The Norwegian International Film Festival's industry arm, New Nordic Films, has announced the programme for its first-ever French Focus — a four-day push to build co-production ties between France and the five Nordic countries, set to run August 25–28 in the coastal city of Haugesund. (Variety)

The Focus is organised by New Nordic Films in partnership with several French institutions: the Institut Français de Norvège, France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the National Centre for Cinema (CNC — France's public film funding body), and Unifrance, the agency that promotes French cinema abroad. Gyda Velvin Myklebust heads New Nordic Films. (Variety)

At the centre of the programme is a pitching session on August 26 at the Nordic Co-Production Market, where four French films in development will be presented to potential Nordic partners. Two of those projects come from Les Valseurs, a Paris-based production company on a remarkable run: the outfit won the top prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard sidebar in 2025 for The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, then took the section's Jury Prize in 2026 for Elephants in the Fog. (Variety)

One Les Valseurs project heading to the pitch is Borderline, a feature-length expansion of Yves Piat's short film Nefta Football Club, which was nominated for both an Oscar and a César. Damien Megherdi, who co-founded Les Valseurs, produces. The second is All the Softness in the World, an animation project from Turkish artist Ayce Kartal, whose short Wicked Girl made history in 2018 as the first animated film to win the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival. (Variety)

Two further projects round out the pitch slate. Boutes, a creative documentary by Jeanne Geli and Lois Szymczak, is produced by Womanway's Marielle Tricoire, whose credits include co-producing Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother. The fourth is Temporary Lives, from Syrian-Norwegian filmmaker Wessam Hachicho, produced by Respiro Productions — a project that bridges both sides of the Focus quite literally, given Hachicho's Nordic base. (Variety)

Beyond the pitches, the French Focus programme includes a panel on co-production opportunities, funding mechanisms and creative partnerships between France and the Nordic countries, as well as a case study on Ibelin — the biopic of Norwegian online gamer Mats Steen, directed by Morten Tyldum and currently in production for France's Vendôme Pictures and Pathé alongside Norway's Neby-Tyldum AS. (Variety)

Tyldum is best known for the Oscar-winning The Imitation Game. His Ibelin stars Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette and Bill Nighy, making it a natural centrepiece for a case study on how a French-Nordic co-production assembles its financing and talent. (Variety)

The timing is ripe for the partnership. Norway's Sentimental Value won the Oscar for Best International Feature — a first for the country — while the Norwegian Film Institute, led by CEO Kjersti Mo, has been deepening its international co-production frameworks. The French Focus adds a structured marketplace layer to relationships that have often been built informally, festival corridor by festival corridor. (Variety)

For producers on both sides, the appeal is straightforward: French financiers and sales agents gain access to Nordic storytelling and public funding, while Nordic companies tap into France's production infrastructure and one of Europe's largest cinema audiences. Whether the Haugesund sessions convert into signed deals will play out over the months that follow.