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Saturday 24 January 2026

Unprecedented recognition for a Norwegian film & continuing its run in UK cinemas: On Thursday, Sentimental Value became the first Norwegian film to be nominated in nine categories at this year's Oscars - including Best Picture. In the UK its run in cinemas is entering its fifth week.

Nora, a successful stage actress, reunites with her estranged father, Gustav Borg—a once-renowned film director planning a comeback with a script based on their family. When Gustav offers Nora the lead role, which she promptly declines, he turns his attention to a rising Hollywood starlet instead.

Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes last year and with a string of awards and nominations since, the film reunites director Joachim Trier with Worst Person in the World lead actor Renate Reinsve and writing partner Eskil Vogt. Also starring in the film are Elle Fanning, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Anders Danielsen Lie. 

Speaking of Oscar nominees, Norwegian film The Ugly Stepsister is also nominated in the category for Best Hair and Makeup (Thomas Forsberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg). The film is streaming in the UK through Shudder.

Above: Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value. Photo: Kasper Tuxen Andersen, courtesy of Mubi.

London, UCL Archaeology G6 Lecture Theatre, 31-34 Gordon Square, 28 January: Sámi cinema has emerged as one of the most vital cultural arenas for Indigenous self-representation in the Nordic region. For decades, Sámi people were portrayed through external, often stereotypical lenses that shaped public understanding far beyond Sápmi. Today, a new generation of Sámi filmmakers is transforming this landscape by reclaiming narrative authority and telling stories rooted in their own culture, where Sámi worldviews, languages, and lived experiences shape the storytelling.

This keynote explores how cinema has become a powerful tool for narrative sovereignty in the Sámi community. The presentation will highlight key moments and films within Sámi filmmaking, the role of institutions such as the International Sámi Film Institute, and the broader significance of authentic Sámi storytelling in shaping a new future.

London, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, 36 Tanner Street SE1, until 7 February: Norwegian artist Sverre Malling (b. 1977) is the maker of possible worlds. Or rather, in his work we encounter possible pasts, presents and futures. History is malleable, and the canons of Western art are revealed as constructions to be renegotiated and reassessed. What is revealed in the purity and simplicity of At The Mistress’ Request, his large presentation of charcoal drawings presented at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, is a distinct, almost haunting image-world.

At The Mistress’ Request brings together the astounding range of Sverre Malling’s practice. These works draw their strange charisma and dark virtuosity from the tensions and oppositions that run throughout the history of art. Over recent decades, Malling’s work has been largely devoted to teasing out such frictions, exploring lost connections in cultural history, our pasts as a foreign country. And pasts in the plural, because in Malling’s world the past contains multitudes: something to be reconfigured, redescribed, and reimagined.

Work by Sverre Malling is also currently on view at the British Museum as part of the exhibition Nordic Noir, until 22 March.

Sverre Malling, Impaled Boar, 2025, charcoal and oil-based pencil on paper. Photo © Thomas Widerberg. Courtesy Sverre Malling and Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery.

Published by Orenda Books
Translated by Ian Giles

Out in bookshops now: When a mutilated body surfaces and a woman dies mysteriously, police detective Jakob Weber uncovers a chilling trail through Norway’s wild north. Into the Dark is the second installment in Ørjan Karlsson's darkly addictive Nordic Noir series.

‘This is first-class Nordic Noir from the real North, where danger lurks around every corner’ Gunnar Staalesen, author

‘Dark and totally gripping … adds a new dimension to the police procedural’ European Literature Network

London, Maureen Paley, 4 Herald Street, until 17 March: The exhibition brings together two bodies of works, Closed Captions and Incendiary Test Area. In both, Gardar Eide Einarsson considers how linguistic and visual structures shape our understanding of the world and mask systems of power. The exhibition is Einarsson's fifth at Maureen Paley Gallery.

Gardar Eide Einarsson, Incendiary Test Area (Interior View of Second Floor Room), 2024. Japanese woodcut on hand made washi paper. © Gardar Eide Einarsson, courtesy Maureen Paley, London

London, Islington Assembly Hall,
5 February: Anna of the North is the voice behind international hits like "Lovers" and "Dream Girl", and she lent her magic to Tyler, the Creator’s critically acclaimed album Flower Boy, alongside Frank Ocean, Lil Wayne, and Kali Uchis. Today, she’s experiencing a new global resurgence. With new music out, including her latest single "Waiting for Love", and a forthcoming album on the horizon, Anna is entering an exciting new chapter. 

