From a queer rave horror to LARPing romance and awkward saunas to graffiti-strewn street art, short films at Nordisk Panorama prove that the boldest Nordic stories often come in small packages.

As Nordisk Panorama Film Festival comes to a close, the short film strands remain a vibrant heartbeat of the festival, highlighting fresh perspectives and fearless storytelling from across the region. We caught up with three standout directors showcasing their work at this year’s festival; Talon Darren (CLUB), Simon Vahlne (Weekend Warrior), Malin Batr (Sauna Sickness) and Leona Cauklija (Son) to discuss shooting one-take horrors, improvising in fantasy languages, and turning real-life street art into acts of motherly love.

Film: CLUB | Director: Talon Darren

Nordic Watchlist: How would you best describe your short film and what inspired you to tell this story?

Talon Darren: CLUB is a fever dream of a film, inspired by queer rave and club culture. It follows a young woman on a journey into the deepest corners of herself, revealing everything she carries with her: her joy, her fear, her darkness, and her shame. And it is that shame that eventually manifests into something that wants to consume her.

The story grew out of a very personal experience of freedom. Going to queer clubs with friends and seeing, and experiencing people being fully and unapologetically themselves gave me this almost overwhelming, physical sense of freedom. There was something incredibly inspiring about being in spaces where people could express themselves without shame or judgment. That feeling planted the seed that eventually became CLUB.

Nordic Watchlist: Biggest challenge or most rewarding moment you experienced during production?

Talon Darren: We shot the main part of the film as a one-shot. Because so much of the film was improvised, I wanted the actors to have the freedom to explore the spaces we had created and hopefully find something authentic in their encounters with each other.

The film also builds towards a very intense climax, and shooting continuously allowed our lead actress, Mathilde Storm, to actually build towards that moment emotionally and physically rather than having to recreate it across multiple setups.

Of course, that also made it incredibly challenging. Everything had to come together at once: the camera, choreography, performances, lighting, music, extras, and timing. It was quite a stressful fifteen minutes sitting there with my iPad, watching the whole thing unfold and knowing there was very little I could do once we started. I actually had to follow behind the camera for the first couple of minutes so I could hide closer to the dance floor, so in a strange way I felt like I was inside the experience with them.

Nordic Watchlist: Have you caught any other short films or documentaries at Nordisk Panorama so far that you’d recommend?

Talon Darren: I really enjoyed the short film Please by Anna Mantzaris. I’m always amazed by animation and the incredible amount of craft that goes into it, and I found Please genuinely delightful. It was funny, strange, and incredibly charming.

Nordic Watchlist: What do you hope audiences take away from your film?

Talon Darren: High blood pressure, and a sense of relief that it’s over.

But underneath that, CLUB is a horror film for queer people who still aren’t accepted in their everyday lives, and who still aren’t free to fully love themselves or others.

For me, horror films have always been a place where I could confront my greatest fears in a safe way. No matter how terrifying things became on screen, there was something strangely comforting about reaching the other side and realizing that I was okay.

Hopefully CLUB can give someone else a little bit of that feeling: the chance to confront something dark, survive it, and maybe leave feeling a little freer than when they came in.

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Film: Weekend Warrior | Director: Simon Vahlne

How would you best describe your short film and what inspired you to tell this story?

Weekend Warrior is a drama comedy about two young people who have a romantic encounter at a larp event. When they are to have sex they can’t decide if they should be elves or themselves during the intercourse. It’s a film about the roles we play when trying to seduce each other, where I use the armors, rubber ears and latex swords of larping to examine this theme. 

The inspiration to the film comes from when I tried larping myself. It was great fun and one night by the campfire this very cool looking robber woman started flirting with me and tried to get me into her tent. I got extremely nervous because I didn’t know if I should be myself or the elf I was playing in a potentially intimate situation, so in the end, I didn’t follow her. But in the film, they actually go into the tent. 

What did you find was the biggest challenge – or most rewarding moment – you experienced during production?

I love to work with improvised dialogue and for Weekend Warrior, I casted real orc larpers who could improvise in a fantasy language called ”black speech”, which was very cool. We also had a lot of fun when Elin and Per, the main actors, did a scene with a rubber ear that falls of during sex. We didn’t realize until we played the scene that the rubber ear looks and sounds so much like a condom. Sometimes you have to actually shoot the scene you’ve written before you understand what’s it actually about. 

The biggest challenge was to find the right balance in the humour. I wanted the film to be funny but without disrespecting the larping community. The key here – I think – was to have a strong point of view in the main character Tess, and let the film be guided by her sincerity and love for the hobby. 

Nordic Watchlist: Have you caught any other short films or documentaries at Nordisk Panorama so far that you’d recommend?

Yes! I really liked the Norwegian film Trio, a very funny and also sad film about alienation. I really like how Nordic Panorama finds shorts that are both funny and serious – laughing and crying is very closely related, as my producer Fredrik Lange always says. 

Nordic Watchlist: What do you hope audiences take away from your film?

I want Weekend Warrior to make you think about the roles we all play in real life and the possibility of breaking free of them. And I would also like it if the film could inspire people to try larping! 

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Film: Sauna Sickness | Director: Malin Barr

Nordic Watchlist: How would you best describe your short film and what inspired you to tell this story?

Malin Barr: Sauna Sickness is a darkly comedic psychological drama about what happens when you lose trust in yourself, and the disorienting, scary and absurd experience that comes with it. A couple takes a romantic New Year’s trip to an isolated cabin, but after accidentally finding themselves locked outside, the cracks in their relationship begin to surface.

What made me want to tell this story was partly inspired by an experience I had in a previous relationship that brought me to a place where I began questioning my own feelings and my perception of reality. I was equally terrified and fascinated by how I had come to feel like an unreliable narrator in my own life. I wanted to understand how I had gotten there, and what it takes to break free, reclaim your sense of self and choose yourself. 

I felt very alone and isolated in that experience, and I wanted the film to open up a conversation around emotional abuse and the often invisible ways it can manifest. My hope was that it would resonate with others who have felt similarly or found themselves in similar situations, making them feel less alone and more empowered in their own experience. 

Since premiering at festivals internationally, I’m very glad to say that the film’s themes and the conversations they have sparked with audiences have been both an unexpected and incredibly rewarding journey and proven the film’s ability to resonate so universally, almost women and men, regardless of culture or country.

Nordic Watchlist: What did you find was the biggest challenge – or most rewarding moment – you experienced during production?

Malin Barr: I had an absolutely incredible cast and crew for this project, so while being on set, really the only challenge that I can recall was that there wasn’t any snow!

Some of the crew and myself, along with help from local snow plowers, ended up trying to distribute a mix of real and fake snow to make it look cold enough. To me, it wasn’t just a visual element, but also an important metaphor in the story for the hot-and-cold, rollercoaster nature of a toxic relationship. 

The most rewarding moment might have been, once again, being surrounded by a cast and crew who were all truly passionate about the story and found it both relatable and important. There’s nothing that makes a production feel more supported, easy, and fun than when everyone believes in the story you want to tell.

Nordic Watchlist: Have you caught any other short films or documentaries at Nordisk Panorama so far that you’d recommend?

Malin Barr: I wasn’t able to join the festival, sadly, as I was at the same time part of Square Peg Social, Ari Aster and Lars Knudson’s initiative for up-and-coming directors in Austin. But I was very curious to see the short films Selfcare by Saga Bartels and Sigrid Hedlund, and PLEASE by Anna Mantzaris!

Nordic Watchlist: What do you hope audiences take away from your film?

Malin Barr I hope that my film leaves audiences with a feeling of empowerment, while also making them question the power dynamics in relationships and what behaviors we normalize because of our own patterns, and how they themselves might, at times, have felt similarly or acted similarly. Regardless of which character we relate to more, I hope it might inspire empowerment, accountability, and a willingness to choose ourselves and act differently.

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Film: Son | Director: Leona Cauklija

Nordic Watchlist: How would you best describe your short film and what inspired you to tell this story?

Leona Cauklija: SON is for everyone with a graffitiheart, for everyone with an antigraffitiheart and for everyone with a mother’s heart.It’s about a mother resorting to graffiti as a last chance at contact with her son.
It’s about her sense of guilt about the hardship he faces.
It’s about her collecting his streetart in a photobook, bursting with pride.
It’s about a mother’s instinct.
It’s about right and wrong, and who really decides which is which.
It’s about not being able to afford sentimentality while there’s still hope.
SON is a story about tags, mothers and sons, and it’s happening right now.

With regards to inspiration: the mother asked me to tell her story, which is as intimate as it is brutal. 

The fact that she wanted to celebrate her son by letting me tell their story is an act of love. 

The fact that she was brave enough to show me, and by extension you, is nothing short of absolute strength. 

I’d say that’s some pretty inspirational stuff, no? 

Nordic Watchlist: What did you find was the biggest challenge – or most rewarding moment – you experienced during production?

Leona Cauklija: The biggest challenge is that it is reality. But the reality is also what makes it so rewarding. I think documentary projects become a director’s whole life – in a rewarding way and in a challenging way. 

And on that note, it is important to discuss what this film is and is not. It was important to uphold responsibility with regards to the mother and son. That means knowing their actual story- what it is and what it is not. 

It is not a sobstory, with the lack of depth that entails, real exploitative shit. 

But that begs the question, what is it then? The mother and son don’t dwell, don’t retire to nostalgia or sorrow. They are hoping! And despite the brutality of their situation, they dare to try. The film is about them pursuing love, not giving up on it. Their situation is unforgiving, their circumstances require speed and boldness and bravery. And the reward for their struggle is fragile. Their perseverance in spite of all that, their refusal to accept notions of illegality because the law of motherly love compels them to keep trying, THAT is their story. And by extension- this film. And the challenge was to make something worthy of that pursuit. 

That’s important because when the film project is over for the director, it’s not over for the people in the film. Their life has been, is, and will remain much longer than these 13 short minutes can show. They cannot leave their story behind. So I thank them for their confidence in me, and I hope I have made them proud. 

Nordic Watchlist: Have you caught any other short films or documentaries at Nordisk Panorama so far that you’d recommend?

Leona Cauklija: ”Dear Melodybox” by Hedda Keszler.

Nordic Watchlist: What do you hope audiences take away from your film?

Leona Cauklija: I hope the film broadens your perspective on things you might previously have overlooked. What one person sees as dirt may be the most valuable thing to someone else.

Short films remain one of the most exciting grounds for bold, risk-taking Nordic storytelling. To discover more about the films featured in this interview and the wider festival lineup, visit the official Nordisk Panorama website.