Vikings conquer Venice with shipload of Nordic talent

As per classic tradition, the start as well as heart of the autumn season of world cinema will take place at the Venice International Film Festival, this year with its 82nd edition, playing out August 27 to September 6. Unveiled late July, the programme covers all continents, from Azerbaijan to New Zealand, with elaborate Hollywood, Asian and European offerings, including a tasty selection of Nordic picks.

Norway’s Mona Fastvold’s third directorial feature The Testament of Ann Lee defends the Nordic colours in the official competition. Fastvold also co-wrote the script with real-life partner Brady Corbet – a fitting presence, following last year’s Venice revelation The Brutalist (2024) by the same couple, with Corbet handling the directing duties. Presented as a “historical drama musical”, the story revolves around the Shakers, a religious group founded in the mid-18th century, and its leader Ann Lee, played by Amanda Seyfried. This primarily British-American multi-international co-production includes Sweden via Göta Film and Film i Väst, and was mainly shot in Budapest and Göteborg.

The other Nordic feature director at this year’s Venice edition is Anders Thomas Jensen, offering his very own brand of Danish Dynamite since about 25 years back, when his feature debut Flickering Lights (Blinkende lygter, 2000) saw the light of day. A quarter-of-a-century, six directorial features, and around 30 scripts for other directors later, Jensen will showcase The Last Viking (Den sidste viking) out of competition in the official selection. The main cast, a veritable shipload of who-is-who Danish durables, features Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sofie Gråbøl, Bodil Jørgensen, Lars Brygmann, and other national luminaries.

At the forefront, as per classic Jensen tradition, a motley crew of mildly capable criminals struggle to recover some precious hidden loot (or perhaps “booty”, given the title). Zentropa Entertainments is main producer, headed by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann, with co-production by Zentropa Sweden and Film i Väst. As screenwriter, Jensen played Venice in 2023 with Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land (Bastarden). As Viking, Mads Mikkelsen made a sojourn here already in 2009 with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising. The true veteran of the group has to be Sofie Gråbøl, co-starring in Henning Carlsen’s Oviri, entered in the Venice competition in 1986.

Also out of competition in the official programme is Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra), a documentary directed by Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel, dealing with the murder of indigenous leader Javier Chocobar and the legacy of colonialism in Latin America. Participating in this multi-international co-production is Denmark’s Snowglobe with producers Mikkel Jerson and Katrin Pors, adding to an increasingly impressive track record when it comes to seeking out intriguing projects all over most corners of the world.

“We’re doing really well right now”, is the hearty assessment from Snowglobe’s Copenhagen HQ and Katrin Pors, who together with Mikkel Jerson handled the company’s producer task on Landmarks. At the moment Snowglobe is in various stages of development on works by Hlynur Pálmason, Felipe Galvez, Carlos Reygadas, Bruno Dumont and Cristian Mungui. “This year we‘ve already shot four films, and have started shooting two more, including both newer talents and some very established ones. Our DNA has always been international, and our vision has always been to make films for the international audience and festivals.” Snowglobe has performed quite a feat for its ten-year anniversary, with entries in Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastián, and Pors is thrilled to present Landmarks at Venice. “Lucrecia Martel is for me one of the greatest film artists. It is her first documentary, and an extremely important political film.”

The Orizzoni section includes two shorts with Nordic participation; the Swedish Without Kelly (Utan Kelly) playing the competition, directed by Lovisa Sirén and produced by Siri Hjorton Wagner for [sic] film, and out of competition Rukeli by Italian director Alessandro Rak, with co-production by Film i Väst.

The Orizzonti section will also premiere Mother (Мајка), a biopic of Mother Teresa, recounting her mission to start a new religious order, which would eventually become the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India. Director Teona Strugar Mitevska as well as the main production country is North Macedonian – Mother Teresa herself was born in Skopje – with Sweden’s Spark Film and Film i Väst as well as Denmark’s Frau Film co-producing. The title character is interpreted by Noomi Rapace, just one out of a number of Nordic “star” actors quite literally sprinkled across the 2025 Venice programme, making it an impressive year for “Scandi-spotting”.

Alicia Vikander will thus be seen in Olivier Assayas’ competition film The Wizard of the Kremlin (Le mage du Kremlin), which follows a fictional spin-doctor at the heart of the Russian government during a recent past. Kathryn Bigelow, a long-time aficionado of Nordic talent, employing on different occasions Ulrich Thomsen, Anders W. Berthelsen, Fares Fares, and sound engineer Carl N.J. Ottosson (winning two Oscars along the way), will co-star Rebecca Ferguson in the competition-entered House of Dynamite, in which a group of White House officials scrambles to deal with an incoming missile attack on the U.S.

As per tradition (or possibly ruling), a Skarsgård family member is also present, namely Bill, who plays the lead in the historical crime film Dead Man’s Wire, depicting the case of the 1977 Tony Kiritsis’ kidnapping of his bank mortgager and his request “for hostage money and an apology”. Director Gus Van Sant, entered out of competition, is also the recipient of this year’s special Venice honour, the Passion for Film Award. As for family talent, the presence of Noomi Rapace’s younger sister Vala Noren, also appearing in Mother, should warrant a mention.

The most distinguished Lars Mikkelsen, Mads’ older brother, turns up in competition, playing “Captain Anderson” in Guillermo de Toro’s personal vision of Frankenstein. Finally, one of Mikkelsen’s countrywomen can be seen playing opposite Gloria Swanson in Erich von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly (1928), a true highlight on this year’s Venice Classics menu. Stealing the scenery for most of her screen time as the splendidly mad queen Regina V of Ruritania is one Seena Owen, or, as she was born and known as during her Copenhagen youth, Signe Auen. Just to show that the Northerners have been conquering the film world more or less since the very beginnings of early celluloid.

These additional titles involving Nordic producers and/or co-producers will be screened in the sidebar sections Venice Days, Venice Immersive and Final Cut:

Venice Days/Giornate degli autori

Past Future Continuous/Gli Uccelli del Monte Qaf by Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani (Iran), with Norwegian co-production.

Venice Immersive

• The Big Cube by Menghui Huang (China), with Finnish main production.
• Dark Rooms, directors Mads Damsbo, Laurits Flensted Jensen, Anne Sofie Steen Sverdrup (Denmark), with Danish main production.
• Sense of Nowhere by Hsin-Hsuan Yeh (Taiwan) with Finnish co-production.

Final Cut (“Since 2013, this work-in-progress section is providing support in the completion of films from African and Middle East countries”).

• The Station (Al Mahattah) by Sara Ishaq (Yemen), with Norwegian-co-production.
• Out of School (La cour des grands) by Hind Bensari (Morocco), with Danish co-production.
• "Untitled Project from Yemen" by Mariam Al-Dhubhani (Yemen), with Norwegian co-production.

For the Giornate degli Autori/Venice Days jury, Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud will be serving as president.

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