The Stockholm International Film Festival will take place between 11–22 November. The year’s most colourful film marathon is finally here and will be screening 130 fantastic film premieres from 60 countries that continue to explore and promote the great directors of tomorrow.
With so many exciting films, embracing a variety of topics and styles, it is easy to feel a little lost when trying to maximise your festival experience and discover the festival’s most valuable pearls. And that is why we have dived into the festival’s program head first to bring you a selection of 20 unmissable films from this year’s repertoire. Films that will get you reflecting on important topics, films that will answer some of your questions or maybe bring you to new wonderings, films that will inspire and move you. Enjoy the festival!
9 Temples To Heaven – by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Norway, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand
After receiving a prophecy of his mother’s impending death, a family man attempts to appease the gods to ensure her well-being, or at least a peaceful afterlife. Nine family members embark on a pilgrimage to nine temples, and as they travel between gold-adorned halls, generational differences begin to emerge – not everyone shares the same reverence for deeply rooted traditions. »9 Temples to Heaven«, produced by legendary filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Thailand’s Oscar submission, offers a contemplative glimpse into Thai traditions and family relationships.
Screenings: Sture 2 13/11 – Sture 3 16/11 – Filmhuset Mauritz 21/11
Atlantic Rhapsody – by Zhong Kaifeng. China
With a background in painting and experimental music, promising debut filmmaker Zhong Kaifeng crafts a fantasy tale set against the backdrop of 20 years of Chinese history. On a surreal journey through haunting, unforgettable imagery, we follow Ding Mao, who accidentally eats a shark and subsequently loses his grip on reality. Haunted by hallucinations of his missing father, he sets out on a quest to find him. At the Shanghai International Film Festival, one of Asia’s largest, this extraordinary odyssey through time and space won over the jury and was awarded the festival’s top prize.
Screenings: Klarabiografen 16/11 – Saga 3 17/11 – Skandia 22/11
At Night – by Beatrice Gibson. France, United Kingdom.
In an unsettlingly near future, a slightly dystopian possibility allows people to live on as digital versions of themselves for their loved ones. Successful but absent father Paul is facing death and wants to do just that. Together with the reluctant Beck (Sydney Chandler), he sets off on a journey to make amends for his past mistakes. »Anima« has everything a great road movie needs: a sleek car, a killer soundtrack and two troubled souls slowly finding their way towards life’s biggest questions. The most Japanese and, at the same time, the most American film in years – with humour and gravity riding side by side in the front seat. Experimental filmmaker Beatrice Gibson creates visual poetry with her distinctive autofictional debut. Six women cross paths at different times and places during a nocturnal journey through Paris. Through fleeting conversations and intimate observations centred on female friendship, universal fears and hopes come to the surface. Chantal Akerman’s »News from Home« is evoked as train carriages glide past dark platforms and deserted buildings bathed in streaks of neon light. An urban nocturne whose evocative cinematography transforms faces and surroundings alike, complemented by a musical performance reminiscent of Scott Walker.In an unsettlingly near future, a slightly dystopian possibility allows people to live on as digital versions of themselves for their loved ones. Successful but absent father Paul is facing death and wants to do just that. Together with the reluctant Beck (Sydney Chandler), he sets off on a journey to make amends for his past mistakes. »Anima« has everything a great road movie needs: a sleek car, a killer soundtrack and two troubled souls slowly finding their way towards life’s biggest questions. The most Japanese and, at the same time, the most American film in years – with humour and gravity riding side by side in the front seat.
Screenings: Sture 1 12/11 – Mauritz 19/11 – Sture 3 20/11
Behemoth! – by Tony Gilroy.USA.
After political intrigue and conspiracies in »Andor«, Tony Gilroy ventures into the world of music – with none other than Pedro Pascal behind the cello. Alex was once a musical prodigy, but left his orchestra and his dissonant life in Chicago behind to return to his hometown of Los Angeles. There, he begins recording film scores in Hollywood, where old memories resurface in time with the music. With romance, darkness and music by nine different composers, »Behemoth!« tugs at the heartstrings in a story about family, loss and the possibility of a second act.
