Provocative and funny are the two words that come to mind when looking at the 2025 Scandinavian Film Festival’s selection from Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland and, prominently, Norway.

Opening the festival on Wednesday will be Number 24, from director John Andreas Andersen. That’s a Norwegian spy drama about the real-life Norwegian resistance fighter Gunnar Sønsteby, an everyman who is drawn into the resistance movement during World War II to become perhaps the country’s greatest war hero.

Also from Norway is a special presentation of Quisling: The Final Days, a drama from director Erik Poppe about the trial in 1945 of the country’s infamous head of state Vidkun Quisling, whose surname has entered the English language as a synonym for traitor or collaborator.

Fresh from winning the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes International Film Festival is the centrepiece, the comedy-drama Sentimental Value from Norwegian director Joachim Trier, where two estranged sisters have to confront their distant father Gustav, a once-famous film director.

From Denmark comes Second Victims, an up-to-date reflection on the challenges faced by healthcare professionals that follows a neurologist on a shift that will change her life.

Comedy is to the forefront too, seen in Long Good Thursday, a vehicle for Finnish comedy actor Heikki Kinnunen as the fur-hatted “Grump,” while the Swedish romantic comedy, Jalla! Jalla! celebrates its 25th anniversary.

This year’s closing night film is the Icelandic box office hit comedy, Grand Finale, which revolves around a near-bankrupt chamber orchestra in Reykjavik who try to secure their future with a world-famous cellist.

The 2025 Scandinavian Film Festival, Palace Electric Cinemas, July 16-August 10.

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