Scandi film festival brings Nordic history, drama, and thrills to Czech screens

The 11th edition of the English-friendly SCANDI festival, celebrating Nordic film, will run from Jan. 15 to Jan. 22, showcasing 11 new films in cinemas across 30 cities in the Czech Republic. Organized by Film Europe, the event features a range of different genres.

The festival's central hub will be the Edison Filmhub in Prague, which will host most of the accompanying programs. Most will be subtitled in English. A major highlight is the presence of Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen, who will personally present the detective thriller The Immense, a hallmark of the Nordic detective genre.

This year’s lineup features films exploring political and historical themes, often inspired by real events. Hammarskjöld—The Struggle for Peace—examines the late stages of diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld’s life, while Quisling—The Last Days—directed by Erik Poppe, explores the motives of a Nazi collaborator through an intimate dialogue with a priest.

The Cold War is revisited in Raketa, a feminist take on the absurdities of the 1980s. The festival also offers an early screening of Game of Power, a sharp comedic series about political machinations, with its full release planned for February on the Edisonline platform.

The Icelandic thriller The Cold explores madness against the backdrop of a mysterious death, while the sci-fi romance The Eternal blends ecological themes with visual effects. Tundra in Me offers a meditative exploration of identity and nature, while Once Upon a Time in the Forest documents the lives of teenage activists immersed in a magical natural world.

Breaking taboos, Armand stages a tense verbal clash between families, while the animated feature Spermageddon uses daring humor to depict teenage perspectives on sexuality and personified sperm.

The festival will kick off on Jan. 15 with a gala screening of The Immense at Prague’s Lucerna Cinema at 6 p.m., followed by a discussion with Thomsen. The film will also screen at the Edison Filmhub on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.

SCANDI will play in cities including Brno, České Budějovice, Jihlava, and Olomouc before concluding in the Czech Republic and moving to Slovakia. A jury of Scandinavian Studies students from Charles University will evaluate the films.