Sørfond 2026 allocations. Photos: Purattu Film/C David Sanchez/Rachel Seidu/Sensory Ocean Films/Hadza Community-JG Creative-Storyboard Studios/Asmae El Moudir
Ten international co-productions will receive a total of NOK 5,425,000 in funding from Sørfond in 2026. The grants go to productions from Nigeria, South Africa, Palestine, Tanzania, Morocco, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vietnam, Colombia and Iraq, with eight Norwegian producers involved as co-producers.
The jury has selected three documentary films and seven feature films for funding this year. The list includes both established and emerging filmmakers, as well as experienced and new Norwegian co-producers. The Norwegian Film Institute received 53 applications for Sørfond, with a total amount applied for approximately NOK 37.8 million.
Since its inception in 2011, Sørfond has supported 116 productions, including this year’s supported productions. Sørfond is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Films supported by Sørfond have received significant attention and numerous awards at international festivals. This year, four Sørfond films were invited to the Cannes Film Festival.
“Sørfond contributes to strong international collaborations and creates space for stories and perspectives that would otherwise face greater challenges. This year’s allocations demonstrate the clear international position the scheme has achieved. These are films with high artistic ambitions, and several of them are likely to be seen at major festivals in the years to come,” says Kjersti Mo, Director of the Norwegian Film Institute.
Baptism of Silence | South Africa | Director: Kanya Viljoen og Emilie Badenhorst. Producer: Casey Diepeveen, Unusual Bones. Norwegian co-producers: Andrea Berentsen Ottmar and Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, Eye Eye Pictures AS. NOK 500 000.
Black Harvest | Palestine | Director: Said Zagha. Producer: Myriam Sassine, Twenty Seven Films. Norwegian co-producers: Ingrid Lill Høgtun, Marie Fuglestein Lægreid and Linda Bolstad Strønen, Barentsfilm AS. NOK 625 000.
Falso Positivo | Colombia | Director: Theo Montoya. Producer: Theo Montoya, Desvio Visual. Norwegian co-producers: Andrea Berentsen Ottmar and Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, Eye Eye Pictures AS. NOK 600 000.
Hearing | Vietnam | Director: Lê Bảo. Producer: Huỳnh Thị Bảo Yến, Sensory Ocean Films. Norwegian co-producer: Elisa Pirir, Stær AS. NOK 500 000.
Kachifo (Till The Morning Comes) | Nigeria | Director: Dika Ofoma. Producer: Blessing Uzzi (Uzoma Blessing Chibuike), Bluehouse Studios. Norwegian co-producers: Linda Bolstad Strønen, Ingrid Lill Høgtun and Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, DUOfilm AS. NOK 600 000.
Madness and Honey Days | Iraq | Director: Ahmed Yassin Al-Darraji. Producer: Maytham Jbara, Puratti. Norwegian co-producers: Karrar Al-Azzawi an Aurora Hannisdal, Kaj Film AS. NOK 500 000.
Quo Vadis, Aida? The Missing Part | Bosnia-Hercegovina | Director: Jasmila Žbanić. Producer: Jasmila Žbanić, Deblokada. Norwegian co-producer: Maria Ekerhovd, MER Film AS. NOK 500 000.
Children of Honey | Tanzania | Director: Jigar Ganatra. Producer: Jigar Ginatra and Natalie Humphreys, JG Creative. Norwegian co-producer: Anita Norfolk, Folk Film AS. NOK 500 000.
Don't Let the Sun Go Up on Me | Marokko | Director: Asmae El Moudir. Producer: Asmae El Moudir, Insight. Norwegian co-producers: Yngvar Christensen and Ingve Wegge, Lofoten Film Collective AS. NOK 600 000.
Shooting Stars | Iran | Director: Parsa Ansari. Producer: Milad Khosravi, Seven Springs Pictures. Norwegian co-producer: Anita Norfolk, Folk Film AS. NOK 500 000.
Sørfond was established to encourage film production in countries where political, social or economic conditions limit production opportunities. Eligible countries are defined by the DAC list, the OECD’s overview of countries that qualify for development assistance.
Sørfond provides grants for feature films and documentaries produced by a main producer in a DAC-listed country in collaboration with a Norwegian minority co-producer. The director must be a citizen of, or resident in, a country on the DAC list. The film must primarily be shot in countries included on this list.
Sørfond is financed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ development aid budget and is administered by the Norwegian Film Institute in cooperation with the The Festival Agency (Stiftelsen Festivalkontoret).
