“Truth is always more marvellous than fiction”: Nordisk Panorama celebrates another worthwhile and vital edition

“It's been packed cinemas, engaged conversations, and very focused meetings after our pitching events.”

As the 37th edition of Nordisk Panorama, playing out September 17-22 2026, celebrated its awards finale at Malmö City Hall's sumptuous ballroom Tuesday night, festival director Heidi Christensen could once more look back at a vital and worthwhile event, further strengthening the documentary and short film forms, to which this festival is wholly dedicated.

“And again, we've been reminded of the solidarity, generosity and openness that exists within this community. For the industry, this combination is important. Nordisk Panorama is deliberately an efficient meeting place, where people can find the right projects, partners and conversations without spending days navigating a huge market. Hopefully, many of those meetings will lead to new collaborations, new films and deals that will allow Nordic stories to travel far beyond the region. This, ultimately, is what we want the festival to do: bringing people together and creating the conditions for good films to happen and find their audiences.”

This year's edition of The Nordisk Panorama Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries, took place 21-22 September, gathered 270 participants from 25 countries, and involved around 600 one-to-one meetings between project teams and stakeholders. 24 pitch projects, 22 Observer+ and 6 Work-in Progress projects were presented, from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ukraine, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Iran and Lithuania. 47 producers from 11 countries participated in the Producers Meet Producers programme.

The general take-away has been very positive, with many strong projects being greatly anticipated for the 2027-28 festival seasons, many taking on and dwelling deep into
complex issues dealing with adoption, abortion, deafness, corporate exploitation, pollution, farming, fishing, vikings, hedgehogs and saunas, to name some, but not all.

To read more about the Forum projects: CLICK HERE.

As for choice titles of the current season, the festival programme and the final awards confirmed a strong documentary 2026. The winner of the grand prize of Best Nordic Documentary, Sylvelin Måkestad's The Smuggler (Smugglaren) has already had some of its champions buzzing about this year's The Gullspång Miracle (Miraklet i Gullspång, 2023), whose director Maria Fredriksson is also an executive producer here. In this lovingly quirky and profoundly human account, Måkestad follows the headstrong Lisbeth, a recently retired senior Swede who decides to take a therapeutic pilgrimage to her fatherland Finland in order to find the gun her dad used as a soldier fighting the invading Soviet army during World War II – and then bring it back home with her (strictly forbidden). Main production is by Ballad Films, Sweden, with co-production by Aldeles, Norway, and Mouka Filmi, Finland.

Mouka Filmi is also the main producer behind The Beauty of Errors (Kappale kauneinta Suomea),
again in co-production with Norway, through Indie Film, and Sweden, through Auto Images, Directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen, this cherished Finnish family story was warmly acknowledged with a special honourable mention by the jury.

As good things sometimes come in threes, this year's winner of the Nordic Documentary Producer Award went to Juha Löppönen, main player and partner at…Mouka Filmi, Finland.

“Let’s see… So first, the two films I'm part of here at the festival get an honourable mention, and then, the main prize… Needless to say, I was already extremely pleased. And then, I get this recognition, which I honestly didn't expect at all – as I really respect the other nominated producers, including the Danish Oscar winner Helle Faber. This was a happy surprise.”

In addition to a cash prize of €10,000, the jury also tailor-made a most well-fitting motivation for the laureate in question:

”This year’s winner stays calm when things don’t go as planned, always keeping the film and the director at the centre. In an extremely challenging production landscape, he continues to create ambitious films, build Nordic collaborations, and generously share his knowledge. He embodies the spirit of Nordic documentary filmmaking.”

Löppönen, who has a background in civil engineering studies and has had to postpone
his media education several times due to production work on films like Walk the Tideline (Meren tuomat, 2021), Just Animals (Eläinoikeusjuttu, 2022), Neurotypes (Neurotyypit, 2024) and My Reality (2024), has fully embraced the documentary form as a means of creative expression.

“It's a cliché, but, you know, truth is always more marvellous than fiction. There's just something powerful in a true event or a true story, and when you get close to the subject and to the protagonist, it can get so very strong, so touching, so relatable. I guess these are some of my reasons.”

“In all, I'm very happy about this recognition because navigating in the documentary landscape during the past few years, especially post-Covid, hasn't been very easy for anyone. So being able to produce films at this time has been an achievement in itself. If not a miracle, at least very close to one.”

Two Forum awards were also given out this year, both to a documentary pitch project of special quality. The newly instigated €10,000 ARTE European Talent Development Award went to the project Lost at Sea (Tabt af verden) by director Ejner Benedict Seidelin and producer Claes Hedlund of Paloma Productions Denmark. The film puts a close focus on the grim realities of abandoned seafarers who have become prisoners on board ships owned by bankrupt employers. The DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) Talent Encouragement Award went to to Knots, a Faroese project by director-producer Maria Tórgarð, who also received an honourable mention for Mother Creature (Mammuskepilsið), entered in this year’s Best Nordic Short Film competition, and producer Gustav Ahnelöv. Knots, which also won the Nordic Talents award last year, deals with the very strict and antiquated abortion laws that have been in practice on the Faroe Islands until very recently. To some extent, the film itself is a de facto catalyst, opening up for a significant change, very much through the fate of its own creator, in real time. Another possible miracle, or very close to one.

The host country’s short film entries had a field night at the awards. The Best Nordic Short Film Award went to Swedish stop motion animator Anna Mantzaris' PLEASE, Sweden's Leona Cauklija won the New Nordic Voice Award for Son, and her countrywoman Karin Tötterman got the Young Nordic Award for The Karaoke King (Min morbror Karaokekungen). Denmark, finally, received the City of Malmö’s Audience Award, which went to Little Sinner, directed by Daro Hansen and Thomas Papapetros, and previously awarded at the Biografilm Festival in Bologna this summer.

All award winners are presented: CLICK HERE.