The nine Oscar nominations for Norwegian Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and two Palme d’Or awards won by Swede Ruben Östlund are signs of a far larger Scandinavian creative scene.
That could be one takeaway from Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s biggest film-TV event, which wrapped Saturday after five days of vibrant discussion and dealing at its international marketplaces, the Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision.
Highlights took in not only project and production presentations, conference panels and masterclasses and a strong newsflow led by not only Europe’s superindies Banijay and Fremantle but also broadcaster networks New8 and Scandi Alliance and Charades and Dramanation, to name just a few.
The two markets underscored the energy still coursing through the region’s film and TV industry, as well as its enviable talent pool. Equally, industry discussions at Göteborg did not skirt the large challenges facing the Nordics, often shared by the global industry at large at a time of wrenching industry disruption.
Göteborg Market Attendance Soars
In 2026, the Göteborg Film Festival welcomed 2,600 accredited industry and press participants, 1,370, hailing from 47 countries, attending the Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision, Göteborg Film Festival head of industry Josef Kullengård tells Variety. That’s 50% up on 2023. Just how that split is one clue why so many producers – 500 this year – come to Göteborg. Of industry delegates, 142 were buyers and distributors and 50 sales agents. But Göteborg also welcomed 109 broadcast and streaming service execs and 134 representatives from funds and film institutes. Göteborg is a goldmine of potential financing source, stream and downstream, even in an industry downturn.
The Bad News
An opening section of a TV Drama Vision keynote by Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson underlined just how far industry disruption has come. Entitled 28 Months Later, Content Trends 2.5 Years After Peak TV, Bisson insisted that “We are still at 75% peak TV,” with, globally, average first-run TV commissions over 2024-25 still down 25% on the peak. Scandinavia is no exception: Nordic scripted series orders plunged from 129 in 2022 to 57 in 2025. That can be put down in part to Viaplay’s implosion. Yet Nordic public broadcasters commissioned 41 scripted in the second half of 2024, just 14 in 2H 2025, Bisson tells Variety. “So many people are leaving their jobs as filmmakers,” Norway’s Tonje Søimer Guttormsen, who directs the Oscar-nominated Renate Reinsve in Göteborg Festival standout “Butterfly,” told Variety.
But a Bullish Göteborg Market Mood
That said, Göteborg’s market mood was still bullish, says Kullengård. “There was a real sense that things were boiling this year. With more people in Göteborg than ever before, the energy across the market was high – packed sessions, intense conversations and a strong feeling within the community that even though the market is struggling, there is hope and a shared sense of moving forward,” he adds.
Göteborg’s Talent Parade
A mood of hope can be attributed in part to Goteborg’s talent parade. It’s not every festival that fields in its project and pix in post a sizeable part of a regions good and great,” Kullengård tells Variety. “What truly stood out was the strength and range of Nordic talent right now – from established filmmakers presenting their third major projects, such as Milad Alami, Frida Kempff and Amanda Kernell, to senior voices like Erik Poppe, Dag Johan Haugerud and of course Ruben Östlund, alongside an exciting wave of new creators with both series and films.”
Big Premium Plays
Netflix took off with big bold series: Think “Money Heist” and “Dark.” Nearly 10 years later, in a far more play safe industry, premium plays are at a premium. But that doesn’t mean they’ve disappeared. In one Göteborg highlight, the Scandi Alliance –TV2 Norway, TV4 Sweden and TV 2 Denmark – announced it had greenlit “Royal Blood” a historical epic set over 1807-14. In another, Dramanation’s Patrick Nebout and Henrik Jansson-Schweizer, creators of the multi-prized “Whiskey on the Rocks,” unveiled two new and decidedly premium TV series projects: Nordic Noir actioner “Becker & Kempe” and Cold War heist dramedy “Made in Sweden.” “The niche and the market for premium and compelling scripted entertainment has definitely not vanished,” Nebout told Variety.
Buzz Titles
Starring Gustaf Skarsgård (“Oppenheimer”) and Fares Fares (“Chernobyl”), “Once In the Archipelago,” by Swedish director Alex Schulman, was among the biggest buzz works in progress, as was self-discovery tale “Low Expectations.” Toplining Marie Ulven, better known as singer-composer Girl in Red, it is from another first-time helmer, Norway’s Eivind Landsvik whose “Tits” was selected for Cannes’ 2023 main competition. Over at TV Drama Vision, microdrama “In My Hands” impressed with its pitch, while “A Phone Rings in the Middle of the Night,” a project bound for the Berlinale Co-Pro Series, drew a large industry audience – as was to be expected from the first series produced by Ruben Ostlund’s Plattform Produktion.