Screenings: Skandia 13/11 – Saga 1 18/11 – Sture 3 21/11 – Kulturhuset Klara 20/11
Birds of War – by Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak. Lebanon, United Kingdom, Syria.
Thirteen years of personal correspondence between two journalists form the basis of this distinctive and deeply moving documentary. When civil war breaks out in Syria, Lebanese journalist Janay establishes contact with Abd. He becomes her eyes and ears on the ground, but as time passes, their exchanges take on a romantic undertone. Their longing to meet grows ever stronger, even as the escalating conflict in Lebanon drives them further apart. A unique glimpse into one of the most devastating wars of our time, told through an epic love story that unfolds step by step before our eyes.
Screenings: Skandia 13/11 – Sture 2 17/11 – Sture 3 16/11 – Kulturhuset Klara 20/11
Club Kid– by Jordan Firstman. USA.
Washed-up party promoter Peter’s queer nightlife is turned upside down when the son he never knew he had suddenly shows up at his door. Thrust into fatherhood overnight, he must balance drug-fuelled nights out with responsible breakfasts. With remarkable ease and razor-sharp precision, this authentic debut shifts between comedy and emotional weight. Mental health, queer culture and fatherhood coexist in a fast-paced and refreshingly candid glimpse into New York’s club scene – filled with real parties and real people. Firstman, previously seen in »Rotting in the Sun«, picks up the torch from American queer cinema pioneers such as Harvey Fierstein and carries it proudly. »Club Kid« is this year’s festival hit – a must-see on the big screen.
Screenings: Skandia 14/11 – Skandia 16/11 – Sture 1 22/11
Fatherland – by Paweł Pawlikowski. France, Italy, Poland, Germany.
Oscar-winning director Paweł Pawlikowski’s (»Ida«) latest film takes us back to 1949, as Thomas Mann returns to Germany. With his daughter Erika Mann (Sandra Hüller) behind the wheel, we join them on a journey that may well be their last. Between award ceremonies and speeches, they travel through a divided nation that has become unrecognisable to one of its greatest 20th-century writers. A festival favourite, previously awarded for »Cold War« in 2018, Pawlikowski carefully crafts a journey between East and West, legacy and reconstruction, past and present. One of the year’s most acclaimed films is a strikingly timely portrait of a European nation struggling to break free from its past.
Screenings: Skandia 14/11 – Sture 2 17/11 – Sture 3 16/11
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! – by Josef Kubota Wladyka. USA, Japan.
Haru and her husband Luis share a passion for competitive dancing and Tokyo’s dazzling ballroom scene. When Luis suddenly dies, Haru loses both her life partner and her desire to dance. In the midst of her grief, she is drawn back into the studio, where an attractive new dance instructor awakens feelings she isn’t prepared for. With Rinko Kikuchi at the top of her game, Josef Kubota Wladyka’s vibrant dance fantasy moves between humour and romance, as grief and desire dance side by side to the hypnotic rhythms of tango. A festival gem about how life can be one big mess – and how, sometimes, you just have to keep dancing.
Screenings: Saga 1 11/11 – Sture 3 16/11 – Skandia 18/11
I Love Boosters – by Boots Riley. USA
With outrageous costumes and music by Tune-Yards, Boots Riley’s (»Sorry to Bother You«) second feature is a riotously colourful Molotov cocktail hurled at the fashion industry. A gang of professional shoplifters runs wild in San Francisco, viewing their heists as acts of public service and reselling designer clothes at more affordable prices. It’s a perfect system of civil disobedience – until fashion icon Christie Smith (Demi Moore) ruthlessly steals their concept, sparking a fashion-fuelled civil war between her and the shoplifters’ own guerrilla leader (Kiki Palmer).
