The Stockfish Film Festival will screen every film nominated for the 2026 Nordic Council Film Prize at a four-day pop-up event at Bíó Paradís in Reykjavík, running from 15 to 18 October. The programme combines screenings with discussions and networking for filmmakers and industry guests, and brings together films from Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and the Faroe Islands in one week.
Finland’s A Light That Never Goes Out opens the event on Thursday 15 October. It is the feature debut of musician Lauri-Matti Parppei and blends music with Finnish humour, and Parppei will take part in a Q&A. Sweden’s coming-of-age drama Kevlar Soul, which has received seven Guldbagge Award nominations at Sweden’s national film awards, follows on Friday 16 October, with director Maria Eriksson-Hecht answering audience questions. Saturday 17 October brings Iceland’s The Love That Remains and Denmark’s Beginnings, starring Trine Dyrholm, while Sunday 18 October features Norway’s Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier and starring Stellan Skarsgård, and Birita from the Faroe Islands. All six films are shown with English subtitles.
Iceland’s entry, known locally as Ástin sem eftir er, gives producer Anton Máni Svansson his fifth Nordic Council Film Prize nomination and director Hlynur Pálmason his fourth. Birita is a documentary about a well-loved actress who has to take on a major role while secretly living with Alzheimer’s disease. Its producer, Jón Hammer, will attend the screening, and the festival closes on 18 October with a Faroese celebration.
Svansson, Hammer, Eriksson-Hecht and Parppei will also join an industry panel on Nordic filmmaking, and audiences will have chances to meet the directors and producers behind the nominated films during the four days. Bíó Paradís, the venue for the week, also runs a year-round programme that includes the Reykjavík Children’s Film Festival, and Iceland Review noted that the English subtitles make the week accessible to international residents and visitors to the city.
Stockfish used the announcement to look ahead to its next main edition. The festival has opened submissions for Icelandic short films and music videos through FilmFreeway and is adding a new international category, Nordic Debut, for first feature films by Nordic filmmakers. Its 13th edition will run from 8 to 18 April, and Tania Zarak Quintana, whose experience includes True North, Netflix and Tribeca Film, will lead the festival’s Industry Days.
