The Stockholm International Film Festival returns 11–22 November 2026 with 130 premieres from 60 countries, an opening film from director Martin McDonagh, and appearances by some of cinema’s biggest names. This year’s programme also explores complicated fatherhood, Japanese independent cinema and stories of resistance from around the world.
Stockholm is preparing for twelve days of international cinema as the Stockholm International Film Festival unveiled the programme for its 37th edition this morning at a press conference where we had the pleasure to attend and we are reporting back with some of the highlights and what you can expect. Running from 11 to 22 November, the festival brings together established filmmakers, emerging talent and audiences eager to discover films beyond the mainstream.
Among this year’s highlights are a darkly comic thriller starring John Malkovich, new films featuring Alexander Skarsgård, Olivia Colman and Pedro Pascal, and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award and Stockholm Achievement Award for Swedish actress Lena Olin and American actor John Turturro respectively.
With 130 premieres representing 60 countries, the programme offers everything from ambitious debut features and thought-provoking documentaries to Japanese independent cinema and stories exploring family, politics and the changing world around us.
Stockholm International Film Festival 2026: At a Glance
For all the newbies out there, here is what you need to know…
- When: 11–22 November 2026
- Where: Different cinemas around Stockholm
- Edition: 37th annual festival
- Programme: 130 premieres from 60 countries, by some debutants directors and 50% female directors.
- Opening film: Wild Horse Nine, directed by Martin McDonagh
- Closing film: You Can See Everything, directed by Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder
- Spotlight theme: Daddy Issues
- Focus country: Japan
- Major awards: Lena Olin receives the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award; John Turturro receives the Stockholm Achievement Award
- Official programme and tickets: Stockholm International Film Festival
Which Films Are the Highlights of Stockholm Film Festival 2026?
As every year we will publish our ‘Must See Films’ list so expect that to come out in the following days but for now here are some of the films you should keep an eye for and book your tickets for as soon as possible as some of these screenings are already or almost sold out.
Wild Horse Nine
The festival opens with Wild Horse Nine, the latest film from Martin McDonagh, the director behind The Banshees of Inisherin. Set on Easter Island shortly before Chile’s 1973 military coup, the darkly comic CIA thriller stars John Malkovich. The actor received the Volpi Cup for his performance at the Venice International Film Festival, adding to the anticipation surrounding the film.
For audiences who enjoy cinema that balances unsettling subject matter with sharp humour, McDonagh’s latest promises to be an intriguing way to begin this year’s festival.
Wicker
One of the most intriguing titles in the programme is Wicker, starring Alexander Skarsgård opposite Olivia Colman. Skarsgård, who received the Stockholm Achievement Award in 2025, returns to the festival in a rather unusual role. Both he and Swedish actor Gustav Lindh are expected to attend the film’s festival premiere.
The Debut
A dark comedy about community theatre directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who received the Stockholm Achievement Award in 2024. The film features Julianne Moore in a musical performance.
Behemoth
With lead actor Pedro Pascal playing a cellist, in director Tony Gilroy’s tribute to the world of film music.
Together, these films give the programme plenty of star power while offering a range of genres and filmmaking styles.
Lena Olin and John Turturro to Receive Festival Awards
Two celebrated acting careers will be recognised during the 2026 festival, Swedish actress Lena Olin will receive the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award, honouring a career that spans theatre productions under Ingmar Bergman at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and internationally acclaimed films including Enemies: A Love Story and Chocolat. Olin’s career has taken her from Swedish theatre to major international productions, making the award a celebration of one of Sweden’s most internationally recognised screen actors.
American actor John Turturro will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award, celebrating his more than four decades in film and television. Turturro has built a career defined by versatility, moving between the distinctive worlds of filmmakers such as Spike Lee and the Coen brothers. His credits include Do the Right Thing, Barton Fink and the television series Severance. He will also appear in the festival programme in Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.
What Is This Year’s Stockholm Film Festival Spotlight Theme?
Daddy Issues explores the changing role of fathers
Family relationships take centre stage in this year’s Spotlight programme, titled Daddy Issues. A big part of the festival selection of films explores fatherhood, responsibility and the lasting effects parents can have on their children. Its films approach the subject from different perspectives, from complicated family dynamics to the collision between personal freedom and parental responsibility.
Among the highlights is Club Kid, the acclaimed debut from Jordan Firstman, in which an apparently carefree life in New York’s club scene collides with the realities of fatherhood.
James Gray’s Paper Tiger, this year’s centrepiece film, brings together Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson in a story combining crime thriller and family drama.
In Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Mahershala Ali plays a deeply religious hitman forced to reconsider his priorities as a father after his wife’s sudden death.
The programme also includes Robert Greene’s hybrid documentary Too Much Sugar and Beth Araujo’s Sundance-winning Josephine, featuring Channing Tatum in one of the leading roles.
Rather than treating fatherhood as a straightforward family theme, the selection looks at how parental relationships shape identity, behaviour and the decisions people make.
Films Exploring Resistance, Politics and a Changing World
Political conflict and resistance to oppression remain important parts of the Stockholm International Film Festival’s identity. This year’s programme includes films by directors working in exile, stories of families threatened by political decisions, and documentaries examining the relationship between power and truth.
Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes according to the festival announcement, confronts Russia’s war in Ukraine. The director works in exile in protest against the Russian regime.
