Sentimental Value. Photo: Kasper Tuxen
Director and screenwriter Joachim Trier’s sixth feature film, Sentimental Value, starring Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, and Stellan Skarsgård, has been invited to the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24)
It was during a press conference in France today that festival director Thierry Frémaux announced which films have been invited to the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, considered the most important film festival in the world. Around 2,000 feature films are submitted each year for consideration, and only a very small number are selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition. The Norwegian film Sentimental Value, written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, is now among them.
“This is an impressive achievement. Filmmakers like Joachim Trier are putting Norway on the map as a cultural nation and giving us fantastic films. It also shows the value of public film funding. The Norwegian film industry is now performing at a world-class level,” says Norwegian Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery.
"Norwegian film continues to reach new heights these days, and now Joachim Trier has been invited for the third time to the main competition at the world’s most important film festival. We are incredibly proud of this achievement, which reinforces Trier’s position as a world-class filmmaker. We congratulate him and the entire talented team behind Affection Value", says Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute.
– In 2021, the premiere in Cannes marked the beginning of a remarkable journey for The Worst Person in the World, and we hope that Affection Value will follow the same path out into the world and to audiences, says Kjersti Mo.
Sentimental Value will be the ninth Norwegian film in the main competition, following Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World in 2021 and Louder than Bombs in 2015. In 1979, Anja Breien participated with Next of Kin (Arven), and director Erik Løchen, Trier’s grandfather, competed with The Chasers (Jakten) in 1960. Before that, Arne Skouen had participated with Ni Liv (1958), Det brenner i natt (1955), Circus Fandango (1954), and Nødlanding (1952).
The film is a portrait of a family in Oslo, the house they’ve lived in for generations, and of how the past has a way of resurfacing in unexpected ways.
The film follows acclaimed stage actress Nora (Renate Reinsve) and her younger sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) as their eccentric and charismatic father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), suddenly steps back into their lives after a long absence. Once a renowned film director, Gustav looks to make his comeback and make amends with Nora by offering her the lead role in his next film. But Nora wants nothing to do with her father or his film. The film is an intimate and poignant exploration of family, memories, and the reconcilatory power of art.
Stellan Skarsgård plays Gustav, while Elle Fanning portrays an American movie star who comes to Oslo.
Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father - and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.
Producers Maria Ekerhovd of Mer Film and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar of Eye Eye Pictures are also familiar with Cannes. Maria Ekerhovd produced the only Norwegian film to win the Palme d’Or, the short film Sniffer by Bobbie Peers, and Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents, which was in Cannes in 2021. Ottmar was one of the producers behind Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself, and Halfdan Tøndel’s Armand, all of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Norwegian director and screenwriter Joachim Trier had gained international praise and numerous awards, ever since his first feature films. Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011) which premiered at the Festival de Cannes in Un Certain Regard, Louder Than Bombs (2015), selected in Competition, Thelma (2017), and The Worst Person in the World (2021), all co-written with Eskil Vogt, have been invited to and won awards at film festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Gothenburg, Milan, and Istanbul. His previous feature, The Worst Person in The World, premiered in Competition at the 2021 Festival de Cannes, where lead actress Renate Reinsve brought home the Award for Best Actress. The film was later nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature), as well as BAFTA for Best Actress and Best International Feature.
Sentimental Value is Joachim Trier’s sixth feature film.
Sentimental Value has received NOK 20,500,000 in development and production funding from the Norwegian Film Institute. The film is written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, and stars Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, and Stellan Skarsgård. It is produced by Maria Ekerhovd at Mer Film in co-production with Andrea Ottmar of Eye Eye Productions, along with Zentropa (Denmark and Sweden), Komplizen Film (Germany), and Lumen and MK Productions (France). The distributor in Norway is Nordisk Film Distribusjon. The international sales agent is MK2. The international distributor for the U.S. and Canada is Neon.
The film premieres in Norwegian cinemas on September 12, 2025.
Manager International Relations, Feature Films
