High North News

Four days of "films & more" in Vardø

Trine Jonassen
culture

From September 17 to 20, the film festival Crossings returns to Vardø, Northern Norway. For five years, the festival has taken film out of traditional cinema halls and into unexpected locations across the town.

As Crossings marks its fifth anniversary, Vardø will once again be filled with film, art, food, conversations, and new gathering spaces.

Since its inception in 2022, Crossings has used Vardø as both a festival venue and a starting point. Films have appeared in settings ranging from stockfish drying racks and fishing shacks to bomb shelters, private living rooms, disused premises, and on outdoor walls throughout the town.

One of this year’s flagship projects is "Visual Meanderings", a new site-specific art walk developed especially for the fifth anniversary.

Crossings is an interdisciplinary festival that combines short films, documentaries, feature films, and art films with art projects, conversations, workshops, and communal meals. The common thread lies in the name "Crossings"—intersections and encounters between people, places, cultures, art forms, and perspectives.

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  • The nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2026

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    Six Nordic films have been nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2026. The nominated films were presented on Tuesday 25 August at the Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund, Norway. The winner will be revealed on 20 October. This year, one documentary and five feature films have been nominated.

    Since 2002, the Nordic Council Film Prize has been awarded to a feature film that is rooted in Nordic culture, has high artistic value and constitutes a complete work.

    Here are the nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2026:

    • Denmark: Beginnings

    • Finland: Jossain on valo joka ei sammu (There is a light that never goes out)

    • Faroe Islands: Birita

    • Iceland: Ástin sem eftir er (The Love That Remains)

    • Norway: Sentimental Value

    • Sweden: Kevlarsjäl (Kevlar Soul)

  • Dance about the Kautokeino uprising to Venice

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    In July 2026, the Norwegian National Ballet will take the work about the Kautokeino uprising to the Venice Dance Biennale, one of the world's most prestigious arenas for contemporary dance, reports The Norwegian Opera and Ballet.

    When Láhppon/Lost premiered in October 2025, it was the first time the Norwegian National Ballet presented a work with a Sami theme on the Main Stage in Bjørvika. The performance was well received by the press at home and abroad and attracted strong audience reactions in Oslo and in Kautokeino, where it was danced to full houses at the Sami National Theatre Beaivváš later that autumn.

    This summer, the work will have its international premiere, when the Norwegian National Ballet performs Láhppon/Lost during the Venice Dance Biennale.

  • Here are the nominees for the Nordic Council Literature Prize

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    The nominees for the Nordic Council Literature Prize include novels, collections of poems and a short story collection.

    Denmark:

    Mette Moestrup with the poem collection Butterfly Nebula and Charlotte Weitze with the novel Ulvemælk.

    Finland:

    Pirkko Saisio with the novel Suliko and Quynh Tran with the novel När andra njuter.

    Faroe Islands:

    Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs with the novel Marta, Marta.

    Greenland:

    Debora H. Kleist with the novel Sarsuatitat.

    Iceland:

    Eva Rún Snorradóttir with the novel Eldri konur and Jón Kalman Stefánsson with the novel Himintungl yfir heimsins ystu brún.

    Norway:

    Dag Johan Haugerud with the novel Sjelesorg.

    Norway/Sami language area:

    Sigbjørn Skåden with the novel Planterhaug / Láŋtdievvá.

    Sweden:

    Anna Hallberg with the poetry collection AN and Linda Örtenblad with the collection of short stories Kartotek över döda och återuppståndna.

    Åland:

    Sebastian Johans with the novel Svanhopp. Roman om död far.

    The winner of the 2026 Nordic Council Literature Prize will be announced on 20 October. The prize statuette will be presented to the winner at the Session of the Nordic Council in Helsinki on 27 October. The prize is worth DKK 300,000.

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