This year’s Sørfond jury consisted of Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya), filmmaker; Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, producer; and Lasse Skagen, Head of Programme for Films from the South at The Festival Agency.
The Sørfond jury 2026: Tina B. G Fagerheim (NFI), Lasse Skagen, Mette Cheung Munte-Kaas, Wanuri Kahiu.
«From a remarkable pool of submissions from around the world, selecting this year’s projects was both an honor and a challenge. The strength of the stories, the courage of the filmmakers, and the urgency of the questions they ask made every discussion thoughtful, passionate, and often difficult. We encountered far more exceptional projects than we could ultimately select, and we want to acknowledge the vision, dedication, and artistry of all who submitted. To those who were not selected this year: your stories matter. We hope you continue telling them, and we look forward to meeting them again in the future.
Across this year's selection, we encountered families searching for justice, communities fighting for survival, lovers resisting exclusion, children carrying ancient knowledge into an uncertain future, artists challenging repression, and individuals navigating the complex terrain between memory, identity, grief, and hope. Whether set in Morocco, Palestine, Nigeria, Tanzania, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, South Africa, Vietnam, or Iraq, these stories remind us that the struggle for dignity, freedom, and belonging is both deeply local and profoundly universal.
Many of these filmmakers work in environments where artistic expression remains fragile, where speaking truth carries risk, and where cinema continues to serve as a vital space for witness, resistance, and imagination. Their films challenge silence, illuminate hidden histories, and create opportunities for empathy across borders and experiences.
At a time when division often dominates public discourse, these projects remind us of cinema's unique ability to build bridges between worlds. We are proud to support these filmmakers and their bold, compassionate visions, and we look forward to the journeys these stories will take as they find audiences around the globe»
Production Adviser
A UN translator seeks justice after Bosnian Serb forces killed 7,000+ civilians in the war's worst massacre. She lost her family and now leads efforts to expose the truth and prosecute those responsible.
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In the mid-2000s, three stories intertwine around Colombia’s so-called “false positives.” Jeison (28) and his partner Angélica (21) travel through rural towns recruiting young men with the promise of becoming actors in the United States. At the same time, Zugar (24), a trans model and webcam performer, returns to her hometown to search for her brother Denis, who disappeared after accepting an offer to travel to the U.S. Meanwhile, Commander Montoya (50) organizes a celebration to honor his troops for their military successes in the war against the guerrillas.
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In this tender and enigmatic anti-love story, Ninh drifts through a life shaped by quiet regret while working as a decibel technician. As he measures the sounds around him, he encounters unexpected disturbances, from restless spirits to unruly monkeys, revealing a world where grief, memory, and longing quietly resonate.
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After his son is killed, a Palestinian father’s pursuit of vengeance drags him into a brutal spiral of crime and corruption that could destroy his remaining family.
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Set in a rural South African mining town, this powerful coming-of-age drama follows siblings Isabel and Joshua as a traumatic initiation rite fractures their bond. As shame, silence, and societal expectations threaten to divide them, they must confront painful truths to find their way back to each other.
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Bound across lifetimes by a blood oath, Achebe and Nnanna are drawn together again in contemporary Nigeria. As their connection deepens, they must navigate a society that condemns their love, in this moving story of reincarnation, destiny, and the courage to embrace who they are.
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In a remote Tanzanian valley three friends come of age in one of the world’s last hunter-gatherer societies. As the precious honey they depend on becomes harder to find, they film their lives. Will this next and possibly last generation of Hadza youth hold onto the wisdom learned across millennia?
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Condemned to a life away the sun, Fatimazahra lived at night with the “Children of the Moon.” After her passing, her sister Meriem carries forward her dreams, creating a refuge in Rabat, nurturing a close-knit community, and venturing into the polar nights of the Lofoten Islands, where shadow finally becomes light. Asmae El Moudir’s film celebrates a modern-day heroine in a story both intimate and collective.
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While investigating mysterious UFO sightings from his childhood, a boy begins to question who the real aliens are. His search gradually shifts from extraterrestrial fantasies toward the invisible outsiders living among us on Earth. Blending cosmic imagination with social observation, Shooting Stars explores themes of identity, alienation, and social division. Through the metaphor of space and extraterrestrial life, the film reflects on how societies label, exclude, and construct the “other"
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After being accused of publicly insulting Saddam Hussein, actor Salem avoids execution by convincing authorities he is insane. Exiled to a psychiatric hospital in Baghdad, he must carefully balance performance and reality, knowing that if he is declared sane, a death sentence awaits.
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