These are the winners of the Noorderkroon Awards 2026

During the film festival, the Noorderkroon and the accompanying award ceremony provided a platform for filmmakers from the northern region. The jury, Yassin Karmoudi, Hakima Elouarti and Nelleke Koop assessed the entries on quality, originality, topicality, and creativity, and selected a winner in each category.

The winners per category

Best Feature Film – Nuclear Boy (Directed: Joren Molter, producer: Floor Onrust – Family Affair Films)

Aike (Guus Blanken), a lonely 17-year-old outsider, craves attention and finds it online, where he carries out dangerous chemistry experiments.

Best Documentary – De Vrouwenmars (Directed: Ted Alkemade, producer: Carla Wolbers en Roeland Dijksterhuis)van der Schaaf)

In April 1945, 116 women from the Resistance set out on a deportation march from Camp Westerbork. Drawing on a recently rediscovered interview with one of these women, director Ted Alkemade explores this forgotten chapter of history — a journey on which his grandmother also walked. How does such a profound event continue to have an impact generations later?

Best Student Film – De Ware Bjorn Spreekt (Directed: Laurens Kloosterman, producer: Bauke van Dijk)

Bjorn, aged 30, lives in the countryside with his overbearing mother and his ailing father. When his only friend wants to cut ties with him, he is forced to take a long, hard look at his life.

Best Short Fiction Film – De Floor is Lava (Directed: Demian van der Wekken, producer: Idris Bakker – Room for Film)

Two childhood friends reunite after thirteen years to retrieve the password for an old Twitter account. As they try to put the past behind them, they slip back into their old ways.

Best Short Documentary – LEAP (Directed: Cristobal de Alba, producer: Carla Wolbers, Tetsje de Groot en Annet Huisman)

Whilst trying to carry on his father’s legacy and preparing for fatherhood, an experienced fierljepper makes one last attempt to push his limits and win the coveted Frisian title.

Best New Maker – Werkplaats van je dromen (Directed: Jille Smilda en Maurice Klok, producer: Anna Rixt Sijens – Fabuch Social Cinema)

When a refugee’s child walks into the ‘Workshop of Your Dreams’, the dream-maker has to work hard to make his own dream come true too.

Greatest Upcoming Talent – Andrei Ciobanu with Erased

A young woman enters a mysterious place where memories are erased. There, her alter ego, posing as a false saviour, tries to persuade her to let go of her painful memories.