Photo: Sirin Winge.

London, The Waiting Room,
11 February: Farao is the musical alter ego of Norwegian producer and vocalist Kari Jahnsen, who crafts a lush sonic realm where smooth 90s R&B, sensual 80s disco, ambient spiritual jazz, and shimmering layers of zithers intertwine.

Guided by her warm, ornate production, vintage synth collection, and striking vocal arrangements, Farao’s live performance draws audiences into a dreamlike, rhythmic landscape—imagine Janet Jackson meeting Alice Coltrane. Having captivated crowds at Roskilde, SXSW, Øya, and Green Man, Farao delivers a show that feels intimate yet expansive, contemporary yet timeless.

Photo: Sigurlaug Gísladóttir.

London, Coronet Theatre, 19-21 February: See Norwegian star Kåre Conradi’s critically acclaimed one-man dramatised lecture about one of Ibsen’s most famous and colourful characters, Peer Gynt at the Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill. 

Since discovering the play at 17, Conradi has had a passionate connection with Peer Gynt. In just over an hour, he moves effortlessly between storyteller and the feckless Peer himself to shed new light on Ibsen’s legendary play.

“Conradi is an outstanding actor – there are sudden shifts across a wide expressive range, where Conradi displays his versatility.” – Dagbladet newspaper

Peer Gynt is the story of a charming but lazy and arrogant young man who leaves home to seek his fortune. Embarking on a series of fantastic voyages around the world, he has one incredible adventure after another. This charismatic stripped back performance goes to the core of what makes Ibsen one of the most performed writers in the world.

London, Kings Place, 24 February: Violinist Pekka Kuusisto and musicians of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra bring their new album ‘Willows’ to the stage – a quietly radical programme featuring Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’, Ellen Reid’s ‘Desiderium’, Caroline Shaw’s ‘Plan & Elevation’, and songs by Sam Amidon arranged by Nico Muhly. A concert of remembrance, renewal, and musical storytelling.

Experience Pekka Kuusisto’s new album Willows in concert – a deeply personal and transformative programme from the Finnish violinist and musicians of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. At the album’s heart lies a re-imagining of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, stripping away a century of sentiment to reveal the quiet radicalism within this iconic work.

▶ Norwegian swing band Swing'it are on tour, with dates still to come at the O2 Institute Birmingham (24th), O2 Academy Islington in London (30th) and O2 Bristol (31 January).

▶ Máret Ánne Sara's commission for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, Goavve-Geabbil, is on view until 12 April 2026.

▶ Featuring over 150 works by 100 artists from the Nordic countries, Nordic Noir: Works on Paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson is on view at the British Museum until 22 March 2026.

▶ Works by Anawana Haloba are on view as part of Artes Mundi 11 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre & National Museum Cardiff, until March 1, 2026.

▶ Sentimental Value continues its run in UK cinemas.


▶ 27 January - 12 March, dates across the UK

Thor Stenhaug is bringing his One Night Stand Baby Tour to more dates across the UK.


▶ 31 January, Glasgow

Pumpegris is a folk-fusion band that playfully mixes the old and new, the humorous and serious. The band are on the lineup together with Ciaran Ryan at Saint Luke's as part of Celtic Connections.


▶ 29 & 31 January, London

Trolsk, a UK short film made in collaboration with Figurteatret i Nordland and filmed in Lofoten, is showing during the London Short Film Festival.


▶ 5 February, London

Anna of the North is performing at the Islington Assembly Hall, days after her concert on the main stage at Oslo's Opera House.

Norwegian soul/R&B artist Isabelle Eberdean is on the lineup at the Soul Mama Global Soul Takeover at the Gantry Hotel.


▶ 12 February, Edinburgh

Norwegian alt-pop artist Iris Caltwait is playing Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh.


▶ 12 February, London

Featured on the cover of NME last month, Sassy 009 is playing The Lower Third (tickets sold out, wait list available).


▶ 19 - 21 February, London

See Norwegian star Kåre Conradi’s critically acclaimed one-man dramatised lecture about one of Ibsen’s most famous and colourful characters, Peer Gynt at the Coronet Theatre. The charismatic stripped back performance goes to the core of what makes Ibsen one of the most performed writers in the world.


▶ 19 - 21 February, London

Vigdis Hjorth & Catherine Taylor will be in conversation at the London Review Bookshop. Hjorth will be reading from Repetition, her sixth novel to be published in English, translated by Charlotte Barslund. Last remaining tickets on sale.

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