humans learn to live with each other and function together,” he signed off.

The project, attached to Yle, stars Kasperi Kola, Elo Umukoro, Joel Hirvonen, Meri Luukkanen, Noa Lange, Lauri Karresmaa, Mohamed El-Waber, Rami Karim, and Tommi Rahkonen in leading roles.

The second Finnish project premiered at Canneseries is L/Over. Created by Marika Makaroff, Frog Stone, and Nina Honkanen for MTV and sold by REinvent, the team bills it as a “love story that pulls you under the surface”, “a crossbreed of drama and psychological thriller”, which manages to explore “how and why coercive control can be the greatest danger in a relationship”.

Set in rural Finland in winter and revolving around “the love story of the century turning into something horrific”, the cast of this 6x42 series is led by Krista Kosonen, Jani Volanen, Elmo Kerosuo, and Hannu-Pekka Björkman.

L/Over is supported by NFTVF, as well as A Better Man, Reykjavík Fusion and Nepobaby.

Finally, the Norwegian presence is rounded off by The Agent – The Life and Lies of My Father (Agenten - Pappas liv og løgner), awarded with the award for Best Docuseries.

"It all started with a simple question from Didrik Hallstrøm, a former colleague of mine," recalls writer-director Magnus Skatvold. "He wanted me to help him digitise a box of home videos from his childhood. He also added, ‘I think my dad might be a spy for the CIA’.” This casual request marked the beginning of an almost three-year journey to uncover the truth about Didrik’s father, Bjørn Hallstrøm — a man whose life story straddled the fine line between trust, deception, and the enduring impact on family ties. "Could he be trusted, was he a hoax, and most importantly, could the truth bring Didrik and his dad closer together again?" Skatvold wondered.

Initially, the director saw the project as "an exciting spy story”, but as the investigation progressed, it became clear that this was, above all, a story about "the toll secrets and lies take on a family”. Throughout the production, Skatvold and his team faced significant challenges. A number of sources — both within Bjørn's family and beyond — expressed mixed feelings about Bjørn's uncompromising actions, especially those who had unknowingly become entangled in his work with the CIA. The filmmakers dedicated considerable time and resources to carefully listen to and support everyone affected by Bjørn’s clandestine activities.

Crafting the series also posed complex technical demands. Blending true crime elements, re-enactments, extensive archive material, and talking-head interviews, the team pushed themselves creatively, aiming for a bold and distinctive visual style. "We really challenged ourselves, and used the entire documentary toolkit," notes Skatvold. The dramatic re-enactments, heavily inspired by classic crime and spy films, at times function as "small shorts within the documentary" itself. Currently structured as a 6x35 series, a shorter feature version is also in the works.