Panu Aaltio Wins the 2026 HARPA Nordic Film Music Award

Panu Aaltio has won the HARPA Nordic Film Music Award for his score to Little Siberia (dir. Dome Karukoski), the first Finnish Netflix original feature film. The award was presented on February 14 at the Nordic Film Music Days ceremony held at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin, during the Berlin International Film Festival.

The international jury praised the score: “Comedy is a difficult and challenging genre for a composer, but the music for Little Siberia succeeds in elevating the film to a completely new level. The score is epic in scale, yet light and buoyant, and its themes unfold through imaginatively layered textures. The composition and orchestration combine a wide range of sounds — from folk music to electronic elements — in an excellent way.”

Based on the novel by Antti Tuomainen, the dark comedy is set in the remote Finnish village of Hurmevaara, where everyday life is upended when a meteorite crashes through the roof of a car one night. Aaltio’s music for the film has also been selected as Finland’s entry for the European Camille Awards in Vienna later this year.

This is Finland’s fourth HARPA win, following Dani Strömbäck (2010), Tuomas Kantelinen (2013), and Sanna Salmenkallio (2022). Earlier this week, Aaltio also received an IFMCA nomination for Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film for Super Furball and the Lying Squirrel.

Photo by Thomas Kolbein Bjørk Olsen