Welcome to NAFA 2026

The NAFA (Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) International Ethnographic Film Festival is the oldest of its kind in Europe, the first was held at the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm in 1979. Until 2001 it was held every year in one of the Nordic countries, usually organised by one of the around 20 member institutions. The first festival outside the Nordic countries was held in Cagliari in Sardinia in 2001 and the festival has since been held in either a Nordic country or another European country, being one of the only such festivals with shifting venues and locations.

The NAFA festival is known for its cosy and intimate atmosphere. It believes small may actually be beautiful, no matter whether it is held in a big city, such as Copenhagen in 2023 or Lisbon in 2021, or in a tiny village such as Csehétfalva in Transylvania in 2022 or Kabelvåg in northern Norway in 2024. Together with local organisers we do all we can to get the makers of the selected films to the festival, believing that their presence is crucial for stimulating and intellectually satisfying discussions about ethnographic films and documentary films linked in one way or the other to anthropology and cross-cultural understanding.
The Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) is an organisation dedicated to anthropological film in the Nordic region. Since its establishment, the organisation has promoted anthropological film through the annual film festival, the peer-reviewed journal Journal of Anthropological Films, an online film collection, and the newsletter ZARE.