Three Norwegian Oscar candidates have made the country’s final shortlist for the 2027 Academy Awards: the feature films Lave forventninger and Markens grøde, and the documentary Trango. The Norwegian Oscar Committee will meet on 1 September to choose the single film that Norway will submit for Best International Feature Film, one year after Joachim Trier’s Affeksjonsverdi won the award.
The shortlist was announced by the Norwegian Film Institute (Norsk filminstitutt, NFI) on 19 August. The committee considers both the films’ artistic qualities and their prospects for building an international campaign capable of reaching Academy voters.
The three titles should not yet be confused with an official Academy shortlist or an Oscar nomination. They are the three finalists in Norway’s domestic selection process, from which only one will be chosen as the country’s entry.
The three Norwegian Oscar candidates
Lave forventninger (Low Expectations) is the feature debut of director and screenwriter Eivind Landsvik. It follows Maja, a successful musician whose life and career collapse after several intense years following her breakthrough. She returns to live with her mother and takes a part-time job at a secondary school while trying to rebuild her life.
The lead role is played by Norwegian singer Marie Ulven, better known as Girl in Red, in her first major acting role. The film had its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected for Directors’ Fortnight, and is due to open in Norwegian cinemas on 11 September. According to NFI, its cast also includes Anders Danielsen Lie, Tone Mostraum, Embla Berntsen and Snorre Kind Monsson.
Markens grøde (Growth of the Soil) is directed by Hans Petter Moland and written by Moland and Gard B. Eidsvold. The film adapts Knut Hamsun’s 1917 novel and centres on Isak and Inger as they attempt to build a farm and a life together in the Norwegian wilderness.
The film stars Herbert Nordrum and Asta Kamma August and will reach Norwegian cinemas on 30 October. Its international festival campaign is already taking shape: Markens grøde has been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival and will compete for the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
The third contender is Trango, a 119-minute documentary directed by Christopher Carvasal. It reconstructs two Norwegian climbing expeditions, separated by 15 years, connected to Trango Pulpit in the Himalayas. The film looks back in particular at a pioneering Norwegian expedition in 1984 and at the risks, sacrifices and consequences that followed it. NFI describes the documentary as a story about the long pursuit of seemingly impossible ambitions in extreme mountain environments.
Norway chooses its Oscar entry on 1 September
Norway’s selection is handled by an eight-member committee led by the Norwegian Film Institute and including representatives of organisations for producers, filmmakers, directors, actors, screenwriters and film critics.
All eligible films submitted for consideration are assessed before the committee selects three finalists. The production companies behind the shortlisted films then present their plans for international release and for an Oscar campaign. The committee will make its final choice on 1 September.
That film will become Norway’s official entry for Best International Feature Film, although selection by Norway does not itself guarantee a place among the eventual Oscar nominees.
The 99th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on 14 March 2027, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Norway is trying to follow an unprecedented Oscar year
This year’s selection comes after the strongest Oscar result in the history of Norwegian cinema. Joachim Trier’s Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value) received nine nominations at the 2026 Academy Awards and became the first Norwegian feature film to win Best International Feature Film.
Before that victory, Norway had produced six other nominees in the category: Ni liv in 1958, Veiviseren in 1988, Søndagsengler in 1997, Elling in 2002, Kon-Tiki in 2013 and Trier’s Verdens verste menneske in 2022.
The three Norwegian Oscar candidates for 2027 therefore enter the selection process in an unusual position. Norway is no longer only trying to reach the Academy’s final five, but to follow a year in which one of its films actually won the category. The first decision, however, remains domestic: on 1 September, two of the three films will leave the race and one will begin Norway’s attempt to return to the Oscars.
