A treatise of the human animal no. 38: HEARTACHE

 A treatise of the human animal no. 38: HEARTACHE is a comical and life-affirming depiction of the human being and its eternal tendency to have its heart broken. In eight standalone chapters, we meet the patients, at the Sanatorium for Heartache, in their assiduous attempt to cure themselves of this terrible disease. Meanwhile, on Antarctica, we join the penguin Edgar on an epic journey, as he traverses snowy plains and stormy mountains, in an attempt to once again be reunited with the love of his life. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Studie udi menneskedyret no. 38: HJERTEKVALER
  • Director
    Jacob Møller
  • Producer
    Charlotte Hjordt
  • Writers
    Jacob Møller, Christian Bengtson
  • Photo
    Stroud Rohde Pearce
  • Actors
    Nicolai Jørgensen, Olaf Johannessen, Nicolai Dahl Hamilton, Simon Bennebjerg
  • Playtime
    29 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Production
    The National Film School of Denmark

A White, White day

In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief begins to suspect a local man for having had an affair with his wife, who recently died in a car accident. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love.

By marrying supernatural legend with tinges of bleak humour, director Hlynur Pálmason again succeeds in conjuring a story which touches on deep human impulses; a tale of growing madness amidst the stunning, almost otherworldly Icelandic nature.

Hvítur, hvítur dagur premiered at La Semaine de la Critique at the 2019 Cannes festival.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur
  • Director
    Hlynur Pálmason
  • Producer
    Anton Máni Svansson
  • Writers
    Hlynur Pálmason
  • Photo
    Maria von Hausswolff
  • Actors
    Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason
  • Playtime
    1 h 49 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Iceland
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Join Motion Pictures
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

A White, White Day: Nordic Council Film Prize nominee, Iceland

In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief begins to suspect a local man for having had an affair with his wife, who recently died in a car accident. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love.

By marrying supernatural legend with tinges of bleak humour, director Hlynur Pálmason again succeeds in conjuring a story which touches on deep human impulses; a tale of growing madness amidst the stunning, almost otherworldly Icelandic nature.

Hvítur, hvítur dagur premiered at La Semaine de la Critique at the 2019 Cannes festival.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hvítur, hvítur dagur
  • Director
    Hlynur Pálmason
  • Producer
    Anton Máni Svansson
  • Writers
    Hlynur Pálmason
  • Photo
    Maria von Hausswolff
  • Actors
    Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason
  • Playtime
    1 h 49 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Iceland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Film i Väst, Glassriver, Join Motion Pictures
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

All About Yves

A French rap composer sparks up a friendship with his smart fridge in this Artificial Intelligence fantasy.Jerem moved to his grandmother’s house to compose a rap record. He meets So, a mysterious investigator on behalf of the start-up Digital Cool, who persuades him to take the test Yves, a smart refrigerator, supposed to simplify his life. Gradually, the fridge will win the friendship of Jerem, to make him a star by becoming his ghost writer.

All about Yves closed out the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Yves
  • Director
    Benoît Forgeard
  • Producer
    Emmanuel Chaumet
  • Writers
    Benoît Forgeard
  • Photo
    Thomas Favel
  • Actors
    William Lebghil, Doria Tillier, Philippe Katerine
  • Playtime
    1 h 47 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France
  • Production
    Ecce Films, Le Pacte, Canal+

All Is True

The year is 1613, and Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family.

 

The amazing cinematography is parallell with a phenomenal cast in this newest film from director Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the lead as William “the bard” Shakespeare. Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and several other wonderful actors join him in creating this nontypical portrayal of the man whose life and work has always been enveloped by mystery – much like his enchanting plays.

  • Program
  • Original title
    All Is True
  • Director
    Kenneth Branagh
  • Producer
    Kenneth Branagh, Ted Gagliano, Tamar Thomas
  • Writers
    Ben Elton
  • Photo
    Zac Nicholson
  • Actors
    Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen
  • Playtime
    1 h 41 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    UK
  • Age limit
    6
  • Production
    TKBC
  • Distributor
    Festival import

Amazing Grace

Over two days in January of 1972, Aretha Franklin got up to sing out her gospel at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, backed by the Southern California Community Choir. A film crew was there to catch the Queen of Soul blow the roof off the place. The live recording of the concert became Franklin’s biggest bestseller. Eight months after Franklin’s passing at the age of 76, it still is.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Amazing Grace
  • Director
    Sydney Pollack, Alan Elliott
  • Producer
    Joe Boyd, Sabrina V. Owens, Angie Seegers
  • Photo
    Sydney Pollack
  • Playtime
    1 h 29 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    All ages
  • Production
    40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Al's Records And Tapes, Rampant
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

An Impossible Love

At the end of the 1950s, Rachel, a young office clerk living in a provincial town, meets Philippe, a well-educated man from a wealthy family. They share an intense but short-lived romance, from which a daughter is born. Over the next 50 years, their lives will be shaped by the unconditional love between a mother and her daughter, overshadowed by the impossible love of a woman for a man that rejects her, and of a daughter for an absent and abusive father.

Based on the acclaimed novel by Christine Angot, Un Amour Impossible.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Un amour impossible
  • Director
    Catherine Corsini
  • Producer
    Chaz Productions, Artémis Productions
  • Writers
    Catherine Corsini
  • Photo
    Jeanne Lapoirie
  • Actors
    Virginie Efira, Niels Schneider, Jehnny Beth
  • Playtime
    2 h 15 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Anne-Laure Labadie

Angel has fallen

The third and presumably last installment in the Gerard Butler-led action franchise, following Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016).

Secret Service agent Mike Banning finds himself framed for an assassination attempt on President Allan Trumbull. Pursued by his own agency and the FBI, Banning turns to unlikely allies in a race against time to clear his name and uncover the real terrorist threat.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Angel has fallen
  • Director
    Ric Roman Waugh
  • Producer
    Millennium Media
  • Writers
    Katrin Benedikt, Robert Mark Kamen
  • Photo
    Jules O'Loughlin
  • Actors
    Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Piper Perabo, Lance Reddick, Jada Pinkett Smith
  • Playtime
    1 h 27 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel

As I Fall

Joachim is 28 years old. His charming smile veils the daily battle he fights within himself as he struggles to manage a heroin addiction. He smokes everyday and tries to quit almost every other. He hates the drug and the control it has over him, but it removes his pain. His loneliness. After years locked in a cycle of abuse, Joachim is on the verge of a breakdown. He gets an unexpected call from his ex-girlfriend, Maria. She’s been arrested and is worried about their 5-year-old son, Lukas. Joachim hasn’t seen Lukas since he was born, and she begs Joachim to take care of Lukas until she’s released. Without much of a choice and thinking it will only be for a few hours, Joachim agrees. To his own surprise Joachim wants to keep Lukas. He wants a reason to be the person he thinks he is – a responsible man. A sober man. A father.

A gripping drama and a impressive production from the Norway’s leading film school, As I Fall had the honour of closing the 2018 festival.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Når jeg faller
  • Director
    Magnus Meyer Arnesen
  • Producer
    Gyda Velvin Myklebust, Magnus Kristiansen
  • Writers
    Magnus Meyer Arnesen, Kristian Landmark
  • Photo
    Ivar Taim
  • Actors
    Preben Hodneland, Marius Aandal Pedersen, Alexandra Gjerpen, Vidar Sandem, Morten Svartveit
  • Playtime
    1 h 37 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    The Norwegian Film School
  • Distributor
    SF Studios Norway

Attention

Scandinavian schools are considered among the best in the world, with great focus on play and less focus on grades. Nevertheless, the proportion of Norwegian pupils who drop out of secondary school can reach up to 50%. So, what’s really the issue in the Norwegian school system?

Attention follows a primary school class for ten years. The class at Tana is small, but teeming with many distinct personalities, facing different challenges. For example sweet Rebekka, who wants both a horse and a dog for Christmas, or quiet Mads, who is a little ahead of the others in his class.

And then it’s Morten. Everyone knows, or has known, someone like Morten. The troubled child who is a constant disturbance in the classroom. He starts first grade with great enthusiasm and motivation, but soon hits a wall, disappointed in the gap between reality and his expectations. How does the school system relate to children like Morten, and what resources do schools have to deal with such cases, or to assist the children when needed? How is Morten himself affected by what he meets through his classroom upbringing?

Director Guro Saniola Bjerk has created an honest and uncompromising portrait of school time that has become both a documentary and a TV series. The project opens up for greater insight and discussion by viewing the school system from the children’s perspective – how do they experience their own circumstances?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Våre håpefulle
  • Director
    Guro Saniola Bjerk
  • Producer
    Håvard Wettland Gossé
  • Photo
    Guro Saniola Bjerk, Torstein Nodland, Henrik Flatås, Mats Slaastad Birkelund
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9
  • Production
    Spætt Film AS

Aurora: Nordic Council Film Prize nominee, Finland

The title character of Aurora is like a Finnish version of Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck leading lady. In order to get through the monotony of her everyday life, consisting of a job at a nail salon and disappointing nights out in Rovaniemi, Aurora dreams of a different and more exciting existence – in Norway. When she meets Iranian refugee Darian and his daughter, Aurora’s life gains a new purpose: They embark on a mission to find Darian a wife, so that he in turn will get a full residence permit. Surrounding them at all times is a gallery of secondary characters that could be taken straight from an Arto Paasillina novel.

Aurora is a highly entertaining and funny film. However, the care and respect that director Miia Tervos has for each of her characters shine through in every scene. Several brilliant performances – ranging from Aurora’s alcohol-drenched father to the sympathetic boss at the local emergency room – in combination with a striking Slavic soundtrack and an intensely colourful production design, all make Aurora one of the most charming features you can catch in cinemas this year.

  • Program
  • Director
    Miia Tervo
  • Producer
    Mahsa Malka
  • Writers
    Miia Tervo
  • Photo
    Arsen Sarkisiants
  • Actors
    Mimosa Willamo, Amir Escandari, Oona Airola
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Dionysos Films

Baby Jane

Based on the novel Baby Jane by best-selling Finnish author Sofi Oksanen.

Jane, a small-town girl, has moved to Helsinki and the world is finally open for her. Passionate and excited, she seeks adventure, all the things she has yearned for so long. Jane gravitates to a gay bar at night, staggers in her nervous state of mind, and suddenly there, right next to her, Jane finds her savior: Piki, the most dashing butch in town. Piki is perfect. Jane is hypnotized by Piki’s dark-toned voice. Piki offers her an entire new universe, and even more – dreams.

Baby Jane is a gripping love story, and a thrilling new portrait of Helsinki as it has never been seen before. The film will have its international premiere in Haugesund.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Baby Jane
  • Director
    Katja Gauriloff
  • Producer
    Joonas Berghäll, Satu Majava
  • Writers
    Katja Gauriloff, Veera Tyhtilä
  • Photo
    Heikki Färm
  • Actors
    Lauri Tilkanen, Maria Ylipää, Maija Paunio, Roosa Söderholm, Mirja Öisti, Nelly Kärkkäinen
  • Playtime
    1 h 33 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Oktober Oy
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Balloon

,

In the summer of 1979, in Thüringen, in East Germany, two families put together a crazy plan. They are desperate to leave the DDR for the ‘West’ and plan to flee in a homemade hot air balloon. After sewing and tinkering for weeks, the amateurs make their first attempt. Meters from the West German border, their balloon suffers from the rain and crash lands. Luckily, they manage to avoid being caught by the police. However, the wreckage from their escape attempt is found and that triggers a desperate manhunt. The tension rises as the families determine to try again, and a race against time ensues. On the one hand, the authorities, desperate to track down the traitors, become aware that a second attempt is being planned. On the other, the would-be escapees, conscious of the search drawing ever nearer, need to build a more robust, weatherproof balloon – and avoid leaving too many clues.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Ballon
  • Director
    Michael Herbig
  • Producer
    Michael Herbig
  • Writers
    Kit Hopkins, Thilo Röscheisen, Michael Herbig
  • Photo
    Torsten Breuer
  • Actors
    Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross |
  • Playtime
    2h 5m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Germany
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    herbX Film
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Before the frost

As winter approaches in rural 1850s Denmark, an old farmer, Jens, and his family face starvation. With the harsh circumstances and the prospect of yet another tough winter, Jens agrees to ally with the neighbouring family in a marriage between his daughter and their son. However, when the rich farmer at a nearby farm wants to buy Jens’s land, he sees a chance to provide him and his family with an even better life.

This gripping drama is directed by Michael Noer, widely recognised as one of the most exciting young talents in Scandinavia. The complex character of Jens is brought to life by magnificent Danish actor Jesper Christensen, who masterfully conveys the imbalance of responsibility and egoism in an increasingly desperate man. Jens’ hunger is soon replaced by greediness as his life changes for the better – at the cost of the ones he initially tried to protect. A moving tale about the darkness, and the light, in all of us.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Før frosten
  • Director
    Michael Noer
  • Producer
    Matilda Appelin
  • Writers
    Jesper Fink
  • Actors
    Jesper Christensen, Clara Rosager, Magnus Krepper
  • Playtime
    1 h 44 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Nordisk Film Production
  • Distributor
    The Danish Film Institute

Below the Waves, Above the Clouds

The two best friends, Helene and Theo, travel to Crete to reunite Helene with a past holiday romance. Life is great and the sky is the limit. But when the plan capsizes the girls are faced with unknown inner demons that they have to overcome together. 

Below the Waves, Above the Clouds portrays what it means to be close to someone who is losing grip on herself and her connection to reality. The film argues that whether there is magic in the world is not important – what matters is if you choose to believe there is. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Under bølgerne, over skyerne
  • Director
    Katrine Brocks
  • Producer
    Pernille Tornøe
  • Writers
    Denise Kræmer, Katrine Brocks
  • Photo
    Mia Mai Dengsø Graabæk
  • Actors
    Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Kristine Kujath Thorp
  • Playtime
    29 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Production
    The National Film School of Denmark

Blind Spot: Nordic Council Film Prize nominee, Norway

How do we cope with the unthinkable?

Tuva Novotny has made a hard-hitting film that has to be described as one of the most impressive feature debuts in recent years. Blind Spot tackles the grey areas of mental illness; the blind spots that can be so difficult to detect. For 98 intense minutes we follow a mother’s struggle to understand her daughter Tea’s crisis as it affects the entire family. Pia Tjelta is formidable as Tea’s mother, especially considering the fact that the entire film is shot in one single take.

Tuva Novotny is first and foremost known as an actress in several Scandinavian films and drama series, and has also appeared in international projects. She had her directing debut for four episodes of the series Dag, and has since directed an episode of the Netflix hit Lillyhammer. She has also written the movie script for Blind Spot, grounded in her desire to create more openness around its serious subject. How can we as adults, parents and society help our children and youth open up about difficult thoughts and mental suffering, when our ideals are built on the pursuit of happiness and plenty?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Blindsone
  • Director
    Tuva Novotny
  • Producer
    Elisabeth Kvithyll
  • Writers
    Tuva Novotny
  • Photo
    Jonas Alarik
  • Actors
    Pia Tjelta, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Per Frisch, Marianne Krogh, Oddgeir Thune
  • Playtime
    1 h 42 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Nordisk Film Production
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribution

Daddy

A child expresses his feelings, after the loss of his father through beautiful and innocent imagination.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Pappa
  • Director
    Atle Blakseth, Einar Dunsæd
  • Writers
    Atle S. Blakseth og Kari Tinnen
  • Playtime
    8 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    6
  • Production
    Gimpville

Earth

Several billion tons of earth are moved annually by humans – with shovels, excavators or dynamite. Nikolaus Geyrhalter observes people in mines, quarries, large construction sites in a constant struggle to appropriate the planet. 

A portrait of the Earth in the Anthropocene – at seven locations that humans have transformed on a grand scale. Initially shown from above as abstract paintings, these terrains are subsequently explored on the ground: The film weaves together observational footage of machines in operation with conversations with the workers. Alongside statements on work processes, environmental damage and technological change, Erde makes this constructed world visible in unique fashion by subtly paring it down: the piles of grey matter, hills and mountains. The blackness and the cracks. The sandy landscapes, criss-crossed by an array of mechanical devices that scuttle about like caterpillars or worms. The dimensions are gigantic, the proportions out of control; the world has slipped from humanity’s grasp.

“There is always a bigger machine, a bigger engine and when all fails there is dynamite. We always win.” Or do we?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Erde
  • Director
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter
  • Producer
    Michael Kitzberger
  • Writers
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter
  • Photo
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter
  • Playtime
    1 h 55 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Austria
  • Age limit
    6
  • Production
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion

Edie

It’s never too late to find yourself. 

Edith Moore (Edie) is a bitter, gruff woman in her eighties. In the months following her husband George’s death, Edie’s strained relationship with her daughter Nancy begins to worsen. The question over Edie’s future looms large; while Edie tries hard to convince Nancy she can manage fine by herself, Nancy is making plans for her mother to move to a retirement home. Edie feels like it is the beginning of the end. It seems she will die with all the regrets of her past intact and one regret haunts her most of all. When Edie was married, her father planned a climbing trip for them in the Scottish Highlands. Edie yearned to go, but her husband George, a difficult and controlling man, made her stay at home, nearly thirty years later, Edie decides to make the trip herself alone.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Edie
  • Director
    Simon Hunter
  • Producer
    Mark Stothert
  • Writers
    Simon Hunter
  • Photo
    August Jakobsson
  • Actors
    Sheila Hancock, Kevin Guthrie, Paul Brannigan
  • Playtime
    1 h 42 min
  • Year
    2017
  • Country
    UK
  • Age limit
    9
  • Production
    ‎Cape Wrath Films
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Filia

Maria falls in love at first sight with a corpse she finds in the woods. Will they be together forever?

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Filia
  • Director
    Anniina Joensalo
  • Producer
    Anna Mellin
  • Writers
    Ossi Hakala
  • Photo
    Aku Koskinen
  • Actors
    Noora Dadu, Miro Lopperi, Eero Ojala, Vuokko Hovatta
  • Playtime
    24 m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Finland
  • Production
    Aalto University, ELO Film School Finland

Fisherman’s Friends

The film is based on a true story about Port Isaac´s Firsherman´s Friends, a group of Cornish firshermen from Port Isaac who were signed by Universal Records and achieved a top 10 hit with their debut album of traditional sea shanties.

The film tells how Danny (Daniel Mays), who works on a record label, randomly hears them singing and decides that he will publish them on record. However, this turns out to be very different from what Danny expects, as he stays in the village and get introduced to the pleasant life of the sleepy fishing village.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Fisherman's Friends
  • Director
    Chris Foggin
  • Producer
    Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, James Spring.
  • Writers
    Piers Ashworth, Meg Leonard.
  • Photo
    Simon Tindall
  • Actors
    Tuppence Middleton, James Purefoy, Daniel Mays.
  • Playtime
    1h 52min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    UK
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Fred Films, Powderkeg Pictures, BondIt Media Capital.
  • Distributor
    Norsk Filmdistribusjon

Flashdance (16mm)

What a feeling! This year’s 16-mm screening at Bedehuset is the 80’s classic Flashdance. It is time to step into your leotard and back-brush your hair. Take your passion … And make it happen!

Alex, a beautiful and talented young dancer, keeps her artistic ambitions alive despite her daily work as a welder. She has an extra job as a dancer in a bar, and every night she puts on her costume and lets the music set her movements and feelings in motion. Dancing is her life, and she pursues a fleeting dream of one day becoming a professional dancer. Her neighborhood and background work against her, and her confidence and courage fail. Then she meets Nick, a young wealthy man who himself has climbed from nothing to the top, and her dream gets the nurturing it needs to make it happen.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Flashdance
  • Director
    Adrian Lyne
  • Producer
    Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson
  • Writers
    Thomas Hedley Jr., Joe Eszterhas
  • Photo
    Donald Peterman
  • Actors
    Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri Lilia Skala, Sunny Johnson, Kyle T. Heffner
  • Playtime
    1 h. 35 min.
  • Year
    1983
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Paramount Pictures
  • Distributor
    Cinemateket

Fugue

,

Alicja suffers from memory loss and has rebuilt her own free spirited way of life. Two years later, she returns to her former family to assume against her will her role as wife, mother and daughter. Her estranged husband and son do not recognize this woman who looks familiar and yet behaves like a stranger. Feelings of alienation, love and revelations rekindle her interior flame. Will she be able to relate to people who were once close to her but are now complete strangers?

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Fuga
  • Director
    Agnieszka Smoczyńska
  • Producer
    Agnieszka Kurzydlo
  • Writers
    Gabriela Muskala
  • Photo
    Jakub Kijowski
  • Actors
    Gabriela Muskala, Lukasz Simlat, Malgorzata Buczkowska
  • Playtime
    1h. 42min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    MD4, Axman Productions, Common Ground Pictures

Grey Wolf

Digging up the memory of the Finnish Civil War in 1918, Grey Wolf tells a historical story with a modern twist. When Viktor Stark, a peaceful writer of the conservative Whites, finds a wounded enemy soldier hiding for his life, Stark’s values and loyalty are measured against each other. Will he choose a higher moral or otherness? The answer is revealed in the final scene that turns the whole world around. Grey Wolf is set in history, but truly, it tells about us.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Harma susi
  • Director
    Topi Raulo
  • Producer
    Claudia Fleege
  • Writers
    Hannes Mattila
  • Photo
    Tomi Rislakki
  • Actors
    Matti Laine, Tapio Liinoja, Miikka Ahonen, Hanan Sneih, Simon Hussein Al-Bazoon
  • Playtime
    20 m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Finland

Harajuku

The evening before Christmas Eve, Vilde is hanging out with her friends at the Oslo central station, when she learns that her mother has been in an accident. She is forced to contact her biological father, but attempts escaping it all by running away to Tokyo.

Harajuku is a deeply moving portrayal of a personal tragedy, and questions our society’s ability to take care of the young and vulnerable. The film has received 9 Amanda nominations, including Best Female Lead for Ines Høysæter Asserson’s impressive debut.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Harajuku
  • Director
    Eirik Svensson
  • Producer
    Cornelia Boysen
  • Writers
    Sebastian Torngren Wartin
  • Photo
    Karl Erik Brøndbo
  • Actors
    Ines Høysæter Asserson, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Ingrid Olava
  • Playtime
    1 h 23 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Maipo Film

Heavy Load

Two estranged brothers embark on a road trip through Southern Europe in order to bring the body of their late father back to Denmark. Even though Magnus was initially only included to get hold of his father’s Rolex watch, it becomes a journey that brings the two brothers closer together. Not least because they decide to transport their father’s body home on the roof box of a smart car, when Magnus refuses to pay 10,000 euros to have him sent home. This will put them in a lot of trouble with the police along the road.

A delightful example of zany Danish comedy, this wild road movie conjures hilarity and surprisingly moving moments out of an initially dark (and very annoying) situation. Magnus and Emil Millang are real-life brothers, and have undeniable chemistry in their first movie together.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Selvhenter
  • Director
    Magnus Millang
  • Producer
    Elise Lund Larsen, Christian Potalivo
  • Writers
    Emil Millang, Magnus Millang
  • Photo
    Valdemar Winge Leisner, Martin la Cour
  • Actors
    Magnus Millang, Emil Millang, Amalie Lindegård
  • Playtime
    1 h 31 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Miso Film

Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre

 [Mansplaining: a man talks condescendingly to someone (usually a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he’s talking to does.] 

 An intensely hysterical horror comedy about one woman’s desperate struggle to survive a horde of men with frail egos, who just want to explain everything to her. But the biggest horror may be closer to her than she thinks. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre
  • Director
    Ilja Rautsi
  • Producer
    Mark Lwoff, Misha Jaari
  • Writers
    Ilja Rautsi
  • Photo
    Kerttu Hakkarainen
  • Actors
    Anna Paavilainen, Leo Honkonen, Ella Lahdenmäki, Kari Hietalahti, Pekka Strang, Iska Strang, Vesa-Matti Loiri
  • Playtime
    15 m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Finland
  • Production
    Aalto University, ELO Film School Finland

Hold rundt meg (English title TBA)

Kareem, a foreigner who lives in Norway, strives to make clear to himself that he’s accepted into the society and is no less than any other individual. Ironically, his girlfriend, the closest person to him proves him wrong.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hold rundt meg
  • Director
    Agnese Laizane
  • Producer
    Iren Tislevoll
  • Writers
    Mustafa Battal
  • Photo
    Leander Håvik
  • Actors
    Egzon Neziri, Mari-Elene Gudahl, Beate Rostin Wexelsen
  • Playtime
    11 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Grainy Films AS

Holy Jail

An elderly man must choose between paying his speeding ticket or going to jail for five days. He picks jail and falls in love with life behind bars.

This short film is screened before Out of Tune.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Holy Jail
  • Director
    Maria Lavelle
  • Producer
    Maria Lavelle
  • Writers
    Maria Lavelle
  • Photo
    Jall Cowasji
  • Actors
    Joel Rooks, Rikke Westerlund Lie, Martin Mentzoni, Remi Skjæraasen, George Leesam, Adrian Gunderstad
  • Playtime
    11 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    NOET Productions

Homebound

Homebound is a survival story set in one of the world´s biggest refugee camps. A bus is waiting to forcefully return refugees to their country of origin. Xidig, 8, is excited to go home, but his brother Saliim, 12, knows that a war- torn and dangerous place is no one´s home. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Kotimatka
  • Director
    Marika Harjusaari
  • Producer
    Paria Eskandari
  • Writers
    Ilona Ahti
  • Photo
    Antti Ahokoivu
  • Actors
    Mahad Dasar, Amir Dasar, Melissa Haiden, Billings Siwila, Saidi Ndayisshoimiye
  • Playtime
    19 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Finland
  • Production
    Aalto University, ELO Film School Finland

In Safe Hands

Abandoned at birth, baby Theo’s uncertain future lies in the hands of the Child Welfare Services. Jean, who is no stranger to the foster system, is given the responsibility of temporarily looking after Theo, while the members of the Adoption Agency have the difficult task of finding him a home. Meanwhile Alice, unable to have children of her own, has never stopped fighting to be a mother. After facing many setbacks, Alice is finally ready to welcome a child, just when the Adoption Servicing is seeking a home for Theo. Thanks to the dedicated members of social services, the paths of Alice and Theo will cross, blending the journey of Jean and the rest of the team along the way.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Pupille
  • Director
    Jeanne Herry
  • Producer
    Alain Attal
  • Writers
    Jeanne Herry
  • Photo
    Sofian El Fani
  • Actors
    Sandrine Kiberlain, Gilles Lellouche, Élodie Bouchez
  • Playtime
    1 h 50 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Les Productions du Trésor, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Intrepid

When a young huntress decides to track a stranger in the wild, calamity ensues.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Jeger
  • Director
    Øivind Næss
  • Producer
    Marius Hagen, Ole Jørgen Flått, Alexander Kristiansen
  • Writers
    Øivind Næss
  • Photo
    Tommy Søreide Kjær
  • Actors
    Eili Harboe, Kim Sørensen
  • Playtime
    9 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Tickgarden AS

Just Charlie

Young soccer star Charlie has the world at his feet. With a top club desperate to sign him, his future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Trapped in the body of a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father’s expectations and shedding this ill-fitting skin. Charlie’s next move will tear the family apart and threaten everything they hold dear.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Just Charlie
  • Director
    Rebekah Fortune
  • Producer
    Karen Newman
  • Writers
    Peter Machen
  • Photo
    Karl Clarke
  • Actors
    Harry Gilby, Scot Williams, Mark Carter
  • Playtime
    1 h 37 min
  • Year
    2017
  • Country
    UK
  • Production
    Seahorse Films

Koko-di Koko-da

A grieving couple goes on a camping trip to find their way back to each other, when a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods. The three psychopaths begin terrorising the couple, luring them deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick. A dreamy tale of dark woods, an old man in a straw hat and a bunny family shattered to pieces.

Koko-di Koko-da was a sensation both at Sundance and Berlin, and was described as “…brutal and childlike” by Variety. Director Johannes Nyholm impresses with his masterful illustration of death as the cold, absurd, relentless nightmare it is for those left behind, who have to try to keep living despite their near insurmountable pain.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Koko-di Koko-da
  • Director
    Johannes Nyholm
  • Producer
    Johannes Nyholm
  • Writers
    Johannes Nyholm
  • Photo
    Tobias Höiem-Flyckt, Johan Lundborg
  • Actors
    Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Sweden, Denmark
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Beofilm
  • Distributor
    Fidalgo

Let Me Fall

Harrowing drama about friendship, fear and addiction – from acclaimed Icelandic director Baldvin Z.

Drawing on true stories and interviews with the families of addicts, this harrowing portrait of addiction follows Stella and Magnea through the decades as precarious teenage years morph into perilous adulthoods. Told over several decades, Let Me Fall focuses on Magnea’s lengthy struggle with addiction, a condition she is lured into as a teenager by hip, assured Stella, Magnea’s soulmate and nemesis. The film’s fractured narrative style, which bounces from present to past and back again, takes us inside the traumatic experiences leading to Magnea’s dire straits. The effect is nothing less than heartbreaking.

Few portraits of addiction and failed friendship are as devastating as Let Me Fall, which shows in chilling detail how the vulnerable are preyed upon, particularly by those hiding behind religion.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Lof mer ad falla
  • Director
    Baldvin Zophoníasson
  • Producer
    Júlíus Kemp, Ingvar Þórðarson
  • Writers
    Baldvin Zophoníasson, Birgir Örn Steinarsso
  • Photo
    Jóhann Máni Jóhannsson
  • Actors
    Elín Sif Halldórsdóttir, Eyrún Björk Jakobsdóttir, Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir
  • Playtime
    2 h 16 m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Iceland, Germany
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    The Icelandic Film Company
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Liv

Liv is a dystopian outlook on the future located in Norway. The differences between the rich and the poor countries has increased which has lead to a much stricter immigration policy in the wealthiest part of the world. In this film we follow Nasha on her path to becoming a Norwegian citizen through her final evaluation.

  • Program
  • Original title
    liv
  • Director
    Mathias Lien
  • Producer
    August Wittemann
  • Writers
    Mathias Lien
  • Photo
    Martin Kopperud
  • Actors
    Maria Agwumaro, Bjarne Hjelde, Henriette Marø, Arthur Berning
  • Playtime
    22 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Westerdals ACT

Losing Alaska

An urgent story reveals the drastic consequences of climate change.

Due to rising temperatures, the village of Newtok, Alaska is slowly vanishing into the sea. The 375 inhabitants of this vast and beautiful area of permafrost have lived for years with the constant fear of their village literally sinking. We see how the Yup’ik support themselves by fishing and hunting in the traditional way. The constant threat is a nightmare—watching the ground disappear under your feet seems to belong to a horror movie plot.

“Like a cookie monster eating cookies” is how 19-year-old Bosco describes the way the ocean is devouring the coastline. Fearful questions divide the tight-knit fishing community: will they have to abandon their village and leave for another part of the country, or will they move to firmer ground nearby? Although we hear Obama describe the situation in a 2015 speech as a “wake-up call,” so far the world doesn’t appear to be losing any sleep over the vanishing village of Newtok.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Losing Alaska
  • Director
    Tom Burke
  • Producer
    Celine Haddad, Keith Potter
  • Photo
    Tom Burke
  • Playtime
    1 h 2 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Irland
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Marcie Films Limited
  • Distributor
    Taskovski Films

Lotte and the Lost Dragons

Exciting and unexpected adventures await the well-know dog Lotte.

In this third film of the series of Lotte films that children know and love, the spirited girl dog Lotte gets a little sister named Roosi. Karl the raccoon and Viktor the fish are scientists who come to Gadgetville. They are taking part in a big folk song collecting competition. Whoever succeeds in recording the folk song of the world’s oldest animal species, the mythical fire-breathing dragon, wins the competition’s grand prize. Lotte and Roosi decide to help the scientists. Exciting and unexpected adventures await the sisters.

he third part of the Estonian-Latvian animation franchise has had the third-best opening in Estonia and will be premiered internationally in the Berlinale’s Generation KPlus

  • Program
  • Original title
    Lotte ja kadunud lohed
  • Director
    Heiki Ernits, Janno Põldma
  • Producer
    Vilnis Kalnaellis, Kalev Tamm
  • Writers
    Andris Akmentins, Heiki Ernits
  • Actors
    Anu Lamp, Mait Malmsten, Elina Reinold, Sepo Seeman
  • Playtime
    1h. 18min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Latvia, Estonia
  • Production
    Rija Films, Eesti Joonisfilm
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

Macho Match

In what was supposed to be a traditional coxing match, one of the boxers is forced to use dirty tricks. It turns out that words can harm as much as a physical punch .

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Macho Match
  • Director
    Emma M. Aasland
  • Producer
    Gunhild Oddsen
  • Writers
    Rebekka Torgersen
  • Actors
    Thomas Aske Berg, Balder Scheen Jacobsen
  • Playtime
    4 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    GOfilm

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love

,

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is renowned filmmaker Nick Broomfield’s most personal and romantic film of his storied career.

The documentary starts on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960, where Leonard Cohen, then a struggling and unknown fiction writer, and Marianne Ihlen, a single mother with a young son, became part of community of expat artists, writers and musicians. Never-before-seen footage shot by Broomfield and legendary documentarian D.A. Pennebaker make for a unique portrait of an idyllic 1960’s bohemia. It was a time that left a lasting imprint on both Marianne and Leonard, whose friendship would last another fifty years before their deaths in 2016.

The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

  • Program
    ,
  • Director
    Nick Broomfield
  • Producers
    Shani Hinton, Kyle Gibbon
  • Photo
    Barney Broomfield
  • Actors
    Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Marianne Ihlen
  • Playtime
    1h. 42min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Broomfield’s Lafayette Films
  • Distributor
    Selmer Media

Melanie

Melanie is 16 years old and lives on the countryside.With her moped as her companion, she moves between her home in the forest and the social activities offered in the small village. Trying hard to gain respect from the grown up world around her, but hasn’t yet decided if that’s where she wants to be from now on

  • Program
  • Original title
    Melanie
  • Director
    Lisa Meyer
  • Producer
    Lisa Meyer
  • Writers
    Lisa Meyer
  • Photo
    Jan Soja, Eyal Shachar, Malin Nicander, Lisa Meyer
  • Actors
    Louise Petersson, Linnéa Almqvist, Joakim Jonasson, Arbi Alviati, Ayda Kralicek Erekin
  • Playtime
    13 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Production
    Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg

Memor

Munin discovers a strange machine that lets him relive old memories. It quickly lures him to a past filled with both joy and despair.  

  • Program
  • Original title
    Memor
  • Director
    Elias Brekke Solberg
  • Producer
    Vincent Borgmo
  • Writers
    Elias Brekke Solberg
  • Photo
    Alexander Herlev Christoffersen
  • Actors
    Amund Harboe, Mathilde Thomine Storm
  • Playtime
    23 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Westerdals ACT

Moonjump

Major Luna jumps towards the moon. In a pool she explores her fantasy of floating weightlessly around in space.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Moonjump
  • Director
    Lasse Holdhus
  • Producer
    Victor Buzalka
  • Writers
    Alexander Brack, Yoav Rolef
  • Photo
    Alexander Brack
  • Actors
    Marlen Letetzki
  • Playtime
    5 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Germany, Norway
  • Production
    Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB)

My Brother Simple

Ben and his brother Barnabas (aka Simple) have been best buddies for as long as he can remember. Although “Simple”, who is now 22, has stayed at the mental age of a three-year-old. When their mother unexpectedly dies, Simple is to be sent to a home. The brothers escape on a crazy odyssey to find their father they last saw 15 years ago.

My Brother Simple is both an invitation to empathy and a homage to all those who are ready to sacrifice their personal life for the benefit of a challenged loved one.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Simpel
  • Director
    Markus Goller
  • Producer
    Michael Lehmann, Günther Russ
  • Writers
    Dirk Ahner, Markus Goller
  • Photo
    Ueli Steiger
  • Actors
    David Kross, Frederick Lau
  • Playtime
    1 h 53 min
  • Year
    2017
  • Country
    Germany
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Letterbox Filmproduktion, C-Films, Amalia Film

My Extraordinary Summer With Tess

Sam (10) and his family head off to the Dutch island of Terschelling on holiday, but his brother breaks his leg on their first day there. Bad luck for his brother, but the accident lets Sam meet Tess; a peculiar girl who has an ingenious plan for getting to know her birth father. She’s got just one week to make his acquaintance, and she decides that Sam should help her. Although Sam is forcing himself to practice being alone to protect himself from future grief, he discovers during his adventures with Tess how important family really is.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Mijn bijzonder rare week met Tess
  • Director
    Steven Wouterlood
  • Producer
    BIND
  • Writers
    Anna Woltz, Laura van Dijk
  • Photo
    Sal Kroonenberg
  • Actors
    Jennifer Hoffman, Tjebbo Gerritsma, Hans Dagelet
  • Playtime
    1 t 22 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    The Netherlands
  • Production
    Piet-Harm Sterk
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

Nudes

Sofia, 16, and Axel have sex at a party. The next day a film of them is sent around their school. She and her friends go on a pursuit in order to find out who filmed.

Ida, 14, meets a guy on Tinder. Later, she’s contacted by Jan, who tells her that a nude of her is posted on a closed forum.  He can help her, but he needs something in return.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Nudes
  • Director
    Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad, Erika Calmeyer
  • Producer
    Nina M. Barbosa Blad
  • Writers
    Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad
  • Actors
    Lena Reinhardtsen, Johanne Regine Svendsberget, Christian Reyes
  • Playtime
    3 x 20 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway

Oh Mercy!

Oh Mercy! is, in fact, a fictionalised adaptation of the 2008 French TV documentary Roubaix, Commissariat Central, which followed a determined police officer and his colleagues in the economically depressed town of Roubaix, near Lille, as they deal with a range of crimes, in particular the shocking homicide of an old woman.

Christmas night in Roubaix. Police chief Daoud roams the city. Burnt out cars, violent altercations… In the face of poverty, deception and distress, Daoud knows who is lying and who is telling the truth. Fresh out of the police academy, Louis has recently joined Daoud’s crew. Young, awkward and easily misled, he constantly misunderstands those he encounters. Daoud and Louis are confronted with the murder of an old woman. The old woman’s neighbours – two young women, Claude and Marie – are arrested. They are addicts, alcoholics, lovers… With words, rising beyond the horror of their crime, Daoud will find a way to give two murderers back their humanity.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Roubaix, une lumière
  • Director
    Arnaud Desplechin
  • Producer
    Pascal Caucheteux
  • Writers
    Arnaud Desplechin, Léa Mysius
  • Photo
    Irina Lubtchansky
  • Actors
    Léa Seydoux, Sara Forestier, Roschdy Zem
  • Playtime
    1 h 59 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch
  • Sale
    Wild Bunch

On a Magical Night

A Marital Christmas Carol. 

After being married for 20 years, Richard finds out that his wife, law professor Mari, has been having multiple affairs with younger men. He confronts her and they have a fight, during which she coldly affirms that no marriage lasts for this long if one does not have an affair. Once the argument stops, Maria leaves during the night and decides to stay at the hotel opposite their apartment, in room 212. Throughout the night, Maria is visited by the ghosts of Richard past: her husband in his twenties, her dozen past affairs, and her will personified as singer Charles Aznavour.

The way that ON A MAGICAL NIGHT’s narrative unfolds is original and entertaining. It is, in every sense, a clever representation of the human psyche. Maria’s dilemma is relatable on a universal level: who has not wondered about the meaning of love and its duration?

The film was first screened as part of the Un Certain Regard section of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.

 

 

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Chambre 212
  • Director
    Christophe Honoré
  • Producer
    Philippe Martin
  • Writers
    Christophe Honoré
  • Photo
    Olivier Bériot
  • Actors
    Chiara Mastroianni, Benjamin Biolay, Vincent Lacoste
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Les Films Pelléas, Bidibul Productions

Out of Tune

Suspected of large-scale investment fraud, multimillionaire Markus Føns is remanded in custody. After being beaten up by a prison gang, he allows himself to be persuaded to go into voluntary solitary confinement in a special department that offers protection to the most despised prisoners: the father killers, abusers of women and rapists of children.

Solidarity in the prison wing is typified by the choir they sing in every week. It’s not long before the newcomer joins the rehearsals, but taking part isn’t enough for the Machiavellian Markus. As an experienced manipulator, he starts, step-by-step, undermining the position of choir leader Niels.

  • Program
  • Original title
    De frivillige
  • Director
    Frederikke Aspöck
  • Producer
    Senia Dremstrup
  • Writers
    Lars Husum
  • Photo
    Louise McLaughlin
  • Actors
    Anders Brink, Signe Egholm, Jacob Lohmann, Søren Malling, Anders Matthesen
  • Playtime
    1 h 29 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    SF Studios Norway
  • Distributor
    SF Studios Norway

Out Stealing Horses

Trond is 67 years old, and recently has moved to a deserted place.  Winter is almost here, and he looks forward to New Year’s Eve, which he will celebrate all alone. He discovers a neighbour, a man he knew in the summer of 1948. That summer his father prepared for the big betrayed. But that summer Trond also grew up and felt the smell of a woman he wanted to be close to; the same woman his father wanted to share his life with her.

