This years Noorderkroon Selection has been announced

The nominees for the Noorderkroon Awards 2025 have been announced. Northern filmmakers are competing for one of the film awards in seven categories. On the final day of the Northern Film Festival, which this year runs from 5 to 9 November, the winners will be announced during the festive award show.

Noorderkroon, part of the Talent & Industry programme of the Northern Film Festival, is the stage and competition for professional, student and amateur films by filmmakers from Friesland, Groningen or Drenthe, or films about this region. ‘Noorderkroon’ is a small constellation in the northern sky, formed by seven visible stars. These stars symbolise the seven awards that will be presented. During NoFF 2025, awards will be presented in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Student Film, Best Short Film (fiction), Best Short Documentary, Best New Maker and Greatest Talent.

Jottum Kok is a programmer at Noorderkroon. ‘It is striking that many creators chose stories that leave room for imagination and interpretation,’ he says about this year’s entries. ‘From fairy-tale worlds that come to life with paper and animation, to stories set in rugged Scottish landscapes or films that seek contact with the past and the dead.’

Three contenders have been selected from the entries in each category. The Greatest Talent will be announced during the award show. Kok: ‘The final Noorderkroon selection consists of 18 idiosyncratic films, each reflecting on today’s world in its own way: sometimes tranquil, sometimes exuberant, but always with the distinct personal signature of the creators.’

This year, the category “Best Amateur Film” has been replaced by “Best New Maker”. ‘We changed the name because “amateur film” no longer did justice to the films and filmmakers,’ says Kok. ‘With Best New Maker, we are focusing specifically on emerging talent: filmmakers who are at the beginning of their film careers and have made their first or second short fiction or documentary film. It’s not about educational background or budget, but about the individual voice, vision and originality expressed in the film.’

This is the Noorderkroon selection for 2025: