Two Golden Shell contenders lead a broad Nordic showing in San Sebastián

Nordic cinema will have a broad footprint across the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival, running September 18-26, with two films vying for the Golden Shell and Nordic productions or talent appearing throughout the programme. Furthermore, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Nordic film institutes and Nordic production companies will participate in a financing seminar with Nordic focus.

In the Official Selection, Swedish-Sámi filmmaker Amanda Kernell returns with Brace Your Heart (Garrat du váimmu), a Sweden-Norway-Denmark-Iceland-Bulgaria co-production centred on a young reindeer herder whose life is shaken by love, jealousy and illness. Norway’s Hans Petter Moland will also compete, with Growth of the Soil (Markens grøde), a Norway-Denmark-Germany production starring Herbert Nordrum, Asta Kamma August and Gard B. Eidsvold. Both films are top-financed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF).

The Nordic presence continues in New Directors, where Norwegian filmmaker Marlene Emilie Lyngstad presents the Denmark-Sweden-Norway co-production Cute, a film she won NFTVF’s Nordic Talents Pitch Prize for in 2023, while Billy Lumby’s UK-Swedish FLORID closes the section. Denmark also has a stake in Bruno Santamaría Razo’s Six Months in a Pink & Blue Building (Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul) in Horizontes Latinos.

Zabaltegi-Tabakalera includes Angelica Ruffier’s Swedish-Norwegian La belle année and Norwegian co-production Pedro in the Land (Pedro en el país), by María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat. Perlak, meanwhile, brings Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, backed by producers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland and starring Norwegian star Renate Reinsve.

At Nest, Denmark is represented by Marco Lawson’s Family (Familie), while Danish filmmaker Anne-Sofie Lindgaard directs UK production Small One. The family strand adds Norway’s Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Grel (Kaptein Sabeltann og Grevinnen av Gral), Finnish co-production Fleak, and Swedish-Danish Super Charlie.

This year, Nordic involvement also reaches beyond the screen. Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård sits on the Official Selection jury, while Finland accounts for two of the five European finalists in the Zinemaldia Startup Challenge: THELMA and Virtual Location Scouting.

On 23 September, the industry programme will also host “Nordic Connection: Building Bridges between the Nordic Countries and the Basque Country”, bringing Nordic and Basque professionals together to discuss financing, co-production and new forms of partnerships. NFTVF’s Liselott Forsman will join representatives of the Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish film institutes for a funding panel, followed by Nordic and Basque case studies.