Out Stealing Horses is based on Per Petterson’s beloved novel by the same name, and won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Rasmus Videbæk’s cinematography at the 2019 Berlinale. It is nominated for 10 Amanda Awards in 2019.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ut og stjæle hester
  • Director
    Hans Petter Moland
  • Producer
    Turid Øversveen, Håkon Øverås
  • Writers
    Hans Petter Moland
  • Photo
    Rasmus Videbæk
  • Actors
    Stellan Skarsgård, Bjørn Floberg, Tobias Santelmann
  • Playtime
    2 h 3 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    4 1/2 Film
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribution

Pain and Glory

,

Pain and Glory tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talks about creation, about the difficulty of separating it from one’s own life and about the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it, and in that need he also finds his salvation.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Dolor y Gloria
  • Director
    Pedro Almodóvar
  • Producers
    Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García Rodríguez
  • Writers
    Pedro Almodóvar
  • Photo
    José Luis Alcaine
  • Actors
    Penelopé Cruz, Antonio Banderas
  • Playtime
    1h. 53min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Spain
  • Age limit
    12
  • Distributor
    Norsk Fimdistribusjon

Parasite

Winner of the 2019 Palme d’Or!

Ki-taek’s family of four is close, but fully unemployed, with a bleak future ahead of them. The son Kiwoo is recommended by his friend, a student at a prestigious university, for a well-paid tutoring job. Arriving at the house of Mr. Park, the owner of a global IT firm, Kiqii meets Yeon-Kyo, the beautiful young lady of the house. But following this first meeting between the two families, an unstoppable string of mishaps lies in wait.

This dark comedy has been described as director Bong Joon-ho’s best to date, and won the prestigious and highly coveted Palme d’Or during the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Gisaengchung
  • Director
    Joon-ho Bong
  • Producer
    Barunson E&A, CJ E&M Film Financing & Investment Entertainment & Comics, CJ Entertainment
  • Writers
    Joon-ho Bong
  • Actors
    Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo
  • Playtime
    2 h 12 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    South Korea
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Yang-kwon Moon
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Piranhas

,

Six boys race on their scooters through the narrow streets of their Sanità neighbourhood in Naples. Nicola & Co. are fearless daredevils, desperate to make money like their role models. They use the city’s rooftops for assault rifle practice, deal drugs and do not hesitate to use their weapons to take control of the neighbourhood. Nicola, knows the rules: in order to get his gang into the game and quickly to the top, he challenges one of the old bosses. But whoever is in charge today may well be dead tomorrow. When his girlfriend causes Nicola to be caught between all fronts, he is forced to make a decision.

Camorra expert Roberto Saviano (Gomorrha, 2006) wrote the screenplay for his adaptation with Maurizio Braucci and Claudio Giovannesi. The film provides a shocking portrait of a younger generation in a state of permanent war.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    La paranza dei bambini
  • Director
    Claudio Giovannesi
  • Producer
    Carlo Degli Esposti, Nicola Serra
  • Writers
    Claudio Giovannesi, Roberto Saviano, Maurizio Braucci
  • Photo
    Daniele Ciprì
  • Actors
    Francesco Di Napoli, Artem Tkachuk, Alfredo Turitto, Viviana Aprea, Valentina Vannino
  • Playtime
    1 h 45 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Italy
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Palomar, Vision Distribution
  • Distributor
    Fidalgo Films

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

,

The artist Marianne arrives at an isolated island in Brittany in the late 18th century. She is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent.

Several have tried to paint Héloïse before, but as the only possible protest against an arranged marriage, she refuses. Marianne pretends to be a maid, who takes Héloïse on daily walks, where she can observe her quietly. With her memory as the only tool, the portrait is finished, but does it reflect who Héloïse really is?

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an exceptionally beautiful film about memories, friendship, love and strong women. The film is also a tribute to the often forgotten female artists throughout history. An instant classic!

Céline Sciamma (b. 1978) is one of France’s most exciting directors. She has created a handful of iconic films, where sexuality, feminism and female characters are always central.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
  • Director
    Céline Sciamma
  • Producer
    Véronique Cayla, Bénédicte Couvreur
  • Writers
    Céline Sciamma
  • Photo
    Claire Mathon
  • Actors
    Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino
  • Playtime
    1 t. 59 min.
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    9
  • Production
    Lilies Films
  • Sale
    MK2
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Psychobitch

Frida is different. Self chosen different. Marius, on the other hand is the most perfect boy in class, and likes to show off. When they have to work together at school, it’s the start of a turbulent and challenging relationship. Generation Achievement meets impossible love.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Psychobitch
  • Director
    Martin Lund
  • Producer
    Ruben Thorkildsen
  • Writers
    Martin Lund
  • Photo
    Adam Wallensten
  • Actors
    Elli Rhiannon, Müller Osbourne, Jonas Tidemann, Mohammad Benmoussa
  • Playtime
    1 h 49 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Ape&Bjørn AS
  • Distributor
    Norsk Filmdistribusjon

Queen of Hearts

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated lawyer specializing in children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events that threatens to destroy her world. Queen of Hearts explores the making of a tragic family secret step by step, as the consequences of hubris, lust and lies conspire to create an unimaginable dilemma.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Dronning
  • Director
    May el-Toukhy
  • Producer
    Nordisk Film Production, Det Danske Filminstitut
  • Writers
    Maren Louise Käehne
  • Photo
    Jasper Spanning
  • Actors
    Trine Dyrholm, Gustav Lindh, Magnus Krepper
  • Playtime
    2 h 6 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Caroline Blanco
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

Queen of Hearts: Nordic Council Film Prize nominee, Denmark

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated lawyer specializing in children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events that threatens to destroy her world.

Queen of Hearts explores the making of a tragic family secret step by step, as the consequences of hubris, lust and lies conspire to create an unimaginable dilemma.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Dronningen
  • Director
    May el-Toukhy
  • Producer
    Caroline Blanco
  • Writers
    Maren Louise Käehne
  • Photo
    Jasper Spanning
  • Actors
    Trine Dyrholm, Gustav Lindh, Magnus Krepper
  • Playtime
    2 h 6 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Nordisk Film Production, Det Danske Filminstitut
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

Ready or not

READY OR NOT follows a young bride (Samara Weaving) as she joins her new husband’s (Mark O’Brien) rich, eccentric family (Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell) in a time-honored tradition that turns into a lethal game with everyone fighting for their survival.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ready or not
  • Director
    Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
  • Producer
    Bradley J.Fischer
  • Writers
    Guy Busick, Ryan Murphy
  • Photo
    Brett Jutkiewicz
  • Actors
    Samara Weaving, Andie MacDowell, Mark O'Brien
  • Playtime
    1 h 35 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Mythology Entertainment
  • Distributor
    Twentieth Century Fox Norway

Reconstructing Utøya: Nordic Council Film Prize nominee, Sweden

How do we talk about the unspeakable?

A feature documentary where four survivors from the Utøya terrorist attack in 2011 reconstruct their memories in a black box studio together with twelve young participants in order to share and remember their experiences.

Six years after the attack Rakel, Mohammed, Jenny and Torje, all survivors of Utøya, gather in northern Norway to remember and to reconstruct what happened . To their help they have a group of twelve participating young adults. The aim is to reconstruct and to remember how they managed to survive at Utøya during that massacre.  With the help of the participants and white tape markings that depict the different locations relevant for each survivor, the 10,000 square feet black box studio becomes a memory room for the event at the island.

When they start all the memories comes back. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Reconstructing Utøya
  • Director
    Carl Javér
  • Producer
    Fredrik Lange, John Arvid Berger, Svein Andersen, Kjetil Jensberg, Helle Faber Ami Ekström
  • Writers
    Carl Javér, Fredrik Lange
  • Photo
    Henrik Bohn Ipsen, Martin Otterbeck, Trude Ottersen
  • Playtime
    1 h 33 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Vilda Bomben Film AB, Polarfox AS, FilmCamp AS, made in copenhagen ApS, Film i Väst AB
  • Distributor
    Tour de Force

Rosalina

The man on top of the criminal underworld has a crisis of love.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Rosalina
  • Director
    Fredrik S. Hana
  • Producer
    Gary Cranner
  • Writers
    Jamie Turville
  • Photo
    Christer Runde
  • Actors
    Kristoffer Joner, Oliver Hohlbrugger, Asbjørn Røen Halsten
  • Playtime
    20 m
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Chezville

Santa’s Fall

Santa Claus whole existence is dependent on a little boy’s faith. Christmas is supposed to be a magical time, but instead it’s dire times for Santa Claus. His whole existence is fading, because the children have stopped believing in him. But there is one little boy called Vetle, that still believes, but for how long?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Julenissens fall
  • Director
    Robert Depuis
  • Producer
    Yvonne Strand Blavik
  • Writers
    Robert Depuis
  • Photo
    Linda Fagerli Sæthren
  • Actors
    Jonathan Gebuhr, Tone Merete Aas Skålevik, Fridtjov Såheim
  • Playtime
    13 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Godt sagt AS

Secrets of War

Summer, 1943. Tuur and Lambert are best friends. They love to explore the woods and caves surrounding their idyllic village; their environment holds no secrets for the teenage boys. But the war is closing in and is about to change their lives forever. Tuur’s dad has joined the resistance and even his big brother seems to be a part of it. Lambert’s family on the other hand choose to obey the Germans. Then a new girl from the city shows up, befriending the boys but telling her secret to only one of them. A choice that separates the boys and ultimately gets her in trouble. Tuur not only risks losing his friendship with Lambert, but even his whole family. He will have to stop at nothing to safeguard both.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Oorlogsgeheimen
  • Director
    Dennis Bots
  • Producer
    David-Jan Bijker, Reinier Selen, Harro van Staverden
  • Writers
    Karen van Holst Pellekaan
  • Photo
    Rolf Dekens
  • Actors
    Maas Bronkhuyzen, Joes Brauers, Michael Nierse
  • Playtime
    1 h 35 min
  • Year
    2014
  • Country
    Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Rinkel Film, Bijker Productions
  • Distributor
    Norsk Filminstitutt

Seizure

Only a few months have passed since detective Max (38) and his wife-lawyer Asha (37) lost their son. Life has almost come to a standstill when Max transfers to a new job at Oslo Homicide. Max is teamed up with detective Sander (42), who knows the underworld of Oslo and has no illusions. Where Max is an ethical and by-the-book detective, but also perhaps a bit naïve, Sander is hardened and bitter, and a tad racist. The two butt heads immediately.