Festival Standouts: A New Renate Reinsve Movie and More
At the festival, apart from Maria Sødahl’s winner “The Last Resort,” Renate Reinsve starrer “Butterfly” was a hot ticket – especially following multiple Oscar nominations for “Sentimental Value.” It sees Reinsve in a new light (and some wild makeup) as a woman trying to make peace with her sister and their late mother. In the international section, “How to Divorce During the War” about a relationship crumbling alongside the war on Ukraine was garnering attention, even before its award at Sundance. That being said, none of the films generated the kind of buzz that Ruben Östlund did during his presentation about the upcoming “The Entertainment System Is Down.”
That Man Rüben Östlund
By gleefully spoiling crucial plotlines – and even the ending – Östlund has proven once again that he’s a showman as well as an award-winning filmmaker. “When I watch a movie or hear about a great idea, I don’t care how it ends. All I want to know is: How will it be made?,” he told Variety. During the closing ceremony of the Nordic Film Market, industry insiders could be heard whispering in every corner, trying to do just that. “Cinema must establish a relationship with the audience much more quickly nowadays. Anything that piques their curiosity is something you can use,” he added. Judging by the explosive reactions to his yet-unseen film, more Nordic colleagues should take notice.
Where It’s At: Genre
Ask a sales agent what sells these days and the answer, more often than not, will be genre. That of course can take in a broad spectrum, but it was noticeable how many buzz titles at the Nordic Film Market fit into that range. One of the NFM’s hottest titles, boarded by Charades, was family psychological thriller “Bloodsuckers,” ‘Midsommar’ producer Patrik Andersson. Of projects in the NFM’s Discovery strand, body horror title “Swine” from “The Swedish Torpedo” director Frida Kempff, Icelandic mystical adventure film The Silver of Egill by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, were fully booked up with meetings after pitches,, as was German sci-fi project “Element,” presented at the NFM’s Nordic Gateway.
Rikke Gregersen: A Name to Conjure
A Student Academy Award winner for “Dog Eat Dog” and Sundance-selected for her second short, “The Affected,” Norway’s Rikke Gergersen is bearing out on her promise. Her feature debut, “Almost There,” another Charades pick-up exploring the “complex and often contradictory transition” from young to full adulthood, as Gregersen puts it, was one of the major talking points at the Nordic Film Market, as was her project “Tiger.” Gregersen is set apart by her sharp humor as she develops totally relatable but discomfiting scenarios. “Almost There” and “Tiger” look to be no exceptions.
Creator Content Is Not Cat Videos
And industry macro trends? At Góteborg, media analyst Johanna Koljonen responsible for its yearly Nostradamus report, said there is a “core misunderstanding” in the industry about creator media. It goes way beyond the generalized — and outdated — understanding, she argued, that it refers to cat videos. Koljonen distinguished between the two types of people working in the industry: those working in a context “where production is so expensive that it requires significant investment” and “people who can produce it cheaply or can fund it themselves.” The divide is “important,” especially given a near future where the technical side of production will most probably get cheaper. “If you have the freedom of being on this side, don’t discard that,” she emphasized. “When we talk about cat videos, we become blind to the opportunities on this side. That’s very dangerous.”
Microdramas: Time to Jump In
During the Film Forum Sweden conference, vertical creator and showrunner Thom Woodley, emphasized how microdramas are “episodic television, compressed and re-engineered.” “We are going to see traditional platforms like Disney and Netflix experimenting (with the format),” added the veteran.
Woodley pointed out how professionals from traditional media often look at microdrama as a “downgrade.” The director recalled the early days of television, when, much like with microdrama now, lack of experience reflected the quality of content. “But look at where television is right now. That is going to happen with vertical narrative, too, and it’s going to happen a hell of a lot faster than it happened with TV. If you’re a creator, you can wait to see how it develops. Or you can jump in now.”
IP: We Don’t Know Sh*t
Speaking about IP, Koljonen brought up “Warhammer 40,000,” the world’s most popular miniature wargame, from Games Workshop. “It has a huge, insane audience. In your city, there is probably a store called Games Workshop or a branded Warhammer store. There are 570 of these in the world. In addition, their products are sold in over 7,000 independent retailers.” One famed Warhammer fan is “The Witcher” star Henry Cavill, whose passion led him to executive produce an upcoming Prime Video adaptation. “We need to know that we don’t know shit about what normal people are into,” said Koljonen while still reflecting on the Warhammer mania “Reading the culture pages will not teach you that ASMR is going to happen.”
And Göteborg’s 2026 Deals:
*New8, the production and broadcast collaboration between eight major European public broadcasters – SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), RÚV (Iceland), NRK (Norway), VRT (Flanders/Belgium), NPO (The Netherlands) and ZDF (Germany) – has been renewed for another three years, it announced at Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision. Series produced thanks to the alliance include “Other People’s Money” and Finnish Smash “The Queen of Fucking Everything,” up for a Nordic Scripted Series Award at Göteborg.
*Renowned for bringing new voices to the world, such as Gints Zilbalodis with Oscar winner “Flow,” Paris-based sales-production Charades announced two new world sales pickups at Göteborg: Rikke Gregersen’s “Almost There” and “Bloodsuckers,” a family thriller marking the sophomore feature of Elin Grönblom (“Ella and Friends”).
*Fremantle’s Miso Film gets the greenlight from the Scandi Alliance for “Royal Blood,” in the Alliance first banner order. To be directed by “The Crown” helmer Erik Richter Strand , it recounting how royal families and power players in Denmark-Norway and Sweden used money, sex, deceit and even murder to forge modern Scandinavia.
*Out in force at Göteborg, Banijay Entertainment unveiled further key cast for its ‘Wallander’ Reboot, Starring Gustaf Skarsgård, with Sophia Martinsson (‘Festen’) playing Wallander’s daughter, Ana Gil De Melo Nascimento (‘Sune’) his wife and Göran Ragnerstam (‘Arn’) his father. The anticipated and highly modern reimagining is set up at Jarowskij/Yellow Bird.
*Embodying what co-head Patrick Nebout called a mission to create calls “splashy, high-profile TV-series and films with international resonance,” Stockholm-based Dramanation unveiled two new titles: “Becker & Kempe,” a Nordic Noir crime and cop-actioner and “Made in Sweden,” as a Cold War political thriller/dramedy in the vein of dramanation smash “Whiskey on the Rocks.
* Launching two major projects in the Nordics this January — “Snake Killer” and “VAKA,” Prime Video revealed via Variety an exclusive first look at “Murder in the Dark,” an adaptation of Dan Turèll’s highly lauded gritty Danish noir novel that is coming out later this year, as Prime Video’s first-phase Nordic originals are beginning to see the light of day.
*Banijay also announced that drag queen ‘amateur’ crime caper ‘Queen Heist’ and ‘liberating’ romcom ‘The Good Widow’ have been added to Banijay Finland slate, ‘Queen Heist’ growing creatively at the Banijay Bootcamp, led by Steve Matthews, Banijay head of scripted, creative.
*Meanwhile, Jarowskij/Yellow Bird, a Banijay company, is set to produce a new Netflix action-comedy, “Permafrost,” directed by Patrik Eklund (“The Conference”) from a screenplay by Peter Arrhenius (“Clark”) and starring top Swedish comedian Björn Gustafsson (“Parlamentet,” “Stockholm Live”). The announcement comes as seven of Netflix’s Top 10 most viewed non-English language films in history are in some way action movies: “Troll,” “Under Paris,” “Extraterritorial,” “Nowhere,” “The Great Flood,” “Counterattack” and “Ad Vitam.”
*Copenhagen-based international film sales and aggregation house LevelK has acquired world sales rights to Gunnbjörg Gunnarsdóttir’s “The Pension Heist,” the first feature to benefit from the company’s strategic partnership with audience-insight company Publikum.
*Playing at Göteborg, Locarno Hit “Blue Heron” by Sophy Romvari has sold to multiple territories including Spain (Flamingo Films), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Turkey (Kinova Art Distribution) and France (Potemkine Films) – a sign that art films still have a market, if they tick all the right boxes.
Annika Pham contributed to this article