Screenings: Saga 1 11/11 – Sture 3 14/11 – Sture 3 16/11 – Skandia 21/11
INK – by Danny Boyle. USA, France, United Kingdom
Few directors match Danny Boyle’s instinct for combining pitch-black humour with unabashed thrill-seeking, the very formula Rupert Murdoch’s band of rogues brought to the British press in the 1970s. It is from this exploitative cocktail of murder, celebrity and scantily clad women that »Ink« draws its unbridled energy. The camera swoops and swerves among opportunists (Jack O’Connell) and hard-partying media moguls (Guy Pearce), who obsessively repeat the journalistic mantra: “If it can be printed, it should be printed.” A savage satirical punch to the gut, taking aim at the “scumdog millionaires” who flung Pandora’s box wide open.
Screenings: Skandia 19/11 – Sture 1 20/11 – Capitol 1 22/11
Jaripeo – by Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig. USA, France, Mexico
Every Christmas, cowboys and returning locals gather in Michoacán for jaripeo, a Mexican rodeo tradition steeped in machismo, pride and nostalgia. But behind this distinctly masculine and heteronormative tradition, something else is unfolding: glances are exchanged, hands brush against one another, and secret encounters take place in the woods behind the arena. Blending analogue Super 8 footage, raw documentary immediacy and dreamlike recollections, Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig portray a queer world that has always existed at the heart of this macho culture — hidden in plain sight.
Screenings: Sture 3 14/11 – Kulturhuset Klara 15/11 – Sture 2 16/11
Josephine – by Beth de Araújo. USA.
Beth de Araújo’s second feature is a heartbreaking portrayal of a childhood shattered. During a walk in the park, six-year-old Josephine becomes the sole witness to a violent assault – only to be left alone by the adults around her in its aftermath. Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan deliver compelling performances as her helpless parents, while the sensitive direction captures the nuances of trauma’s lingering aftershocks. A moving expression of solidarity; a deeply personal account drawn from the director’s own experiences, remaining faithful to the child’s perspective until the very last frame.
Screenings: Sture 1 15/11 – Saga 18/11 – Skandia 21/11
La Gradiva – by Marine Atlan. France, Italy.
In the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, a motley group of teenagers explore love, sex, politics, and everything in between during their tumultuous school trip to the mythical ruins of Pompeii. Against the backdrop of the Roman city’s immortalized human remains, »La Gradiva« shows how we are shaped by eruptions of our own.
Screenings: Sture 1 13/11 – Capitol 1 15/11 – Sture 1 20/11
Parallell Tales – by Asghar Farhadi. USA, Belgium, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia.
Writer Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert) is struggling with a severe case of writer’s block when she discovers an old family heirloom: a pair of binoculars. When she catches sight of a film sound studio, and Nicolas (Vincent Cassel), the words soon begin to flow again. Sounds from the studio intertwine with the film’s soundtrack as her voyeurism begins to seep into her writing. But her obsession comes at a price when her agent (Catherine Deneuve) intervenes. Reality and fiction collide in this reimagining of Kieślowski’s »A Short Film About Love«. Directed by multiple Oscar and Cannes award-winner Asghar Farhadi, recipient of the 2018 Stockholm Visionary Award.
Screenings: Sture 3 19/11 – Sture 3 20/11 – Skandia 22/11
Primetime – by Lance Oppenheim. USA.
“Big night planned?” Robert Pattinson’s gleeful predator hunter delivers the line with impeccable timing on prime-time television, before letting the police take over. Dressed in Chris Hansen’s camel-coloured »To Catch a Predator« blazer, he commands every frame of the year’s most calculating, gleaming-white media noir. Documentary sensation Lance Oppenheim (»You Can See Everything«, p. 10) bursts into the realm of fiction, armed with a 480p colonoscopy camera that probes deep into the filthy bowels of the infotainment industry. An anti-biopic that crawls right under your skin.
Screenings: Sture 2 14/11 – Skandia 16/11 – Saga 1 19/11
The Blood Countess – by Ulrike Ottinger. Luxembourg, Germany, Austria.