The men are called to the mysterious death of 4 young immigrant boys. There are no signs of violence or drugs, but there are eels at the crime see – strange. That night both detectives have vivid nightmares. Meanwhile, a storm hits the city. Streets and buildings are flooded. Max and Sander discover that a fifth boy was present at the scene of the crime; he might be the key to solving the case. However, the boy turns out to be very elusive and hard to track down. Max and Sander set out to find him which propels them into a tough journey through the underworld of prostitution, cynical human traffickers and murder. But it also opens a door into their own past sins and guilt. As they get deeper into the matter the detectives both start seeing things they can’t quite explain, dreams turn into full-blown hallucinations – and the feeling of time and place slowly disappears.

Max and Sander have to face their own worst nightmares and eventually do battle with their own misdeeds to solve the mystery. If they don’t, they risk losing their minds.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Seizure
  • Director
    Rune Denstad Langlo, Eirik Svensson
  • Writers
    Megan Gallagher
  • Actors
    Anders Danielsen Lie, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Selome Emnetu, Marius Kolbenstvedt
  • Playtime
    2 x 45 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Miso Film
  • Distributor
    Viaplay, TV3

Sir

,
  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Sir
  • Director
    Rohena Gera
  • Producer
    Rohena Gera
  • Writers
    Rohena Gera
  • Photo
    Dominique Colin
  • Actors
    Ahmareen Anjum, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Tillotama Shome, Rahul Vohra
  • Playtime
    1 h 39 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    India, France
  • Production
    Ciné-Sud Promotion, Inkpot Films Private Limited
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Skin

,
Skin is an American biographical drama film written and directed by Guy Nattiv. It follows the life of former skinhead group member Bryon Widner; a white supremacist who reforms his life after falling in love but saying goodbye to his skinhead life isn’t a clean process. He must betray his former gang and work alongside the FBI in order to remove the body ink that has represented his identity for so long, as well as the burden of the gang’s crimes he has carried.

 

 

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Skin
  • Director
    Guy Nattiv
  • Producer
    Dillon D. Jordan, Oren Moverman, Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler
  • Writers
    Guy Nattiv
  • Photo
    Arnaud Potier
  • Actors
    Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Daniel Henshal
  • Playtime
    2 t
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Maven Pictures, TUGAWOOD Pictures, Allusionist Picture House
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Sons of Denmark

Award-winning and hard-hitting political thriller, about the dangerous consequences of xenophobia. 

Denmark, 2025. One year after a major bomb attack in Copenhagen, radicalisation around the country has intensified and ethnic tensions are running high. The next parliamentary election is near, and the extremely nationalist politician leader Martin Nordahl is set for a landslide victory. 19-year old Zakaria gets involved in a radical organisation, where he forms a bond with Ali. The two men cannot agree with the current state of the country, which is turning on its own citizens because of their migration background, and decide to act. However, they are both just tools in the hands of people with power. As the men try to make their mark, their brotherhood will be tested and their actions will have grave consequences on their lives.

A punch in the stomach as well as in the heart, the feature debut from Ulaa Salim feels highly relevant despite it being set in a near and dark future. This exciting director is bold in his depiction of the cold desperation and violence resulting from different groups of society’s refusal to understand each other. Sons of Denmark is brutal, but will remain with you as a reflection on what connects us as humans, rather than what drives us apart.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Danmarks sønner
  • Director
    Ulaa Salim
  • Producer
    Daniel Mühlendorph
  • Writers
    Ulaa Salim
  • Photo
    Eddie Klint
  • Actors
    Imad Abul-Foul, Ari Alexander, Ivan Alan Ali
  • Playtime
    2 h
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Hyæne Film
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

Stack

Push, the self balancing robot has a simple hobby: Stacking cubes. His patience gets put to the test when he discovers that he’s not alone in this world. Can he find the balance between his hobby and a friendship?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Stack
  • Director
    Asbjørn Lote
  • Producer
    Simon Samdal
  • Writers
    Linn Marie Fiksdal Lundh
  • Photo
    Asbjørn Lote
  • Playtime
    6 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages
  • Production
    Westerdals / Kristiania University College

Stupid Young Heart

A story about suburban teenagers who unexpectedly have to deal with grown up problems of pregnancy, while extreme right ideas begin to encroach on their multicultural neighbourhood. Stupid Young Heart is about the first love between the skinny and carefree Lenni and the popular Kiira. Not yet in a relationship, Lenni and Kiira discover that they are expecting a baby. Lenni has nine months to become a man. Having grown up without a father figure, Lenni finds longed-for adult attention and guidance from an unlikely friend Janne, a member of a right wing group that has recently moved into Lenni’s diverse neighbourhood. After taking part in a scrambled attack on a local Mosque, while Kiira is rushed to the hospital to give birth, Lenni realises that he must learn to be a man in his own way, even though he never had a chance to be a child himself.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hölmö nuori sydän
  • Director
    Selma Vilhunen
  • Producer
    Venla Hellstedt, Elli Toivoniemi
  • Writers
    Kirsikka Saari
  • Photo
    Lisabi Fridell
  • Actors
    Pihla Viitala, Ville Haapasalo, Rosa Honkonen
  • Playtime
    1 h 42 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Finland
  • Production
    Tuffi Films, Windmill Film, Hob

Swoon

John and Ninni – both heirs to their own individual amusement parks – fall in love amidst the whirling world they both inhabit. A forbidden love, and a war between two families, puts their love and loyalty to the test. This colourful and sensational story draws similarities to the grandeur of Moulin Rogue, and is based on the history of Gröna Lund, an actual amusement park in Stockholm. Don’t miss out on this epic and endlessly entertaining pop romance!

  • Program
  • Original title
    Eld & Lågor
  • Director
    Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
  • Producer
    Kristina Åberg
  • Writers
    Måns Mårlind
  • Photo
    Aril Wretblad
  • Actors
    Frida Gustavsson, Albin Grenholm, Pernilla August, Lennart Jäkel, Robert Gustafsson, Helena af Sandeberg
  • Playtime
    1 h 44 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Production
    Atmo Production
  • Distributor
    Storytelling Media

System Crasher

,

Benni is a delicate-looking girl with unbridled energy. She is a system crasher. A term used to describe children who break every single rule; children who refuse to accept any kind of structure, and who gradually fall through the masks of the child and welfare services safety net. No matter where the nine-year-old ends up, she is sent again after a short while. And that’s exactly what she is looking for. Benni´s wish is to be able to live with her mum again: a woman who is unable to cope with her daughter’s erratic behaviour.

Nora Fingscheidt has made a strong drama about a child’s overwhelming need for love and safety, and the potential for violence that this may entail. Helena Zengel impresses strongly with her wonderful portrayal of being a child, which also rises fear and a desire to help vulnerable and desperate children. At the same time, the film features the attempts by teachers and psychologists to create a safe future for children who can threat and destroy themselves and those around them as a result of their unpredictable behaviour.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Systemsprenger
  • Director
    Nora Fingscheidt
  • Producer
    Peter Hartwig, Jakob Weydemann, Jonas Weydemann.
  • Photo
    Yunus Roy Imer
  • Actors
    Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, Gabriela Maria Schmeide.
  • Playtime
    1 h 58 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Germany
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Kineo Filmproduktion, Weydemann Bros.
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

The Ash Lad — In Search of the Golden Castle

,

When the King and Queen are poisoned, brothers Per and Pål get arrested, suspected of being behind it. Younger brother Espen “Ash Lad” and Princess Kristin set out on a quest to find the mythical Soria Moria castle, which is said to be built of pure gold. In Soria Moria, there sits a well containing the Water of Life; the only thing that can cure Kristin’s parents. But some wicked Danes are also on the hunt to find the castle. If Espen and Kristin fail, it will spell the end for the brothers, the kingdom – and perhaps the entire world.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Askeladden — I Soria Moria slott
  • Director
    Mikkel Brænne Sandemose
  • Producers
    Synnøve Hørsdal, Åshild Ramborg
  • Writers
    Aleksander Kirkwood Brown
  • Photo
    Trond Tønder
  • Actors
    Eili Harboe, Vebjørn Enger,
  • Playtime
    1h 39min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    6
  • Production
    Maipo Film
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribusjon

The Birdcatcher’s Son

This Faroese drama unfolds at the end of the 19th century and is built on a legend about the bird catcher Esmar (excellently portrayed by Danish actor Rudi Køhnke). Esmar and his wife Johanna lives a simple, but good life with their three daughters on a small patch of land, but is threatened by the faroese law dictating that their lease only can be inherited from father to son. To protect his livelihood and his family from the dubious landowner Såmal, Esmar is forced to accept an arrangement that may pose wide implications and affect many of his nearest and dearest – but perhaps not quite in the way he imagined. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Fuglefångarens son
  • Director
    Richard Hobert
  • Producer
    Anders Birkeland, Göran Lindström
  • Writers
    Richard Hobert
  • Photo
    Andreas Troedsson
  • Actors
    Rudi Køhnke, Vígdis Eliesersdóttir Hentze Bjørck, Livia Millhagen
  • Playtime
    1 t 46 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    GF Studios AB

The Dead Don´t Die

,

It all starts when two small-town police officers start to see strange things happening one day. With the help of their colleague, they begin to investigate, only to come to a conclusion they seemingly already knew. Zombies are rising from graves. As the police go around town, they interact with a slew of townsfolk played by well-known faces, including Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, RZA, and Iggy Pop. All of them are basically there to chew the scenery for a few minutes, without amounting to much.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    The Dead Don´t Die
  • Director
    Jim Jarmusch
  • Producer
    Joshua Astrachan, Carter Logan.
  • Writers
    Jim Jarmusch
  • Photo
    Frederick Elmes
  • Actors
    Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tom Waits, Selena Gomez
  • Playtime
    1h 44min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Animal Kingdom, Film i Väst
  • Distributor
    United International Pictures

The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil

Fierce gang boss Jang Dong-su is violently attacked after a fender bender on a rainy night. After fighting back, he barely escapes, however his reputation as a feared leader is damaged beyond repair. The only way to restore his image is to find his attacker and exact revenge. Jang teams up with Detective Jung Tae-seok  to find the assailant, but soon discovers the attacker is actually a serial killer. With no support from the police department, Detective Jung is forced to use gang boss Jang’s resources in order to track down the killer. The two men must work together to find a man simply known as “K”.

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil
  • Director
    Won-Tae Lee
  • Producer
    Braden Aftergood
  • Writers
    Won-Tae Lee
  • Photo
    Park Se-seung
  • Actors
    Dong-seok Ma, Sung-kyu Kim, Mu-Yeol Kim
  • Playtime
    1 h 49 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    South Korea
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Braden B&C Group, BA Entertainment, Balboa Productions
  • Distributor
    Edge Entertainment

The Green Lie

The Green Lie asks a vital and complicated question: to which extent do companies seduce their consumers with false promises of sustainable products?

