The SCANDI contemporary Nordic film festival will return to Prague in January for its 12th edition, bringing a weeklong selection of recent films from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland to Czech cinemas. The festival opens Jan. 14 at Kino Lucerna with the Czech gala premiere of The Last Viking, a Danish black comedy directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and starring Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas.
Held Jan. 14–21, SCANDI 2026 will screen films across the Czech Republic, with Prague’s Edison Filmhub once again serving as the main venue. In addition to screenings, the festival will host discussions and question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers, continuing its emphasis on contextualizing contemporary Nordic cinema for local and international audiences.
Now firmly established on the Czech festival calendar, SCANDI focuses on recent titles that have circulated at major European festivals while also introducing debut features and documentaries. The programming reflects a mix of dark humor, social realism and intimate character studies that have become hallmarks of Scandinavian filmmaking.
Opening film and central themes
The opening-night selection, The Last Viking, marks another collaboration between Jensen and Mikkelsen, a pairing known for blending sharp humor with morally complex storytelling. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and follows two brothers whose attempt to recover stolen money turns into an unexpected road trip shaped by memory loss and unresolved family tensions.
Jensen, whose previous films with Mikkelsen include Riders of Justice and Adam’s Apples, is known for using genre frameworks to explore questions of identity, responsibility and social norms. Those themes recur throughout this year’s SCANDI lineup, which places an emphasis on interpersonal relationships, aging, family bonds and emotional vulnerability.
Sweden is represented by Let It Rain, directed by Hannes Holm, whose earlier work A Man Called Ove earned an Academy Award nomination. The film centers on an elderly man whose routine life is disrupted by an unexpected friendship, with Robert Gustafsson in the lead role. Gustafsson is also known internationally for The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.
Other selections include the Danish dramedy To New Beginnings, directed by Paprika Steen, which unfolds over a New Year’s Eve gathering and gradually exposes unresolved conflicts among longtime friends. Norwegian drama Don’t Call Me Mama, previously awarded at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, examines family relationships and social taboos, while Swedish debut Live a Little explores personal boundaries and moral ambiguity. Notably, Live a Little was filmed in the Czech Republic, adding a local production connection to the festival’s international program.
The documentary The Andersson Brothers offers a quieter counterpoint, with director Johanna Bernhardson examining psychological inheritance and sibling relationships within the family of filmmaker Roy Andersson. The film focuses on attempts at reconciliation and the long-term impact of shared family history.
Finnish cinema and festival context
Finnish filmmaking features prominently this year, beginning with Sudden Outbursts of Emotions, an independent romantic comedy marking the feature debut of director Paula Korva. The film addresses contemporary relationships and changing ideas of love through a light but observational lens.
SCANDI will also screen the full Grump film series, a collection of adaptations based on characters from Finnish literature that follow a cynical elderly farmer grappling with modern life. The complete lineup includes The Grump, Happier Times, Grump, The Grump: In Search of an Escort, and Long Good Thursday, offering audiences a chance to see the series in its entirety.
Beyond its screening program, the festival continues its collaboration with Alting, the Association of Scandinavian Studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts. Students from the association will serve as a jury, evaluating films across several categories. The jury’s awards will be presented at the closing ceremony on Jan. 21 at Edison Filmhub.
For Prague’s film community, SCANDI occupies a distinct space between large international festivals and commercial distribution, providing early access to Nordic titles that may not otherwise reach Czech cinemas. Its English-friendly screenings at Edison Filmhub also make the festival accessible to international residents and Prague visitors.
As Nordic cinema continues to maintain a strong presence on the global festival circuit, SCANDI offers a focused snapshot of current trends and voices from the region. The 12th edition underscores the ongoing relevance of Scandinavian storytelling while reinforcing Prague’s role as a regional hub for curated international film programming.
