Top Scandinavian Films of All Time

Wonders in the Dark is having a top 20 Scandinavian films poll. The list of countries also includes Iceland, so in essence, it is a Nordic countries poll. That means the film output will primarily be from 5 countries - Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. One day, I hope to see films from Faroe Islands and Greenland.

As Sam Juliano pointed out, the challenge is restricting the number of Ingmar Bergman films for this list. I could have slotted half of this list with Bergman films. Instead, I restricted that number to 5 Bergman films or 25% of this list. In addition, I also managed to keep Lars von Trier entries to just 3 films.

Top 20 Scandinavian films of all time list:

1. The Seventh Seal (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
2. The Emigrants / The New Land (1971/1972, Sweden, Jan Troell)
3. Babette’s Feast (1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel)
4. Ordet (1955, Denmark, Carl Theodor Dryer)
5. The Phantom Carriage (1921, Sweden, Victor Sjöström)
6. Wild Strawberries (1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
7. The Celebration (1998, Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg)
8. Songs from the Second Floor (2000, Sweden, Roy Andersson)
9. A Winter Light (1963, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
10. Dancer in the Dark (2000, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
11. The Man Without a Past (2002, Finland co-production, Aki Kaurismäki)
12. Shame (1968, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
13. Scenes from a Marriage (1973, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
14. Breaking the Waves (1996, Denmark, Lars von Trier)
15. Pusher (1996, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
16. Children / Parents (2006/2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)
17. Show Me Love (1998, Sweden, Lukas Moodysson)
18. Force Majeure (2014, Sweden, Ruben Östlund)
19. Pelle the Conqueror (1987, Denmark/Sweden, Bille August)
20. Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)

Films from different countries:

There are 22 films for the 20 spots.

Sweden (11): The Emigrants and The New Land count as one entry
Denmark (7)
Finland (2)
Iceland (2): Children and Parents count as one spot

Unfortunately, no film from Norway made the cut.