✨ The official program for Nordic Star Festival 2026 is now released! ✨
This year’s festival unfolds across several cities in the Mälardalen region and Stockholm – with film screenings, conversations, and encounters with filmmakers in Arboga, Kungsör, Köping, Västerås, and Stockholm.
Each city offers its own unique atmosphere, from big-city pulse to small-town charm.
🎬 No matter where you join, you’ll experience new cinematic discoveries, international guests, and conversations about the future of film.
🍷 Along the way, there will also be smaller parties – and on October 24 at the beautiful Skandia Biografen in Stockholm, the festival culminates with a grand awards ceremony, where around 40 awards will be presented, followed by a celebration for 500-700 guests.
👉 Secure your tickets now – availability is limited!
24 okt
Stockholm, Zäta Biografen
10.10–11.16 · Nordic Rerun 1
Velvet Salt
They’re in love, they’re lost – and maybe dangerous to each other. Inspired by cinema’s legendary outlaw lovers, they dream of a life filled with passion and freedom.
In Velvet Salt, we follow Philip & Nell in their pursuit of freedom. They donate piles of belongings to a local thrift store – including a painting that seems anything but
remarkable. We see how they fell in love, and how their perhaps slightly poetic façade quickly crumbles when the very same painting turns out to be worth over a
million at Rune’s Antique Show. Suddenly, money matters again. With humor, sincerity, and a twinkle in its eye, Velvet Salt tells the story of trying to live grandly in
small ways – right in the heart of Gothenburg.
Room Between Us
Three siblings are drawn into overlapping phone calls where buried tensions and family secrets resurface.
As conversations spiral and emotions flare, guilt, shame, and long-held silence rise to the surface. Room
Between Us is a fast-paced drama about fractured bonds and the things we carry but never say.
In My Dream, We Fell Together
Ali, 8, has only known life with his father. When he’s reunited with his mother after years apart, he’s pulled into an emotional struggle
between reconciliation and betrayal — has she returned to save him, or is she the one in need of saving?
The Elephant Place
Johan and Michael are two friends in their 30s. They are incurably single, for different reasons. Michael goes on hundreds of dates, ’
but never falls in love. Johan has difficulty finding anyone to date at all. At the same time, they have an unusually close relationship
with each other. What happens between the two friends when one of them finally manages to meet a girl?
11.31-12.35 Nordic Rerun 2
Marks of Time
In partnership with the Swedish Museum of Natural History and MAX IV Laboratory, this film is an artistic exploration of
one paleontologists worldview and career. By displaying the unique perception of time Vivi Vajda possesses, we demystify
the scientific process of this field and inspire others to pursue it.
The Child Soldier
When the shy eleven-year-old ballerina Elsa tries to comfort her fifteen-year-old, football-obsessed cousin after a family tragedy, the tenderness of
childhood collides with the absurd chaos of adulthood — as Elsa looks on helplessly while her mother, armed with dark humor, makes clumsy
attempts to reach her broken nephew.
Sista Versen
Elsa lost her boyfriend to suicide and is now trapped inside a theatre where the memory of him still lives on. Now she has to escape to move on.
2034
In a surveilled future Sweden, a young IT technician is forced to make a split-second decision when his neighbours are deported:
save their infant child — or obey the system. 2034 is an intense, restrained dystopian drama about civil courage, guilt, and how a
single human act can become a threat to the state, set in a recognizable and stripped-down Umeå.
The Heritage
After his father’s death, Magnus travels to the archipelago island where his father lived. There, he meets a previously unknown brother,
Jonny, who is deeply hurt when Magnus wants to sell the house. To reach a resolution, Magnus must reconcile with his brother, which
forces him to dig deep within himself, as Jonny is his opposite in many ways. The confrontation with the past and Jonny’s innocent yet
challenging character culminates in a decision with unforeseen consequences.
12.50 –13.59 · Nordic rerun 3
She Who Was Sown
A man tends to his garden when he discovers something strange. In one of the trees,
a woman’s face has formed in the bark.
Bleeder
Lilly and Julie are eleven years old, standing on the dizzying threshold between childhood and adolescence.
On their way home from school they race, as always — chasing speed, laughter, and the victory of being first.
But beneath their carefree games, something heavier is shifting. Julie has gotten her first period, something
Lilly longs for but doesn’t fully understand. Between bike races and bursts of giggles, their conversations move
fluidly between curiosity, shame, and a quiet sting of envy. When Lilly’s insecurity finally cracks and the word “
Bleeder” becomes a wound, time seems to stop for a moment. Yet in the world of children, reconciliation is
never far away. Mensbarn captures the fragile moment between wanting to grow up and still needing to play
your way through life — a poetic story about the body, friendship, and the longing to belong.
Sit Down
”Sitt ner” (2025) är ett drama som handlar om Greta, en uttråkad kvinna som är trött att killar hon dejtar aldrig tar henne
på allvar och Mikael, en man som har fokuset på sitt arbete och ser mest dejter som ett sätt att få igenom sina behov.
Deras dejt utvecklas till ett maktspel när Greta sätter ett mål för sig själv, hon vill att han ska ta henne på allvar, hon ska
ha all makt. Vad som än krävs. Han ska ner på knä.