After centuries of slumber, Countess Elisabeth Báthory awakens with an insatiable thirst for blood. Together with her maid, she sets out in search of the red elixir of life. Hot on their heels are a police officer, two vampirologists, a vegetarian nephew and his therapist. Dressed in shimmering costumes, Isabelle Huppert slips effortlessly into the role, inspired by the real-life serial killer Báthory, infamous for her bloodthirsty legend. Visionary director Ulrike Ottinger’s »The Blood Countess« is a feast for fashion lovers and the year’s most deliciously chilling dose of goth and camp – an experience not to be missed.
Screenings: Mauritz 11/11 – Zita 17/11 – Saga 4 18/11
The Debut – by Jesse Eisenberg. USA.
On the remote Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland live Isla and Sandy, a stubborn pair of siblings. Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), a local council officer, has a particularly difficult task: persuading the siblings to leave the island. He faces resistance fiercer than the island’s howling winds, especially as the siblings seem to have help from a water-dwelling supernatural being… Louis Paxton has described his award-winning debut as a tribute to his roots. Much like {The Banshees of Inisherin}, it takes us to a rugged landscape inhabited by stubborn people, where every quarrel is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
Screenings: Sture 1 13/11 – Skandia 14/11 – Sture 1 18/11
The Incomer – by Louis Paxton. Ireland, United Kingdom.
Julianne Moore has already cemented her place as one of cinema’s greatest stars, but in Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, she reaches new heights. Playing Mona, a neglected housewife, she crosses paths with Paul Giamatti’s local theatre director Jerry, who, after much trial and error, transforms her from a timid wallflower into a force of nature. At Telluride, Moore’s magnificent performance inspired something as rare as a standing ovation – in the middle of the screening. But Moore isn’t the only one who impresses. Eisenberg has skillfully crafted a heartwarming character study infused with musical theatre satire. Drawing on his own personal experiences in theatre, his love for the art form shines through, particularly in the songs and music he composed himself. A film that proves it’s possible to dream of a different life – and actually make that dream come true.
Screenings: Skandia 12/11 – Skandia 17/11 – Sture 1 19/11
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York – by Noah Segan. USA.
Few actors can convey as much with a sideways glance as John Turturro, this time playing a disillusioned pickpocket. A silver fox weaving his way through both the subway and the labyrinths of his own mind. A colourful cast of hustlers, opportunists and morally dubious city dwellers drift through this coming-of-old-age drama about what might have been and what it’s not yet too late to change. Petty crooks, an estranged daughter and Steve Buscemi’s pawnbroker – one of the few actors who can rival Turturro in the art of the half-stifled sigh – all leave a vivid impression despite their seemingly colourless lives. A sombre love letter to the Big Apple that has propelled Turturro into the Oscar conversation.
The Stockholm Achievement Award 2026 will be presented to the versatile actor John Turturro, who stars in the Oscar-buzzed film »The Only Living Pickpocket in New York«. Turturro will attend the festival for the film’s exclusive Red Carpet screenings on November 19 and 20 at Cinema Skandia, where audiences will have the opportunity to meet him in a Face2Face conversation.On November 20, his extraordinary career will also be celebrated with a special award ceremony, where he will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award 2026 on stage.
Screenings: Sture 1 16/11 – Skandia 19/11 – Skandia 20/11
Wicker – by Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson. USA, Australia, United Kingdom, Hungary.
Finding love isn’t easy – especially when you smell of fish and live in a village where everyone knows everyone. Britain’s leading comedienne Olivia Colman plays a fisherwoman who, tired of being alone, asks a magical basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to create a husband for her who will be the envy of all. Last year’s honorary award recipient Alexander Skarsgård is nothing short of enchanting as the woven wicker man, an unexpected role he inhabits with his signature sensual charm. The impressive cast also includes Gustav Lindh as one of the jealous men who simply cannot compete with the flawless woven husband.
Screenings: Skandia 11/11 – Saga 2 12/11 – Sture 1 1411