Iranian filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsal for a Revolution, named Best Documentary at Cannes, also features in the programme. Another Iranian director, Mohsen Gharaei, presents Falling House, following a family on the outskirts of Tehran facing the destruction of their home amid a major redevelopment project.
Other titles addressing political and social issues include Halkawt Mustafa’s Swedish co-production No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, which explores the consequences of war in Iraq and the terror inflicted by ISIS, and Zou Jing’s debut A Girl Unknown, which addresses China’s one-child policy.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller also present They’re Here, a short film criticising the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
These films offer a reminder of how international cinema can document political realities, challenge dominant narratives and bring unfamiliar perspectives to audiences.
Japan Takes Centre Stage in the 2026 Festival
Japan is this year’s Focus Country, with particular attention given to independent filmmakers and less familiar corners of Japanese cinema.
The selection includes Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, an adaptation of Mieko Kawakami’s novel All the Lovers in the Night, and Eugene Kotlyarenko’s festival favourite Vintage Violence.
Master filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, known internationally for films including Shoplifters and Monster, also returns with the science-fiction drama Sheep in the Box.
The Japanese focus offers festivalgoers an opportunity to explore a range of cinematic voices beyond the country’s best-known international exports, from established auteurs to independent filmmakers pushing into new territory.
Which Films Are Competing for the Bronze Horse?
The festival’s main competition, Stockholm Competition, brings together 18 films from international directors, including debut filmmakers and emerging talents, the films compete for the Bronze Horse, the festival’s most coveted award.
Among the titles to look out for is Marine Atlan’s debut La Gradiva, a drama following young French people approaching adulthood against the backdrop of Mount Vesuvius.
Chronovisor turns the story of Benedictine monk Pellegrino Ernetti’s alleged time machine into a conspiracy drama reaching the highest levels of the Vatican.
Germany’s Oscar submission Everytime, directed by Sandra Wollner, explores a mother’s grief following the death of her daughter.
Music fans may also be interested in Low Expectations, the feature debut of Eivind Landsvik, which features Marie Ulven, better known as the Norwegian musician girl in red, in her first feature-film role.
At the darker end of the programme, Manhunt follows two young men whose incel crisis spirals into a killing spree.
The range of subjects reflects the festival’s interest in both emerging filmmakers and films that challenge audiences through their themes and storytelling.
Documentaries Showing at Stockholm Film Festival 2026
Documentary cinema has a particularly strong presence this year, with the Stockholm Documentary Competition exploring power, resistance, truth and ethics. For viewers who prefer real-life stories to fiction, the documentary competition provides a particularly varied route into this year’s programme.
The closing film is You Can See Everything, directed by Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder.
Other notable selections include The History of Concrete, in which John Wilson explores the absurdities of everyday life with his characteristic humour. Nathan Fielder is also involved in the production.
Che Guevara: The Last Companions draws on 22 years of research into the revolutionary leader and the people around him.
Meanwhile, Burgundy, from the directing duo behind The Truffle Hunters, turns its attention to the French wine world and the personalities who shape it.
The selection also includes Jaripeo, a documentary about queer cowboys, and Nuisance Bear, which examines the relationship between humans and bears.
Eleven Official Oscar Submissions to Discover
The Stockholm International Film Festival will screen eleven films submitted by their respective countries for consideration in the international feature Oscar race.
- 9 Temples to Heaven — Thailand
- Dua — Kosovo
- Everytime — Germany
- Fatherland — Poland
- Furies — Lebanon
- Hold Onto Me — Cyprus
- Minotaur — France
- No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman — Iraq
- Rose — Austria
- The Dreamed Adventure — Bulgaria
- To Hold a Mountain — Montenegro
Two of the films feature Sandra Hüller, whose recent work has made her one of the most in-demand actors in international cinema. In Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, she plays the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann. In Markus Schleinzer’s Rose, she portrays a 17th-century soldier disguised as a man.
How to Attend Stockholm International Film Festival 2026
The festival runs from 11 to 22 November 2026 across Stockholm. For the full screening schedule, ticket information and the latest announcements, visit the official Stockholm International Film Festival website.
You can visit the festival centre at Klarabion in Kulturhuset from 14th October, during the festival it will move to Bio Skandia with the following opening hours:
- 14 October–6 November: Klarabion, Kulturhuset, weekdays 11:00–13:00.
- 9–22 November: Bio Skandia, Monday–Saturday 10:00–16:00 and Sunday 10:00–13:30.
Screening times, ticket prices and individual venue details should be checked against the official programme before making plans.
Why Stockholm Film Festival Is Worth Exploring
The appeal of Stockholm International Film Festival goes beyond its star names and premieres. Its programme brings together international perspectives, emerging directors, challenging documentaries and films that might otherwise be difficult to discover on a conventional cinema schedule.
Whether you’re interested in Japanese independent cinema, the latest work from established directors, political documentaries or stories about complicated family relationships, this year’s edition offers plenty of ways to explore film beyond the mainstream. With twelve days of screenings and a programme spanning 60 countries, November is a good time to see a different side of Stockholm’s cultural life.
For more ideas of things to do and see in Stockholm between November and December, check our What’s On in Stockholm October–December 2026: 40+ Unmissable Events!
Find the full programme and ticket information at Stockholm International Film Festival.
