Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2026: 70,000 euros and 11 awards

Kasper Kalle’s film No Rest for the Wicked won the 68th Nordic Film Days Lübeck’s highest-value award, the 12,500 euro NDR Film Prize. According to the festival’s announcement on 8 November, a total of 11 prizes were awarded, valued at 70,000 euros. ## Two awards for Brace Your Heart Amanda Kernell’s film Brace Your Heart won both the 7,500 euro Audience Prize and the 5,000 euro Interfilm Church Prize. Elle Sofe Sara’s work Árru received the 5,000 euro Baltic Film Prize in the Nordic feature film category. The best debut feature film was Mads Mengel’s The Guest, awarded 7,500 euros. The documentary award went to Håvard Bustnes’s film Let Our Mountains Live, while the best Nordic or Baltic short film was Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s The End. ## Young audience, separate juries The youth programme resulted in three distinct outcomes. The children’s jury chose Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s film The Mystery Package, the teenage youth jury awarded Ivan Pavljutškov’s work Morten, and the Young Audience Prize went to Cecilia Verheyden’s film Skiff. The use of multiple jury types is significant because the list of awards does not force a single preference on the entire programme. Professional, audience, church, and age-specific decisions highlight different values; at the same time, the award amounts and exact category names are understood strictly according to the official announcement. ## The online programme is not over yet The on-site festival concluded on 8 November, but according to the organiser, the online programme will continue until midnight on 15 November, offering more than half of the festival’s programme, including all TV series. Access terms and territorial restrictions must be checked on the official streaming site; FestivalTV does not guarantee that the full selection is available from Hungary. ## Business and cultural stakes The 70,000 euro prize circuit provides immediate financial support and professional recognition for the films, while offering local cinemas and distributors a curated entry point to Nordic and Baltic content. The visibility of Sámi themes and creators requires particularly sensitive rights and representation work: marketing must not decouple images and stories from their creative context. FestivalTV is publishing this article in text-only mode because the publicity of the available festival photos did not in itself verify the right to re-upload.