Maria Sødahl's film 'The Last Resort' has won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival, earning SEK 400,000. The jury praised its unflinching look at cruelty and compassion amid rising fascism. The festival, running from January 23 to February 1, featured 266 films from 76 countries.
The 2026 Göteborg Film Festival concluded with 'The Last Resort,' directed by Norwegian filmmaker Maria Sødahl, taking home the prestigious Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film. The award, valued at SEK 400,000 (approximately $40,000-$41,500), recognizes outstanding Nordic cinema. The jury, led by Joshua Oppenheimer—director of 'The Act of Killing'—alongside Fabrice Aragno, Lia Boysen, Sanna Lenken, and Gergely Pálos, lauded the film for its timely examination of moral and political issues.
In their statement, the jury noted: “Today, as our world tips toward fascism and the power-hungry use storytelling to divide humanity into us and them—those worthy of our compassion and those not—cruelty toward the outsider is repeated until we come to see it as normal, then, to our shame, as legitimate—and finally we stop seeing it at all. One film dared to examine, with unblinking honesty, this most important moral and political problem of our times, and to show how the callousness bred by habitual cruelty diminishes us all, hollowing out our relationships—even with our partners and children.” They highlighted the film's “pitch-perfect performances, a razor-sharp yet nuanced script, and not a trace of sentimentality,” calling it a mirror for self-reflection on complicity in cruelty.
'The Last Resort' follows a Scandinavian family on vacation who confront the realities of a refugee crisis, shifting from humanism to xenophobia. Sødahl, known for autobiographical works like 'Hope' starring Stellan Skarsgård, described her latest as opening a “more complex universe,” sold internationally by TrustNordisk. Producers Thomas Robsahm, Sigurd Mikal Karoliussen, and Helena Danielsson shared the prize with Sødahl and actor Esben Smed.
Other highlights included Adam Lundgren winning Best Acting for 'The Quiet Beekeeper,' which also claimed the Audience Dragon Award. Emilie Thalund's 'Weightless' took the FIPRESCI and Sven Nykvist Cinematography Awards. Honorary Dragons went to Agnieszka Holland and Noomi Rapace, who dedicated hers to her son Lev: “This award is so much bigger than me... He always holds me accountable, makes me want to be braver and go further.” The festival showcased global talent, including Kristen Stewart’s 'The Chronology of Water' and Chloé Zhao’s 'Hamnet.'