The School Photographer
With the film industry in decline, BJÖRN (50), a seasoned first assistant director, finds himself unemployed and adrift.
To stay afloat, he takes a temporary job as a school photographer—an unfamiliar and humbling role. Over the course
of one long day, Björn’s fragile calm is tested by a string of phone calls from his mother, his teenage daughter, and his ex-wife.
Each conversation pulls him further off balance, and the tension begins to seep into the portraits he takes. As his professional façade
starts to crack, an unexpected encounter with a P.E. teacher at the school offers a brief moment of understanding—and a hint that
change might still be possible.
Noise
A young woman with much screaming for her attention learns how, with the help of TV noise, one can enter a
meditative state that supposedly quiets one’s mind, but which has unwarned downsides.
Live
Thirteen-year-old Saga goes live on social media after staying home from school, but a sudden confrontation with
her mother brings the family’s dark secrets to light.
14.14–15.23 · Nordic rerun 4
Erik & Tom
During a midsummer celebration, seventeen-year-old Tom pushes his limits to earn his older brother’s respect.
On the way between two parties, Tom, his brother, and their friends stop at a mythical cliff. When the brother’s
rivalry turns into a dangerous dare, Tom must decide how far he’ll go to prove he’s not weak.
The After Party
Joel and his childhood friend Mattias have always been opposites. Joel, quiet and thoughtful,
Mattias, loud and confident. A seemingly ordinary evening takes a turn when Mattias receives
a call from his drunk girlfriend Emma. Slowly, a deeper concern under the surface of insecurity
and denial is revealed. When Mattias later gets into a fight at a party, a truth is revealed, his
own confusion about sexuality and self-image. Joel is forced to confront his friend’s destructive
masculinity and defense mechanisms. The Afterparty is a tragic comedy, a quiet contemplation
of how toxic masculinity can distort desires and one’s self-image.
Chanterelle
After eating a mushroom in the forest, the man sees something strange.
But when he collapses to the ground, you start to wonder if it was a wise choice.
The man behind the mask and the heart that knows him
A comedy-drama set in the 90s. Can a falling relationship be saved by a cartoon character?
A community built by bricks
In this film we follow an AFOL, ”adult fan of Lego”, who talks about her big interest in
Lego and the community that Lego has given her.
Pikku Piika
As the expansion of a northern Swedish mine forces a family to leave their home, a child struggles to make sense of a world that is slowly falling
apart. Through an intimate and unconventional perspective, we witness how imagination becomes a way to cope with loss, displacement,
and change, as the stability around her begins to fracture. Pikku Piika is a story about home, belonging, and what happens when both begin to slip away.
Bad luck in games
During an after-party, Mirjam sees that her sister Jasmine and their mutual friend Zacharias are showing romantic interest in
each other. Mirjam tries to get Jasmine, through Twister, to confess her feelings for Zacharias, which is easier said than done due to her reluctance.
The Unconventional Funeral Agency
After his mother’s death and unusual burial, an optimistic young man sets out to create a funeral agency for people who want to
honour their loved ones in non-traditional ways. After his mother wished to not have an ordinary funeral, but rather to become p
art of nature by being buried under a tree, an optimistic young man sets out to create a funeral agency for others who want to
honour their loved ones in non-traditional ways. He soon discovers however, that his wish to make a difference in others’ lives
will have to wait, as his customer base is full of sketchy individuals.
Behind The Door
Late at night, a restaurant is closed and nearly empty. A cleaner finishes his shift in silence, accompanied only by music from
an old radio. Outside, a wounded girl runs for her life, chased by armed men. She reaches the restaurant and desperately begs
to be let in. The cleaner sees everything. He hesitates. Instead of opening the door, he lowers the metal shutter. The girl is left
outside. Moments later, it is over. Inside, nothing has changed. Except that it has.
OSSOBUCO
During a tender anniversary dinner, a man’s fragile illusion begins to crumble and a haunting reality of grief and denial is revealed.
Azim
One-minute film. After fleeing to Sweden and rebuilding his life there, Azim is forced to leave after ten years—losing his home,
his community, and everything he has built. Azim Alizade was 14 years old when he was forced to flee to Sweden alone.
He came to Kungälv, to his brother who had made the same journey two years earlier. This is where he grew up and where
his friends, his security, and his community are. Azim is an active citizen who is deeply involved in his school and his sports
club. After 10 years, he risks being sent back to a country where he has no one left and where his future is uncertain. The
security situation in Afghanistan has long been documented by human rights groups. Reports from the UN and Amnesty
International show widespread violence and systematic abuse. Daily news reports tell of suicide attacks and brutal assaults
on civilians. These are not abstract figures or distant conflicts. This is the reality for many people in a country to which Sweden
continues to forcibly deport people. For the third time, his application for a permanent Swedish residence permit has been rejected.
Unfortunately, the Migration Court of Appeal has decided not to review the case, and Azim has therefore chosen to report this cruel
decision to the UN Human Rights Committee.
Oct 22–24: International Spotlight (TBA)” Reserved for international festival entries and
guest filmmakers. Final titles and screening times will be updated continuously as international
attendance is confirmed Time 20 min