Hanna Bergholm premieres a strong follow-up with her horror-fantasy, Nightborn.
While tales of the horrors of motherhood aren’t new, the landscape of possible stories is rich and endless. It’s what makes the latest film from filmmaker Hanna Bergholm all the more enticing. Nightborn follows a couple and their newborn as they look for a new home for themselves deep in a Finnish forest. However, unknown threats and mounting tension plague their journey in parenting. Because Saga can’t help but suspect something is wrong, their child exhibits increasingly alarming behavior.
Marrying elements of The Changeling with an even greater fantastical touch, drawing on classic Finnish mythology, Hanna Bergholm’s film blends the supernatural with the personal. Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint star in the film as the parents, both of whom have to grapple with the fact that their lives aren’t turning out quite as they’d planned. Nightborn is also the English-language debut for Bergholm and her follow-up film following her first, the critically acclaimed absurdist dark comedy, Hatching.
We spoke to the director about the challenge of promoting one’s work, winning top awards at the 2026 Fantasia Film Festival, the body horror of pregnancy, and drawing on folklore for inspiration.
How does it feel to win Best Film at Fantasia?
It feels amazing because Fantasia is such a great festival, and it was so fun to watch the film with the audience who were really reacting the way I’d hoped. It’s great to win the Best Film award, but also our lead, Seidi Haarla, won the outstanding performance award, which she really deserved, so it’s really an honor.
Bringing it back to the beginning, I know that going through motherhood was a part of what inspired the film, but was there a specific moment or spark that really set things off?
It was various things. It first started after I’d made my previous film, Hatching, which was about a mother-daughter relationship and told from the daughter’s point of view, where the mother is, you might say, the villain of the film. And then I felt the need to kind of show that mothers might have a hard time, too, so I wanted to tell a mother’s story. It started from my own experience as a mother when the baby was born, and the baby was crying a lot, and I felt this rage and all of these feelings, where I didn’t know where to put them. So that was really why I wanted to tell a story about this forbidden side of maternal love.
I love that you mention rage because I feel it’s a perspective that’s underrepresented in stories about women. Do you find that to be just a rich space to write from?
Yes, I do! And it’s a very complex emotion in a way, in that, you know, like you said, it’s kind of taboo to have rage. But it’s something we all have. The answer is not to just go out and be violent or scream at other people. So, it creates this complex story.
Were there any media or references you drew inspiration from? I know folk tales played a role in shaping the film’s mood.
The Finnish folklore of all these creatures that live in the forest was an inspiration for me. And the forest altogether. You can see there are many forest colors in the film and in the forest materials, and even in the sawdust, bodies begin to change and take on the shapes of nature. So nature, really, was a big inspiration for me and mythologies. But for this film, I, with my co-writer Ilja Rautsi, made up a mythology all our own [laughs.]
In terms of other films. When I plan a film, I tend not to take direct references from other films. What I do is show the cinematographer and production designer very short clips from different films, preferably not from the same genre. Like, completely different. But they might be a reference for the sound design. One particular reference was a film from the ‘80s by Jean-Jacques Annaud, The Bear (1988), which tells a story about bears in the forest [laughs]. It has nothing to do with horror or motherhood. But there’s a physicality in it that I wanted for this film.
Is that then how you tend to find inspiration? Or it through moments and experiences in your own life?
It’s more lived experiences. And in this case, for example, I spoke with many parents, mothers, and fathers, about their experiences, and kind of blended them all. I listen to a lot of music when I’m thinking about the story. For example, I’m now drawn to this Finnish metal band, Apocalyptica. It’s why I contacted our composer, who’s part of the band, to do the music for the film.
What do you think it is about motherhood that makes it such a rich foundation for horror films? I’m thinking of last year’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. These types of stories provide a sensory overload of tension, so I was curious about your insight.
Whether you are a mother or not, we all had mothers [laugh] we’re all somebody’s child, so there’s a strong relationship. And when you are a mother yourself, it’s…well, it’s a very physical thing to be a mother and to give birth. And that side is not really discussed. I feel like the physical side is still a taboo; you’re supposed to give birth and move on. But, you know, different things happen to different women.
Your body might even break in various ways, and the question is how to deal with that and how to deal with your body if it has changed in, you know, beauty norms, or it’s not something you’re used to. Or, if the child whom you should love, “broke me,” then how do you deal with that? There are so many types of taboos, so many profound emotions and relationships that are combined there. So it’s perfect material for horror as well.
Can you talk about the casting process? Was there anything in particular you were looking for in the main roles?
Seidi Haarla was the actor whom I already had in mind when I was writing the script. I’d seen her in the Finnish film Compartment No. 6, which had just won the award at Cannes, and while that was a completely different role, I could see that she has this kind of sensitivity and strength at the same time. She’s very honest in her performance. She has a range in her portrayal of huge emotions. So she was really the one I wanted for this part.
And then, in the story, the man is from the U.K., so I started thinking about all the actors from the U.K., and I wanted this Jon character to, first, seem believable in wanting to move into the middle of the Finnish forest. He needed to have this down-to-earth feeling and this warmth. And Rupert [Grint] is great at portraying all of these, and also a very kind and honest character. Brave in a way in portraying difficult things as well.
Could you expand on your interest in practical effects versus visual effects? I feel it lends a tactile quality to the film, where you feel like you can reach out and touch what is onscreen.
That’s the reason I wanted the anamorphic baby. We had some real babies, but then we also had this puppet because I really wanted this baby to have a special way of moving that gave the impression that there was something weird about it. And the reason for using puppets is that, as you said, you really feel like you can touch them. This kind of physicality was really important to me.
Also, in my previous film, Hatching, there was this monster creature that was also done with puppets. We had the same wonderful team for this film. They’re the ones who’ve made all the Jurassic World and Star Wars film creatures. I really admire this kind of craftsmanship. Whether it’s about practical effects or special effect makeup, or just, you know, making props for the film and costume designers. It’s kind of wonderful to see, in real life, people’s skills.
In retrospect, what was the most rewarding part of the process for you? And, conversely, a challenge you might not have expected?
I think the most rewarding moments are really the little moments when you’re making the film with other people. I co-wrote this film with Ilja Rautsi, and the rewarding moments are, for example, when we complement each other’s ideas. One person says something and the other makes it better. It’s the same thing in any process from the beginning to the end. Working with other people, and every time it really works in the sense that we’re building on each other’s ideas.
And as for challenges, I kind of like the challenge. The biggest challenge for me is the ones that are kind of award moments. The red carpet moments. When, as the director, we’re meant to be behind the camera [laughs.]
Nightborn played as part of the 2026 Fantasia Film Festival and premieres July 31 on Shudder. Watch the trailer below.
Images courtesy of IFC Films/Shudder.
Based in New England, Allyson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.
