Australia’s winter has found a new passport stamp. The 2026 Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival returns from July to August, bringing stories from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden to Australian screens. It is a neat trick. One minute you are in a Palace cinema with popcorn. Next, you are somewhere near a fjord, wondering whether your next holiday needs better gloves.
Hurtigruten returns as naming partner for the second year in a row. The fit is obvious. This is the Norwegian coastal name that has sailed since 1893, carrying people, freight, stories and no doubt the odd very serious jumper along one of the world’s great sea routes. More than 130 years on, it still has the rare travel-brand gift: it does not need to invent a link to Norway. It is one.
For Australian travel agents, the festival is more than a pleasant night out. It is a sales lesson with subtitles. Film can sell a place with speed and feeling. A good scene can make a coastline feel close. A strong story can turn a destination from “one day” into “why not now?” For Hurtigruten, that matters. The company sells voyages along the Norwegian coast, the Arctic, and Svalbard, where the mood, weather, and landscape are not background. They are the main event.
Damian Perry, Managing Director APAC at Hurtigruten, said the festival can inspire travel before a suitcase has even left the cupboard.
“Nordic film has a way of transporting you directly into the heart of this part of the world,” he said. “Whether it’s the Norwegian coast, the Arctic or the Icelandic highlands, these films give agents and their clients a real feel for the places Hurtigruten sails. We’re proud to support the festival for the second year running.”
The Norway line-up gives agents useful talking points. Árru, directed by Elle Sofe Sara, follows a family of Sámi reindeer herders as they fight to protect Indigenous lands from a copper mining plan. It is a strong, music-filled drama shaped by joik, movement, family pain and the deep pull of country.
Fjord brings the big festival thunder. Direct from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or, the drama stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. Shot on Norway’s western coast from Ålesund to Stranda, it explores family, faith and social fracture. The scenery, naturally, behaves like a star with an excellent agent.
Then comes The Pension Heist, a Norwegian action comedy about three unlikely women who set out to steal from the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. That is not so much a retirement plan as a national audit with handbags.
Hurtigruten is also giving agents a nudge to join the fun. Fifteen double passes to the festival are available. Agents can enter by emailing [email protected] and naming their three recommended Norway experiences. The brand is also calling on teams to “Row for the Win” by posting their most spirited rowing video in support of Team Norway. Viking discipline is optional. Office chaos may be unavoidable.
For travellers who leave the cinema ready to book, Hurtigruten’s Travel With A Mate offer lands neatly. Valid until 19 July 2026, it includes savings of 25–100% on a second guest on selected 2026–2027 North Cape Line departures, up to 50% on selected Original Coastal Express departures, and 50% on selected 2027 Svalbard Line departures. Featured fares include the Coastal Express Roundtrip at $3,830 per person, the North Cape Line Roundtrip at $6,129 per person, and the Svalbard Line Roundtrip at $7,881 per person.
The idea is simple and smart. Watch the film. Feel the north. Then sell, or sail, the real thing.
By: Sandra Jones – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
Sandra has spent a working lifetime quietly rescuing journeys, one itinerary, one anxious caller, one impossible connection at a time. Years in Australia’s finest travel agencies taught her the art of calm, how to find a flight in a fog of cancellations, how to soothe a traveller when luggage wanders, how to turn nine frantic days in Europe into something resembling sense. Qualified, seasoned, endlessly patient, she learned that good travel advice is part logistics, part listening.
But the storyteller in her was always waiting for her turn. Writing offered a new map, a way to turn experience into reflection, detail into delight. At Global Travel Media, Sandra now writes the truths only insiders know: the mishaps, the laughter, the grace found between gates and goodbyes. She reminds us that travel, for all its fuss, is still one of life’s better ideas.