This documentary questions the sustainable marketing images big global players made up in the last years, to get back trust from the rising crowd of skeptical customers. What about fair palm oil? Is BP really Beyond Petrol? The camera follows the two protagonists around the globe, doing research and interviews with company speakers, philosophers and with those fighting for a better and living friendly world.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Die grüne Lüge
  • Director
    Werner Boote
  • Producer
    Markus Pauser
  • Writers
    Werner Boote
  • Photo
    Mario Hötschl
  • Actors
    Werner Boote, Kathrin Hartmann, Christina Weidinger
  • Playtime
    1 h 33 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Austria
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    E&a Film

The Little Grey Wolf: Summer party

This film tells the story about a small grey wolf cub and his friends. A little gem for children of all ages, with lots of laughs and surprising animal encounters in clear, bright colours. It is the wolf’s birthday and the rest of the animals in the forest are working together to make his birthday cake.

 

 

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Den vesle grå ulven: Sommerfest
  • Director
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Producer
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Writers
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Photo
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Playtime
    7 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Ulven Film

The Nightingale

,

Two people united in their unfathomable losses in the fight against a world in which unless you are a white man, you are powerless. 

Clare, a young convict from Ireland, is living in custody on Tasmania with her husband and their young daughter. Her already miserable existence turns into a genuine nightmare when a British lieutenant takes it upon himself to discipline the little family – in the worst way imaginable.

Having made a frail alliance with a young Aboriginal man named Billy, Clare embarks on a quest through the Tasmanian wilderness, to exert her gruesome revenge on the lieutenant. This is a tale about an unspeakable tragedy and the following revenge against a man who is entirely convinced of his own superiority in society.

To director Jennifer Kent, the film is just as much about the present day as it is about 1820s Tasmania. Clare and Billy are united in their unfathomable losses and endless hatred, in the fight against a world in which unless you are a white man, you are powerless. The Nightingale is a dark and ambitious take on the Western genre, which perhaps needs to be seen as an allegory rather than a straightforward revenge fantasy: Is violence the only means of communication between and oppressor and the oppressed?

The Nightingale debuted as part of the main competition at the film festival in Venice, where it won two prestigious awards, and it’s US premiere was at Sundance. At both festivals, the film quickly became infamous for its graphic depictions of violence, with members of the audience storming out from the cinema. Consider yourself warned!

  • Program
    ,
  • Director
    Jennifer Kent
  • Producer
    Jennifer Kent, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Kristina Ceyton
  • Writers
    Jennifer Kent
  • Photo
    Radek Ladczuk
  • Actors
    Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman, Baykali Ganambarr
  • Playtime
    2 h 16 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Australia, USA, Canada
  • Age limit
    18 years
  • Production
    BRON Studios, Causeway Films, m.fl.
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

The Orphanage

Qodrat sleeps in a scrapped car wreck, and peddles key rings and scalps cinema tickets in Kabul. The year is 1989, during the pro-Soviet days of Afghanistan, something this 15-year-old stray dog seems fairly unaffected by. His main concerns are food for the day and Bollywood cinema, not necessarily in that order. In a bid to escape harsh reality, delving into a fantasy world full of sturdy heroes, fair damsels, romance, music and bright colours is a bare necessity – for Qodrat and many like him.

But soon, reality hits back. Qodrat is busted for his illegal activities and brought to a juvenile detention facility known as “the orphanage”. Run by the Soviet regime, here the young urchins are given living quarters, put in school and gently nudged towards being good little comrades. For Qodrat, it’s a clear upgrade. He gets regular meals, new friends and a bit of an education. Even the Russian teacher seems nice. Let’s face it: the key ring/ticket racket wasn’t exactly booming.

The Orphanage is the second part of a planned pentalogy, whereas the first Wolf and Sheep won the main award in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2016 and successfully conquered the arthouse circuit.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Parwareshghah
  • Director
    Shahrbanoo Sadat
  • Producer
    Katja Adomeit
  • Writers
    Shahrbanoo Sadat
  • Photo
    Virginie Surdej
  • Actors
    Anwar Hashimi, Quodratollah Qadiri, Karan Jeet Singh
  • Playtime
    1 h 30 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Afghanistan, Qatar
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Adomeit Film, La Fabrica Nocturna Cinéma
  • Distributor
    Luxbox

The Puppy

Henrik and Perle, brother and sister, both eight years old, try to buy a beautiful little puppy in their local pet store, but the shopkeeper says he can’t sell animals to children.

Heartbroken, the kids come up with a clever but crazy plan to make the puppy theirs. A plan that doesn’t involve any adults.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Valpen
  • Director
    Kristian B. Walters
  • Producer
    Kristian B. Walters
  • Photo
    Nils Petter Devold Midtun
  • Playtime
    9 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    The Walters Productions

The Quake

In 1904, Oslo was hit by an earthquake with a strength of 5.4 on Richter’s scale. The quake led to significant destruction. But fortunately, no human life was lost. Geological surveys show that the danger of a new and larger earthquake can very much be real. Almost weekly, movements are recorded in and around Oslo.

What will happen if a much larger earthquake hits the capital? The Quake is the sequel to the disaster movie The Wave. This time it is not a village in Western Norway that is threatened – it is Norway’s capital!

  • Program
  • Original title
    Skjelvet
  • Director
    Johan Andreas Andersen
  • Producer
    Martin Sundland, Are Heidenstrøm
  • Writers
    Harald Rosenløw Eeg, John Kåre Raake
  • Actors
    Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Edith Haagenrud-Sande, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Kathrine Thorborg Johansen, Stig Amdam, Catrin Sagen, Hang Tran
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Fantefilm Fiksjon AS
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribusjon

The Sound of Silence

A successful “house tuner” in New York City calibrates the sound in people’s homes in order to adjust their moods. This unique form of therapy is one of his own making, and he is convinced that private homes and even whole cities can be finely tuned to the point of harmonic perfection. But his grand vision is challenged when he meets a client who do not respond to his methods, and soon his research is threatened by large commercial forces, his academic peers and a new, beautiful acquaintance.

This quirky, quiet romance draws associations to Spike Jonze’s Her, contemplating on a similar theme; emotional dissonance in the modern world. The story is developed from the award-winning short Palimpsest, and the excellent cast include Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones in the lead roles.

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Sound of Silence
  • Director
    Michael Tyburski
  • Producer
    Tariq Merhab, Ben Nabors
  • Writers
    Ben Nabors
  • Photo
    Eric Lin
  • Actors
    Peter Sarsgaard, Rashida Jones, Bruce Altman
  • Playtime
    1 t 25 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Anonymous Content, Feracious Entertainment
  • Distributor
    Sony Pictures

The Unpromised Land

Sabina has traveled from Romania to the small Swedish town Holmsund with her brothers. The boys work in a garage and Sabina is looking for a job. Elin, born and raised in Holmsund, is in the church singing at the graduation ceremony. Another summer is about to start, one in which Sabina will get to know Elin. Together they will revolt against the old ways and find something new in each other. At the same time, the society around them collapses in fear and Elin’s dad is driven insane by sorrow. Because there is a madness growing in the Swedish idyll.

This is a highly contemporary story about the friendship between two teenage girls and soulmates in the shadow of the European debate on immigration and EU migrants. A story that portrays daily life in a small northern town where the locals share the EU migrants longing for a more hopeful future.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Till drömmarnas land.
  • Director
    Victor Lindgren
  • Producer
    Therese Högberg
  • Writers
    Victor Lindgren
  • Photo
    Rasmus West
  • Actors
    Andreea Petre, Elin Marklund
  • Playtime
    1 h 28 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Bautafilm

The Whistlers

,

Not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest who plays both sides of the law. Embarked by the  beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist, both will have to navigate the twists and turns of treachery and deception. A secret whistling language spoken on the Spanish island of La Gomera might just be what they need to pull it off.

By the director of THE TREASURE (Cannes 2015 Un Certain Regard Screenplay Prize), POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Cannes 2009 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize) and 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (Cannes 2006 Golden Camera).

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    La Gomera
  • Director
    Corneliu Porumboiu
  • Producer
    Patricia Poienaru, Marcela Ursu
  • Writers
    Corneliu Porumboiu
  • Photo
    Tudor Mircea
  • Actors
    Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar
  • Playtime
    1h. 37min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France, Romania
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    42 KM FILM, Les Films du Worso , Komplizen Film, Arte Grand Accord
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Them That Follow

Deep in Appalachia, Pastor Lemuel Childs presides over an isolated community of serpent handlers, an obscure sect of Pentecostals who willingly take up venomous snakes to prove themselves before God. As his devoted daughter, Mara prepares for her wedding day, under the watchful eye of Hope Slaughter (played by the eternally amazing Olivia Colman), a dangerous secret is unearthed and she is forced to confront the deadly tradition of her father’s church.

This dark and thrilling story from the deep, forgotten corners of America is sure to have you on the edge of your seat!

  • Program
  • Original title
    Them That Follow
  • Director
    Britt Poulton, Dan Madison Savage
  • Producer
    Gerard Butler
  • Writers
    Britt Poulton
  • Photo
    Brett Jutkiewicz
  • Actors
    Kaitlyn Dever, Walton Goggins, Olivia Colman, Lewis Pullman
  • Playtime
    1 h 38 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    15
  • Production
    Amasia Entertainment, G-BASE

Through the Fire

,

The true and heartbreaking story of a firefighter Franck, in Paris: An everyday hero who is happy in his job and lives in his barracks with his companion, after a serious accident at a horrible fire, has his whole existence turned upside-down. With the love of his wife and friends, and his own growing but painful acceptance, he who saves the people may be saved in return. This film is partly inspired by several real facts, it also traces Francks fight so he can find his normal life again.

