Join us this fall for the festival West Nordic Film Days, a celebration of cinema from Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands! Screenings take place in Victor Borge Hall from October 9-11 and will include a range of acclaimed recent feature films, documentaries and shorts.
The West Nordic countries have attracted foreign filmmakers since the dawn of cinema. In the late 1970s, however, Iceland began to develop a national film industry, gaining domestic and international attention and recognition. The history of Greenlandic, Faroese and Sámi film production is of a bit later date, yet in recent years an increasing number of their films have attracted attention, both at home and abroad. The selection of films at West Nordic Film Days will not only reflect the current development and tendencies in West Nordic cinema, but also the diversity, combining films by prolific, prizewinning directors and upcoming filmmakers, who all live in and tell their stories from very different parts of the region.
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
7 PM: The Last Paradise on Earth, Blaðberinn, Oqaluttuap Akia
The Last Paradise on Earth / Seinasta paradís á jørð
Dir. Sakaris Stórá, Faroe Islands, 2025 | 87 min.
In Faroese with English subtitles
The grounded and romantic Kári loves the simple life in his small village in the Faroe Islands. He and his sister, Silja, are quietly grieving their mother’s death — Kári finds solace in his work at the local fish factory, and Silja struggles to find the strength to finish school, while their father heads out to sea on a fishing boat. However, the factory faces closure; as the old world slowly changes and friends leave the island, Kári has to decide whether to leave or to stay and face the challenges ahead. Director Sakaris Stórá’s cinematic tale of identity, loss, love, and longing is told through a refined, poetic, and understated visual style. It avoids grand gestures yet leaves a profound impression on the viewer.
In 2025 The Last Paradise on Earth premiered and became the first Faroese feature film ever to be nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize — an award it furthermore won.
Blaðberinn / Paperboy
Dir. Ninna Rún Pálmadóttir, Iceland, 2019 | 10 min.
In Icelandic with English subtitles
Set in a small, quiet Icelandic town, the short film depicts a young boy on his daily newspaper delivery route. His innocence is shaken when he peeks through a neighbor’s window and forms an unexpected connection with a traumatized, grieving woman. Paberboy is a poetic, beautiful and tender short film, directed by Ninna Rún Pálmadóttir (also known for the feature film Solitude, screened at last year’s West Nordic Film Days).
The Price of a Story / Oqaluttuap Akia / Cena Příběhu
Dir. Lukáš Masner, Greenland/Czechia, 2023 | 16 min.
In English & Kalaallisut with English subtitles
A wealthy Czech tourist and his translator arrange a meeting with an Angakkoq (an Inuit shaman) at a local museum in Greenland. The tourist is searching for a legendary tale involving an ancient meeting between his own ancestors and those of the shaman, and he is willing to pay an immense sum of money for it. The Greenlandic-Czech comedy explores the clash of completely different cultures and mentalities.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
2 PM: Walls – Akinni Inuk, Selshamurinn, Faðir mín Faðir
Walls – Akinni Inuk
Dir. Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Sofie Rørdam, Greenland/Denmark, 2025 | 72 min.
In Kalaallisut and Danish with English subtitles
The award-winning Greenlandic documentary portrays Ruth Mikaelsen Jerimiassen, a Greenlandic woman who has spent nearly half her life behind bars. Her reality shifts when she meets Nina, a filmmaker visiting the prison for a documentary film project. Despite their very different lives, the two women discover a shared traumatic past and form an intense, supportive bond. Eight years in the making, the film offers a raw, non-sensationalized look at the Greenlandic justice system by following the profound friendship that develops between an incarcerated woman and a filmmaker.
Selshamurinn / Sealskin
Dir. Ugla Hauksdóttir (short fiction), Iceland, 2020 | 13,20 min
In Icelandic with English subtitles
Five-year-old Sol and her father live in an isolated house by the sea. Sol spends lonely days with her imagination while her father, a composer, struggles with his music. When Sol senses that her father is burdened by sorrow, she finds solace in an old Icelandic folk tale. The poetic and thoughtful short film from Iceland is directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir.
Faðir mín Faðir / Father, Oh Father
Dir. Julia í Kálvalíð, Faroe Islands, 2025 | 26 min
In Faroese with English subtitles
A woman wishes to connect with her biological father, whom she never met and is now dead. With his remains beside her, she drives around the Faroe Islands showing him the sights of her everyday life and childhood. The short film is directed by the Faroese director Julia í Kálvalíð, confirming her great talent for serving tragicomic stories, combining dark Nordic humor with sparks of color.
