45th Nordic International Ethnographic Film Festival
Bergen University Museum.
Cover photo credit: Thor Brødreskift
NAFA 2026 in Bergen, Norway
The 2026 NAFA film festival will be held in Norway’s west coast capital, Bergen.
When?
9-11 September 2026
Where?
The University Museum in Bergen, Muséplassen 3. The filmscreenings will take place at Kvarteret, Olav Kyrres gate 49, 5015 Bergen
How to get there?
The University Museum and Kvarteret are located in the city center which can be reached by City Light Rail, Airport bus or by taxi. The cheapest way to get from Flesland airport is to go by the City Light Rail (Bybanen), line number 1. You can buy a ticket through the ticket machine on the platform or by the app Skyss billett. Tickets are about 50 NOK.
Tickets and registration
Please register for NAFA 2026 before 11.09.2026, 18:00
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.
Festival Programme
Wednesday, 9 September
| Venue: University Museum of Bergen, Tårnsal 9:00–12:30: AI and Visual Trust, seminar. Free admission. With Haruna Inagaki-Nygård, PhD Candidate in Artistic Research, UiB Mihai Andrei Leaha, Associate professor anthropology, UiT Gabriele de Seta, Project Leader, Center for Digital narrative, UiB 09:00–09:15: Coffee 09:15–09:30: Introduction to the seminar by NAFA’s Secretary General, Carolina Némethy 09:30–12:30: Seminar and discussion |
13:30–13:45: FILM FESTIVAL OPENING.
Tickets can be purchased in advance via the payment link.
Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter
| 14:00–17:00: Film screenings 1 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter We are inside Director/filmmaker Farah Kassem 2024, Lebanon, 180′ |
| 17:30–20:00: Film screenings 2 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter The land by the Kalinov bridge Director/filmmaker Alexey Tikhomirov 2025, Russian Federation, 44′ The Long Winter Director/filmmaker Hassan – Jafari 2025, Iran, 45′ SAMKLANG – Small moments, big impact Director/filmmaker: Ferruccio Goia 2025, Norway, 35′ |
Torsdag 10. september
| 09:30–12:30: Film screenings 3 Venue: University Museum of Bergen, TårnsalStudents films from Tromsø and Mali Navigate on the sand Director/filmmaker: Arakhama Haidara 2025, Mali, 19′ Memories of the Leeway expedition Director/filmmaker: Lucien Hubert 2026, Norway, 34′ Bude svadba Director/filmmaker: Petra Polčičov 2026, Slovakia, 26′ Seek It and Seed It Director/filmmaker: Oliver Munch Bender 2026, Denmark, 35′ Gaza’s Twin City: in the north Director/filmmaker: Inga Maria Gudbjargardottir 2026, Norway, 39′ |
| 13:30–17:00: Film screenings 4 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter Anarchafeminist Divinations Director/filmmaker: Işıl Karataş 2025, Austria, 16′ Hakishka Director/filmmaker: Narges Judaki, Iman Paknahad 2025, Iran, 49′ Fighting Fire with Fire Director/filmmaker: Ignazio Figus 2025, Italy, 53′ The Day Is Not Lost Director/filmmaker: Kay Hannahan 2026, Bulgaria, 15′ Panagia – The Miraculous Icon of Tinos Director/filmmaker: Frode Storaas 2025, Greece, 28′ |
| 18:00–20:00: Film screenings 5 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter Sea Graves Director/filmmaker: Hector Boudot 2025, Morocco, 32′ Grounded Director/filmmaker: Simon Uribe 2025, Colombia, 70′ |
Fredag 11. september
| 09:30–13:00: Film screenings 6 Venue: University Museum of Bergen, Tårnsal Weedy Kin Director/filmmaker: Carolina Némethy 2026, Sweden, 24′ Sediments Director/filmmaker: Laura Coppens 2025, Germany, 81′ Living Room (i-doc) Director/filmmaker: Caterina Sartori 2025, United Kingdom |
| 14:00–17:00: Film screenings 7 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter Sai Parivar Director/filmmaker: Juan Francisco Cuyás 2026, India, 80′ |
| 18:00–20:00: Film screenings 8 Venue: Bergen Filmklubb, Tivoli, Det akademiske kvarter Electing Ms Santa Director/filmmaker: Raisa Razmerita 2025, Moldova, 96′ |
| 18:00–21:00 Film Screening at the Museum: A Cultural Night Bergen 2026 Side Event |
The University Museum invites you to a choir concert and film screening during Cultural Night Bergen.
The film screening begins approximately 8:30 PM.
An Indian Love Story (60 min.) 2024
A film by Dipesh Kharel and Frode Storaas, based on the anthropological research of Kathinka Frøystad
An Anthropological Documentary about Love, Goddesses, and Caste
Kuldeep is head over heels in love, but his girlfriend comes from a higher caste, and in India parents are often reluctant to see their daughters marry beneath their social status. Her father, however, is willing to consider the match if Kuldeep secures a permanent government job. In the hope of making his dreams come true, Kuldeep turns to the goddess Kali for help.
Filmed over a period of two years, AN INDIAN LOVE STORY uses Kuldeep’s story to explore themes of arranged marriage, caste, and the widely held expectation in India that children should obey their parents. The result is an intimate, engaging, and moving film about love under circumstances quite different from those familiar to us in Norway.
This year’s festival is organised by the following Organisational Committee members:
Åshild Sunde Feyling Thorsen
Senior Adviser, Senior curator, PhD candidate in visual anthropology
University Museum of Bergen
+47 951 76 610
ashild.thorsen@uib.no
Rolf Erik Scott
Researcher
Department of Social Anthropology
+4740046685
rolf.scott@uib.no
Frode Storaas
Emeritus
University Museum of Bergen
+4799550097
frode.storaas@uib.no
Meet the film selection committee! Every year, NAFA’s screenings are carefully selected by a dedicated committee.
Peter Ian Crawford (Denmark)
Chair of the film selection committee
Len Kamerling (U.S.A)
Knud Fischer-Møller (Denmark)
Aryo Danusiri (Indonesia)
SidyLamine Bagayoko (Mali)
Ilakkiya Maria Simon (Norway)
Esme Andrews (U.K., Scotland)
Emil Hvidtfeldt (Denmark)
Lise Cathrine Røv (Norway)
Julián D. Loaiza Pineda (Norway)