Northern Film Festival takes Noorderkroon to Germany; entries now open

Noorderkroon is the annual competition organised by the Northern Film Festival (NoFF) for filmmakers from the northern Netherlands. From the previous edition, directors Jasper van Leeningen (Met huid en haar, winner of Best Short Documentary), Froukje van Wengerden (De jaren waarin ik niet film), Sibrich Wijnia (Wie schrijft, die weet) and Antonia Rhenen (Blau) and their producers will be travelling to the festival in Germany. Following the film screening, there will be a Q&A with the filmmakers.

The first Noorderkroon showcase in Emden, in 2025, secured another screening abroad for the Frisian filmmaker Sammy Shefa Idris: his documentary Vaders zijn ook zonen was scouted in Emden and subsequently selected for the International Short Film Festival London.

Expanding and building on
Henriëtte Poelman, artistic director of the Noordelijk Film Festival: “The fact that we are collaborating with FilmFest Emden again this year gives us the opportunity to further expand our joint programmes and build on last year’s successes. I am very much looking forward to introducing the directors and producers to Germany, where a new network will open up for them. Hopefully, this edition will also lead to new international screenings, contacts for potential co-productions and inspiration from newly acquired knowledge.”

Opportunities are growing
“The industry panels and networking sessions are crucial to this, but through the screenings, audiences across the border are also getting to know the stories of filmmakers from the Northern Netherlands, and vice versa,” adds Hester Terpstra, Director of the organising foundation Film in Friesland. “More organisations from the border regions have now come forward expressing interest for the future, further increasing the opportunities and visibility of our regional film talent and culture. In Friesland, East Frisia and at a European level. The fact that the visual and audio archives are also involved gives the collaboration an even richer context.”

German delegation to Leeuwarden
In November, a German delegation will visit Leeuwarden, where the Noordelijk Film Festival will take place from 4 to 8 November. During this 46th edition, Edzard Wagenaar, festival director of FilmFest Emden-Norderney, will present a German film from his own programme. The film’s director and producer will speak in detail about their film and the production process as part of NoFF’s Industry programme.

This cross-border collaboration is made possible by the Interreg programme Deutschland-Nederland and its programme partners, and is co-financed by the European Union (EU).

Registration for Noorderkroon 2026 is now open
Registration for the Noorderkroon Competition 2026 opens on Wednesday 20 May. Filmmakers from the Northern Netherlands can register for the annual competition until 16 August.

Further information about the various categories and the terms and conditions can be found at www.noordelijkfilmfestival.nl/noorderkroon.

About the Noorderkroon Awards
Noorderkroon is the platform 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 prizes we award to our own stars, the filmmakers of the Northern Netherlands. During NoFF 2025, awards were presented in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Student Film, Best Short Film (fiction), Best Short Film (documentary), Best New Filmmaker and Most Promising New Talent. The Noorderkroon Awards are presented every year during the Northern Film Festival in Leeuwarden.

About the Northern Film Festival
The Northern Film Festival is a five-day film festival in Leeuwarden that takes place every year in November. It is one of the largest and oldest regional film festivals in the Netherlands and stands out for its focus on Northern European cinema, films from small language areas, and films about (or featuring live) music. The Talent & Industry programme grows every year. In the autumn, 260 people work on the Noordelijk Film Festival, 220 of whom are volunteers.

The Noordelijk Film Festival is part of the Film in Friesland foundation, which also includes Slieker Film and the Frisian Film and Audio Archive.