5 PM: Dreams by the Sea, Dögun, Ivikkisartoq Kingulleq
Dreams by the Sea / Dreymar við havið
Dir. Sakaris Stórá, Faroe Islands, 2017 | 80 min.
In Faroese with English subtitles
Sixteen-year-old Ester lives a safe and somewhat monotonous life with her religious, conservative parents in a small, isolated village in the Faroe Islands. One day at Sunday school, she meets Ragna, a city girl who has just moved to the village with her mother and eight-year-old younger brother. In Ragna, Ester sees everything she has been searching for all her life. Although they are opposites, they become close friends and dream together of escaping their dull everyday lives. Over the course of the summer, however, they also realize that life is far more complex than that. Dreams by the Sea is a poetic, beautiful and thoughtful coming-of-age film from 2017, directed by Sakaris Stórá, who went on to receive the Nordic Council Film Prize last year for his second feature film, The Last Paradise on Earth (2025).
Dögun / Dawn
Dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson (short fiction), Iceland, 2012 | 4 min
In Icelandic with English subtitles
Dawn is a very brief, yet intense short film depicting a father and his young child who simultaneously wake up in the dead of night, deeply shaken after experiencing a terrifying, shared bad dream. Nine years before making his feature-length breakthrough, the surreal horror hit Lamb (2021), the Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson created this minimal, atmosphere-driven short piece exploring subconscious terror.
Ivikkisartoq Kingulleq / The Last Grass Seamstress
Dir. Arina Kleist, Greenland (short doc), Greenland, 2024 | 18 min.
In Kalaallisut with English subtitles
The film follows and portrays the 82-year-old Marie Josefsen, an Inuk from South Greenland, who is the last surviving specialist of the traditional craft of grass sewing. The award-winning Greenlandic short documentary is directed by the very talented new comer Arina Kleist.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
2 PM: The Ground Beneath Our Feet, Halt um meg, Always Moving
The Ground Beneath Our Feet / Jörðin undir fótum okkar
Dir. Yrsa Roca Fannberg (doc), Iceland/Poland, 2025 | 82 min.
In Icelandic with English subtitles
The highly acclaimed and award-winning documentary takes place inside Grund, Iceland’s oldest retirement home located in Reykjavik. Rather than focusing narrowly on the end of life, the film captures the rhythmic passage of seasons and the everyday moments — joys, quiet routines, small miracles, and simple interactions. With warmth, rich nuances and great sensitivity, director Yrsa Roca Fannbergs visually outstanding and reflective documentary does not only explore and celebrate the lives of the elders, but also life itself.
Halt um meg / Hold Me
Dir. Maria Winther Olsen (short fiction), Faroe Islands, 2025 | 25 min
In Faroese with English subtitles
Two strangers meet in a bar at closing time. Immersed in the darkness of the venue, they attempt to fill the emotional voids inside one another by sharing vulnerable words, laughter, and tears. Faroese director Maria Winther Olsens award-winning short film explores the profound themes of grief, intimacy, and human connection within the backdrop of a single night.
Always Moving
Alberte Parnuuna (short animation/art film), Greenland, 2026 | 2,40 min
Non verbal
The animated film is a poetic reflection on our urge to constantly stay in motion. It explores the psychological mechanics behind wandering thoughts and fleeting inner emotions, attempting to give them a tangible, abstract visual shape. Ultimately, Alberte Parnuuna film serves as an introspective commentary on our modern life and our existential fear of what might happen if we just stopped.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Birgir Thor Møller was born (1970) in Iceland, but lives in Copenhagen. He is the head of the annual film festival North Atlantic Film Days (Nordatlantiske Filmdage) at The North Atlantic House (Nordatlantens Brygge) in Copenhagen, where he also holds the position as program editor. Apart from organizing film, literature and other cultural events and festivals since 2005, Møller has published essays and articles related to Nordic and especially North Atlantic cinema and film history in a variety of publications, including the books Transnational Cinema in a Global North: Nordic Cinema in Transition and Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema. He has also been a jury member at the film festival Nordic Panorama in Sweden (New Nordic Voices 2023) and at the Faroes short film awards Geytin 2025, and he holds an M.A. in film studies from the Institute of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen.