Nordic Film Talks

Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason doesn’t start his films with a fixed idea — he lets them emerge. In a conversation with Nordic Film Talks at the San Sebastian Film Festival, he describes how narratives “come by surprise” as he writes, shoots and edits, often across several years. His two latest films, Joan of Arc and The Love That Remains, both star his three children and capture the mix of playfulness and conflict in family life.

From the demolition of his old studio to spontaneous moments of sibling tension, Pálmason folds real-life fragments into cinema, even pushing toward magical realism in The Love That Remains, Iceland’s Oscar submission this year. Alongside his films, San Sebastian also showcased his first major gallery exhibition — another reminder that, for Pálmason, the line between cinema and art is always shifting.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

Sofie Gråbøl talks about punching Mads Mikkelsen in their new film 'The Last Viking', acting with Donald Sutherland in her first film and experiencing how the grpundbreaking series 'The Killing' changed the international outlook on Denmark.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

In this special bonus episode from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, we speak to Danish actor Claes Bang about his role in the majority French production 'The Great Arch', directed by Stephane Demoustier, which had its world premiere in Cannes Premieres.

Bang plays the Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen who tries to protect his artistic integrity after winning a competition to build an important French monument commissioned by Francois Mitterand.

The second interviewee in this episode is Finnish producer Ilona Tolmunen, of Helsinki-based Made Productions, who launched Lauri-Matti Parppei 'A Light That Never Goes Out' in Cannes’ ACID programme.

The film, an impressive debut feature, tells the story of a classical musician who returns to his small Finnish hometown to recover after a breakdown and discover a new creative outlet.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

In this special Cannes 2025 episode of Nordic Film Talks, we delve into two Cannes world premieres with the writer/director and lead actor of Eagles of the Republic and one of the lead actors of The Love That Remains.

Swedish writer/director Tarik Saleh says his new film Eagles of the Republic is not a political satire. “I love satire, but this is absolutely not satire. It is a very serious film, but there is an absurdity underneath,” he says in the latest episode of the Nordic Film Talks podcast, recorded at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where the film has its world premiere in Competition.

The story follows George Fahmy (played by Fares Fares), an actor who is recruited by the Egyptian political regime to star in a propaganda film.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson discusses his new production company ACT4 and their first series, Reykjavik Fusion, which premieres at Canneseries. He wanted the show to feel more vibrant than typical Nordic noir, following a chef rebuilding his life after prison.

Ólafsson balances Icelandic work with international projects like Severance and Somebody Somewhere, while keeping his base in Reykjavik. ACT4 is also developing a murder mystery, Death of a Horse, and an animated feature, Stormy Island.

He calls joining Severance both "exhilarating and terrifying" and shares how in Somebody Somewhere, he had to tone down his natural charm acting opposite friend Bridget Everett.

Ólafsson also reveals behind-the-scenes stories, from Michelin-starred dishes on set to dreams of wearing Björk’s swan dress to the Oscars.


Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

After his acclaimed 2018 film Woman at War, Benedikt Erlingsson thought he was done with stories about headstrong women bending the rules for a greater cause. But then The Danish Woman emerged.

“I knew I couldn’t make another film with the same concept, so a TV series was the perfect way to explore it further. If Woman at War had a ‘white witch,’ The Danish Woman is the ‘black witch,’” he says in this episode of Nordic Film Talks.

The series, premiering at Series Mania, follows a former Danish intelligence agent (Trine Dyrholm) who starts a new life in Reykjavik. She tries to help her neighbors but falls back on her old, often violent, methods. Erlingsson always envisioned Dyrholm in the role: “She can be a dragon and still sympathetic. That’s a dangerous magic only great actors have.”

The six-episode series premieres in 2026. While the chaotic creative process was rewarding, Erlingsson now looks forward to returning to a simpler arthouse film.



Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

The acclaimed Danish actress discusses why she likes spend time exploring her complex characters, such as an infamous criminal in Oscar-nominated The Girl With The Needle and a wife and mother recovering from a stroke in Berlinale world premiere Beginnings.


Nordic Film Talks is a podcast offering in-depth interviews with filmmakers and other
creatives from the Nordic countries, offering insight into their latest films or TV series.

The series is hosted by Nordic film expert Wendy Mitchell, a journalist and film festival
consultant, and presented by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

Forget Disney princesses—Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister reimagines Cinderella with a feminist twist and moments of body horror. In this episode, Blichfeldt discusses her feature debut, exploring themes of beauty standards and bodily perfection.

Producer Maria Ekerhovd shares insights into the film’s ambitious €5.5m production and its journey to Sundance and Berlinale.

Tune in for behind-the-scenes stories, from 19th-century medical research to rethinking fairy tale archetypes, and discover how The Ugly Stepsister brings a bold new perspective to the genre.


Nordic Film Talks is a podcast offering in-depth interviews with filmmakers and other
creatives from the Nordic countries, offering insight into their latest films or TV series.

The series is hosted by Nordic film expert Wendy Mitchell, a journalist and film festival
consultant, and presented by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons

The director and producer reveal how Jacques Demy and an oil tycoon’s secret bunker inspired their ambitious first fiction feature, 'The End', a six-country co-production with a budget of about $17m.

Producer Signe Byrge Sørensen and writer/director Joshua Oppenheimer set their ambitions high for their first fictional feature together. It’s not only the world’s first post-apocalyptic musical, it’s also a complicated six-country co-production that needed 45 shooting days across Germany, Italy and Ireland and took eight years to finance, plan and shoot. 

In the latest episode of the Nordic Film Talks podcast, the pair talk about the creative and logistical challenges of tackling such a complicated creative endeavor.


Nordic Film Talks is a podcast offering in-depth interviews with filmmakers and other
creatives from the Nordic countries, offering insight into their latest films or TV series.

The series is hosted by Nordic film expert Wendy Mitchell, a journalist and film festival
consultant, and presented by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Host: Wendy Mitchell, filmwendy.com
Presenting partner: Nordisk Film & TV Fond, https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Audio producer: Karoline Balstrøm
Logo designed by: Tine Seerup
Music artist: Bail Bonds 
Title: Swimming Lessons