 

 

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Sauver ou périr
  • Director
    Frédéric Tellier
  • Producer
    Julien Madon
  • Writers
    David Oelhoffen
  • Photo
    Renaud Chassaing
  • Actors
    Pierre Niney, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Rottiers
  • Playtime
    1 h 56 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France, Belgium
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Single Man Productions, Mars Films
  • Distributor
    Many More Films

Time Out

Harri and Simo, a father and a son, move into the small village of Harmaaketo which consists of little more than a church, a cemetery and a school – and snow, as far as the eye can see. The local villagers are steeped in envy, their small social circles and the cold climate. Harri, who has had to leave his priestly office and his wife behind in his old home town, must now find a new direction in life.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Pieniä suuria valheita
  • Director
    Matti Kinnunen
  • Producer
    Teemu Karvonen, Juha Kukkonen
  • Writers
    Matti Kinnunen, Juha Koiranen
  • Photo
    Hans Barck
  • Actors
    Mikko Nousiainen, Niila Nousiainen, Santtu Karvonen
  • Playtime
    1 h 34 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Vegetarian Films

Together

It is the 70s and a group of very different individuals live together as a community. One of the members sister, Elisabeth needs a new place to stay with her children after having had enough of her alcoholist and abusive husband. Elisabeth is neither a socialist, feminist or into the green movement but ends up loving living in the community where they all learn from eachother.

The film makes a little fun of people with strong ideals and “square” minds whether they be vegans, communists or people who absolutely disgust vegans or socialists, in the end the message of the film is that people can grow and gain from bonding with eachother. It also shows how we need to shape up a little for this to work, either through working with own behaviour that affects other people badly (like alcoholism or abuse) or the need to set up own boundaries and not let other people walk all over oneself.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Tilsammens
  • Director
    Lukas Moodysson
  • Producer
    Memfis Film
  • Writers
    Lukas Moodysson
  • Photo
    Ulf Brantås
  • Actors
    Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Emma Samuelsson, Sam Kessel
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2000
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Production
    Lars Jönsson

Toy Story 4

Woody is back!

Woody has always been confident about his place in the world, and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie. So when Bonnie’s beloved new craft-project-turned-toy, Forky, declares himself as “trash” and not a toy, Woody takes it upon himself to show Forky why he should embrace being a toy. But when Bonnie takes the whole gang on her family’s road trip excursion, Woody ends up on an unexpected detour that includes a reunion with his long-lost friend Bo Peep. After years of being on her own, Bo’s adventurous spirit and life on the road belie her delicate porcelain exterior.

As Woody and Bo realize they’re worlds apart when it comes to life as a toy, they soon come to find that’s the least of their worries.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Toy Story 4
  • Director
    Josh Cooley
  • Playtime
    1t 40m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Distributor
    Disney Norway

Toy Story 4

Woody and the rest of the toys are finally back for another adventure!

Woody has always been confident about his place in the world, and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie. So when Bonnie’s beloved new craft-project-turned-toy, Forky, declares himself as “trash” and not a toy, Woody takes it upon himself to show Forky why he should embrace being a toy. But when Bonnie takes the whole gang on her family’s road trip excursion, Woody ends up on an unexpected detour that includes a reunion with his long-lost friend Bo Peep. After years of being on her own, Bo’s adventurous spirit and life on the road belie her delicate porcelain exterior.

As Woody and Bo realize they’re worlds apart when it comes to life as a toy, they soon come to find that’s the least of their worries.

The film will open our Cinemagi children’s programme, and also have an additional screening in its original language.

  • Program
  • Director
    Josh Cooley
  • Writers
    Josh Cooley, Andrew Stanton
  • Actors
    Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    All ages
  • Production
    Pixar Animation Studios
  • Distributor
    Disney Norway

Tønes

In 2018, Frank “Tønes” Tønnesen celebrated 25 years as an artist. Since his first concert during a class party at Grubeheimen in Sokndal municipality, the former electrician from Hauge in Dalane has become one of our biggest and most important artists. Tønes has received the Prøysen Prize, the Dialect Prize, several Spellemann prizes and has also been nominated for the Nordic Music Prize.

Journalist and filmmaker André Løyning, followed Tønes through small and large events in his anniversary year, so he can be able to know him better. The cinema documentary Tønes is made together with screenwriter Kristian Landmark (When I fall).

The film is a portrait of a singer who lived in a hometown and writes songs that affect most of us. Who is the man, where does his unique songs come from, and what do they say about us all?

Landmark and Løyning have previously created the Cocks & Crosses – the music that would not die (2016) which premiered at The Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Tønes
  • Director
    André Løyning, Kristian Landmark.
  • Producer
    Kristian Landmark
  • Photo
    André Løyning
  • Playtime
    1 h 15 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12

Traces

Selma and her younger brother are on vacation in a cabin in the woods. There are wild animals in the woods. Selma is jealous of her little brother, and to scare him, she convinces him that the wild animals is coming to get him.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Sportegn
  • Director
    Ingvild Søderlind
  • Producer
    Fabien Greenberg
  • Writers
    Ingvild Søderlind
  • Photo
    Trond Hønes
  • Playtime
    10 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Antipode Films

Viktor on the Moon

Viktor Leth has never been on a date. When going on his first date ever, he accidentally sits down at the wrong table with the slightly older and married Rebekka. She is looking for an adventure away from her marriage and finds Viktor funny. This will be the start of a weird and wild night for the two of them, where Viktor learns more about life and love than most people do in one night. Perhaps
because he’s Viktor Leth.
  • Program
  • Original title
    Viktor på månen
  • Director
    Christian Arhoff
  • Producer
    Emily Nicoline Quist
  • Writers
    Christian Arhoff & Emily Nicoline Quist
  • Photo
    Loui Ladegaard
  • Actors
    Nicolai Jørgensen, Lisa Carlehed, Peter Plaugborg, Mikael Bertelsen
  • Playtime
    28 m
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Production
    National Film School of Denmark

Who you think I am

Claire, a 50-year-old divorced teacher, creates a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman. She finds a photo of a pretty young brunette online and uses it. She has created an entirely fictional character, but why? Originally she did it to spy on Jo, her on-and-off lover. But Jo only accepts friend requests from people he knows personally. To get to Jo, Claire sends his best-friend Chris a friend request and he accepts. The pair begins to exchange messages and their fake friendship turns into a fake love affair. Claire is in love with Chris and he is in love with her fake profile. Now he wants to meet the 24-year-old beauty he’s been chatting with. She invents a busy job, professional trips and even a jealous ex. The more and more in love they are the more the situation becomes unbearable. Claire is torn between the impossibility of this love and the pain of having to admit her deception and risk losing it.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Celle que vous croyez
  • Director
    Safy Nebbou
  • Producer
    Michel Saint-Jean
  • Writers
    Safy Nebbou, Julie Peyr
  • Photo
    Gilles Porte
  • Actors
    Juliette Binoche, Nicole Garcia, François Civil
  • Playtime
    1 h 41 min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    9
  • Production
    A Diaphana Films
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Wild Relatives

The struggle to secure remnants of agriculture, and of humanity.

Deep in the earth beneath the Norwegian permafrost, seeds from all over the world are stored in the Global Seed Vault to provide a backup should disaster strike. For the first time ever, seeds held there from a major gene bank in Aleppo are now being replicated, after its holdings were left behind when the institution had to move to Lebanon due to the civil war. It is refugees from Syria who are carrying out this painstaking work in the fields of the Beqaa Valley. In the Levant, dry conditions and the power of global agricultural corporations are the biggest challenge, while in the Arctic Circle – where the seed vault was supposed to withstand anything – it is rising temperatures and melting glaciers.

Palestinian artist and director Jumana Manna connects these very different geological locations, through reflecting on the political, economical, religious and human implications of exchanging this ecologic currency. She exposes the complex web of scientists, farmers and refugees uniting in their common goal of securing the continuation of agriculture through threats like war and climate disaster. A poetic, thoughtful, and exquisite ode to humanity’s relationship to ur planet, and to each other.

Biologist Åsmund Asdal from NordGen will do a short introduction outlining the work of the Global Seed Vault ahead of the screening on Saturday 17 August.
The film itself does not represent the politics of the Global Seed Vault, nor ICARDA.
You can read more about director Jumana Manna’s reflections on the topic in this essay. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Wild relatives
  • Director
    Jumana Manna
  • Producer
    Jumana Manna, Elisabeth Kleppe
  • Photo
    Marte Vold
  • Playtime
    1 h 5 min
  • Year
    2017
  • Country
    Germany, Lebanon, Norway
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Aldeles AS

Wild Rose

,

Rose-Lynn Harlan is bursting with raw talent, charisma and cheek. Fresh out of prison and reunited with her son and daughter, all she wants is to get out of Glasgow and make it as a country singer in Nashville. Rose’s mother Marion, on the other hand, has had a bellyful of her worthless nonsense. Forced to take strict responsibility, Rose gets a cleaning job, only to find an unlikely champion in the middle-class lady of the house.

  • Program
    ,
  • Director
    Tom Harper
  • Producer
    Faye Ward, Eugenio Pérez
  • Writers
    Nicole Taylor
  • Photo
    George Steel
  • Actors
    Jessie Buckley, Matt Costello
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Storbritannia
  • Production
    BFI Film Fund, Creative Scotland, Fable Pictures
  • Distributor
    Norsk Filmdistribusjon

With The Wind

An isolated farm in a remote part of the Jura region: this is where Pauline and Alex are making their dream of living in complete self-sufficient harmony with nature come true. Their life project is sealed by their love, their ideals and their work. The couple is now ready to take the step towards total independence, and start producing their own electricity. The arrival of Samuel, who has come to install a wind turbine, deeply troubles Pauline, upsetting the couple and their values.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Le vent tourne
  • Director
    Bettina Oberli
  • Producer
    Pauline Gygax
  • Writers
    Antoine Jaccoud
  • Actors
    Mélanie Thierry, Pierre Deladonchamps, Nuno Lopes
  • Playtime
    1 h 28 min
  • Year
    2018
  • Country
    Belgium
  • Age limit
    12
  • Production
    Rita Productions, Silex Films
  • Distributor
    Be For Films

Yao

From his village in northern Senegal, Yao is a 13-year-old boy ready to do anything to meet his hero: Seydou Tall, a famous French actor. Invited to Dakar to promote his new book, the latter goes to his country of origin for the first time. To fulfill his dream, the young Yao organizes his fugue and brave 387 kilometers alone to the capital. Touched by this child, the actor decides to flee his obligations and to accompany him home. But on the dusty and uncertain roads of Senegal, Seydou understands that while rolling towards the village of the child, it also rolls towards its roots.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Yao
  • Director
    Philippe Godeau
  • Producers
    Philippe Godeau, Nathalie Gastaldo
  • Writers
    Philippe Godeau
  • Photo
    Jean-Marc Fabre
  • Actors
    Omar Sy, Lionel Louis Basse, Fatoumata Diawara
  • Playtime
    1h. 43min
  • Year
    2019
  • Country
    France, Senegal
  • Age limit
    9
  • Production
    Pan-Européenne
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment