A Machine to Live In

A city symphony of Brasilia: the capital of Brazil. Directors Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke have a background in video installations and experimental films and take you on a cosmic journey in a mysterious metropolis. It is a constructed capital. A mega project built with a utopian vision. The city is a modernist architectural marvel and at the same time it is characterized by graffiti, strange cults and aging monuments. The film highlights the sacred geometry of triangles and symmetry of lines, in stunning images and a thumping, electronic soundtrack of what was to be the city of the future.

  • Program
  • Original title
    A Machine to Live In
  • Director
    Yoni Goldstein, Meredith Zielke
  • Producer
    Sebastian Alvarez, Andrew Benz, Maida Lynn
  • Writers
    Yoni Goldstein
  • Photo
    Andrew Benz
  • Playtime
    1 h 29 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Brazil
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Distributor
    Mass Ornament Film

A Taste of Hunger

Carsten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Maggie (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal) are happy parents of two children and run their own gourmet restaurant. This couple has almost everything. They only need the coveted Michelin star, which they are striving so hard to get. One day Carsten receives a letter saying that his wife loves someone else. But who sent the letter and why? In this sensuous film, you will get a striking impression of how food and romance are this drama’s strongest ingredients. In a well-played and aesthetically pleasing flick, which brings out the couple’s continuous search for the ultimate recognition, who forgets that the meals in life are best enjoyed together.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Smagen af sult
  • Director
    Christoffer Boe
  • Producer
    Louise Vesth, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Ida Harder, Lizette Jonjic, Maj-Britt Paulmann
  • Writers
    Christoffer Boe, Tobias Lindholm
  • Photo
    Manuel Alberto Claro
  • Actors
    Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Charlie Gustafsson, Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, Dag Malmberg, Nicolas Bro, Flora Augusta
  • Playtime
    1 h 44 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Distributor
    Tour de Force

a-Ha The Movie

a-ha The Movie follows Morten Harket, Pål Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen on tour. It tells the story of three teenagers who dreamed of becoming world-famous pop stars. When “Take On Me” topped the Billboard charts in 1985, the dream came true. They are still hugely popular, 35 years after the breakthrough. With unique access to the band, as well as the use of unknown archive material, the documentary tells how three very different creative personalities have given us great music and international success. But the film also shows how sky-high musical ambitions have led to conflict and troubled friendships for decades. Can they create music together again?

  • Program
  • Original title
    a-ha The Movie
  • Director
    Thomas Robsahm, Aslaug Holm
  • Producer
    Yngve Sæther, Thomas Robsahm
  • Photo
    Aslaug Holm
  • Actors
    Morten Harket, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen
  • Playtime
    1 h 39 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Motlys
  • Distributor
    Euforia Film
A-ha the Movie - foto: Magne Furuholmen

Alene sammen

We stay with the main character for several days in a row in quarantine. He meets himself in solitude and with the help of beautiful cinematography, accompanying camera movements and technical finesse, we are taken into his lonely universe that has arisen in this corona life.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Alene sammen
  • Director
    Balder Scheen Jacobsen
  • Writers
    Balder Scheen Jacobsen
  • Photo
    Leo Kramer
  • Playtime
    3 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years

Alma

Five years after the shooting started, the Icelandic Alma is complete. This is the last film with the award-winning Emmanuelle Riva, who died in 2017.

The result is an icy and engaging work. Here we are introduced to three-year-old Alma, who comes to Iceland with her mother after fleeing a war-torn country. Now, 25 years later, Alma is in a psychiatric ward for murdering her boyfriend. A crime she cannot remember. But when she discovers that her boyfriend is still alive, Alma decides to escape and kill him. We get to know the shy, mysterious and brutal side of Alma. Her complex nature opens up for cosmic sensory impressions and invites us to an enchanting journey in sterile rooms and beautiful natural images.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Alma
  • Director
    Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
  • Producer
    Guðrún Edda Þórhannesdóttir
  • Writers
    Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
  • Photo
    Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
  • Actors
    Snæfríður Ingvarsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Kristbjörg Kjeld, Snorri Engilbertsson, Emmanuelle Riva, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Iceland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Evil Doghouse Productions, Duo Productions
  • Distributor
    Europafilm

Apples

Pandemics come in all shapes and forms. In Apples, the world has been hit by a pandemic that causes sudden memory loss. Aris, a single man in his late thirties, falls victim to this inexplicable wave. He enlists in a recovery program designed to help those affected who have not been picked up by family, build new identities. This film is a dystopian black comedy by Christos Nikou, Yorgos Lanthimos’ protégé – as known from the Greek weird wave in recent times. The same signature is here. A haunting, witty and disconnected style. If you’re digging the absurdity of Dogtooth and The Lobster, Apples will be a tasteful experience.

NB: This film will be shown with Norwegian subtitles.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Mila
  • Director
    Christos Nikou
  • Producer
    Aris Dagios, Iraklis Mavroidis, Christos Nikou
  • Writers
    Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis
  • Photo
    Bartosz Swiniarski
  • Actors
    Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Anna Kalaitzidou
  • Playtime
    1 t 31 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Hellas
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    Boo Productions
  • Distributor
    Norsk Film Distribusjon

Aquaphobia

,

Vilja (11) has to challenge herself and fight back bullying from the village girls. She has to stand up for herself and the honor of her oldfashioned grandad. A film about solitude and courage.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Vannskrekk
  • Director
    Vigdis Nielsen
  • Producer
    Njål Lambrechts
  • Writers
    Vigdis Nielsen
  • Actors
    Alma Li Hjartnes, Amund Undeland, Johanna Hjeltnes, Johanna Hausnes, Anette Hide Gunnlaugsson
  • Playtime
    14 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Blinkfilm
Vannskrekk – Foto:

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

This year’s winner of the Golden Bear Award during the Berlinal International Film Festival is not for the faint of heart. It starts straight away with porn. Emi works as a teacher at a high school. Her career is at stake when a sex tape of her is leaked online, something the school and the parents of her students find out about. What follows is confusion and prejudice. This wild film takes the history of the genitals, politics, the coronavirus and the history of Romania into an interaction of absurd dimensions. It combines fiction (and even documentary) in a groundbreaking format. Completely uncensored! 

 

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Babardeala cu bucluc sau porno balamuc
  • Director
    Radu Jude
  • Producer
    Ada Solomon
  • Writers
    Radu Jude
  • Photo
    Marius Panduru
  • Actors
    Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Malai, Nicodim Ungureanu, Alexandru Potocean, Andi Vasluianu, Oana Maria Zaharia
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Romania
  • Age limit
    18 years
  • Distributor
    AS Fidalgo

Bienes kamp

A documentary about the beekeeper Håkon Tjøstheim (83). He has been a beekeeper since the age of 10. Since then, honey production has declined, which has worried him. The film is a visual journey in Håkon’s production of honey in modern times.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Bienes kamp
  • Director
    Arne Gunnar Olsen
  • Writers
    Arne Gunnar Olsen
  • Playtime
    1 min
  • Year
    9 years
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    Tempo Film

Burn!

Three friends spend their summer holidays together and playing wargames in a WW2 bunker. This is their castle in which they protect with grand measures, to hold on to their beloved childhood. This bunker means more to some than others, but they will challenge each other on how much this bunker means to them.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Brenn!
  • Director
    Syver Flem
  • Producer
    Markus Langlo
  • Writers
    Syver Flem, Henrik Skoglund
  • Photo
    Mathias Lohne
  • Actors
    Anders Rangøy, Julian Slatlem, Andreas Heinonen
  • Playtime
    11 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Westerdals/Høyskolen Kristiania
  • Distributor
    Westerdals/Høyskolen Kristiania

Clara Sola

The debut film by the half-Swedish / half-Costa Rican Nathalie Álvarez takes us to a remote village in Costa Rica. Here we meet Clara, an introverted woman in her forties, who lives with her deeply religious mother and her niece, who is in her teens. Clara is also a virgin and is more comfortable being near her white mare Yuca, than with men. In the film, she is like an allegory to the Virgin Mary. Clara gets a sexual and mysterious awakening when she embarks on a journey to free herself from the religious and social conventions that have ruled her life until now. Clara Sola is a symbolic work of art – straight from Cannes 2021 – with magical realism and lyrical atmosphere.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Clara Sola
  • Director
    Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
  • Producer
    Nima Yousefi, Anne-Laure Guégan, Antoine Liétout, Alan McConnell, Marcelo Quesada
  • Writers
    Maria Camila Arias, Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
  • Photo
    Sophie Winqvist
  • Actors
    Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Daniel Castañeda Rincón, Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Flor María Vargas Chavez
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Sweden, Costa Rica, Belgium, Germany
  • Age limit
    12 years

Clue: Maltesergåten

Cecilia (12) works at Perlen boarding house, together with her father, in the idyllic holiday paradise Skutebukta. The urban boy Leo (13) moves into the boarding house with his mother. Cecilia and her best friend Une (12) are skeptical of him to begin with. The trio finds a dead man lying on the beach below the guest house. He turns out to be a thief on the run. The stolen goods, which included the irreplaceable Maltese clock, was never found.

The police call it a drowning accident, but the trio sense that there is something more behind it. This will be the start of an exciting and dangerous quest, where they must find out who is the murderer, at the same time as they follow the clues towards the Maltese clock.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Clue: Maltesergåten
  • Director
    Thale Persen
  • Producer
    Cornelia Boysen, Pias Semb
  • Writers
    Aleksander Kirkwood Brown
  • Photo
    Askild Vik Edvardsen FSF, FNF
  • Actors
    Julia Mælumshagen Nymoen, Kenza Olympia Iteka, Felix Sollie, Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Bjørn Floberg, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Marlon Valdés Langeland, Henrik Mestad, Line Verndal
  • Playtime
    1 h 33 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Maipo Film
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribusjon
CLUE - Maltesergåten

CODA

As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby is torn between pursuing her love of music and the fear of leaving her parents. Screenwriter and director Sian Heder follows Ruby’s struggles and emotions during this turbulent youth. Emilia Jones in the role of Ruby is both witty, charming and confident. With Oscar winner Marlee Matlin in the role of the mother as well, makes this is a heartwarming human symphony of humor, a beautiful script (adapted by the French film The Family Béliér) and good acting performances.

  • Program
  • Original title
    CODA
  • Director
    Sian Heder
  • Producer
    Patrick Wachsberger, Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Sarah Borch-Jacobsen, Ardavan Safaee
  • Writers
    Sian Heder
  • Photo
    Paula Huidobro
  • Actors
    Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin
  • Playtime
    1 h 51 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Vendome Pictures, Pathé Films, Picture Perfect Federation
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribusjon

Compartment No. 6

Juho Kuosmanen won the top prize award during the Un Certain program in Cannes in 2016 with The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki. Now he is back and this year he won the Grand Prix in Cannes (together with A Hero). In Compartment No. 6, he takes us on a meditative journey. It starts in Moscow in the 90s, in a smoky apartment with a smell of cognac. Here lives the Finnish student Laura, who is going to Murmansk the next day to look at petroglyphs. Laura gets on the train and befriends the rough Russian Vadim. In this train compartment, they get to know each other and create an unlikely friendship. This journey will change their perspective on life. Compartment No. 6 is a warm, bittersweet and atmospheric gem.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hytti nro 6
  • Director
    Juho Kuosmanen
  • Producer
    Sergey Selyanov, Sol Bondy, Riina Sildos, Jussi Rantamäki, Natalya Drozd, Jamila Wenske
  • Writers
    Andris Feldmanis, Livia Ulman, Juho Kuosmanen
  • Photo
    Jani-Petteri Passi
  • Actors
    Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov, Dinara Drukarova, Dmitry Belenikhin, Polina Aug, Yuliya Aug
  • Playtime
    1 h 47 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Finland, Russia, Estonia, Germany
  • Age limit
    9 years

Death, dictates silence

Two Afghan refugee siblings are separated in early childhood. Their mother passes away and the son of the family cannot attend the funeral due to the pandemic, leaving his sister to make funeral arrangements by herself. They are in two different parts of the world, living in different cultural contexts. The harsh conditions for Afghan refugee women in Iran are not comparable to the comfortable lifestyle the brother is living in Sweden. This leaves him feeling shameful and guilty because he knows of the xenophobia against Afghan refugees in Iran. Via video call, the brother gets the opportunity to do right by himself and talk to his sister about his feelings but long kept secrets unravel causing the sister to react differently than expected.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Döden dikterar tystnad
  • Director
    Javid Sina
  • Producer
    Javid Sina
  • Writers
    Javid Sina
  • Photo
    Fredrik Fridlund
  • Actors
    Hafiz Hossaini, Arezo Ariapoor
  • Playtime
    15 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    HDK-Valand
  • Distributor
    HDK-Valand

Délicieux

We’re located in France in the 18th century. At the beginning of the French Revolution, gastronomy is still a privilege for the aristocrats. When the talented chef Manceron is fired by the Duke of Chamfort, he loses interest in cooking. Back in his mansion, the encounter with the mysterious Louise gets him back on his feet. While they both avenge the duke, they decide to create the very first restaurant in France. This mouth-watering film encapsulates the beauty of the kitchen, whether it is creating or consuming. This is a comedy that makes fun of the aristocrats and their lifestyle, where the real star of the film is the food itself.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Délicieux
  • Director
    Éric Besnard
  • Producer
    Philip Boëffard, Ève Machuel, Christophe Rossignon
  • Writers
    Éric Besnard, Nicolas Boukhrief
  • Actors
    Isabelle Carré, Grégory Gadebois, Benjamin Lavernhe, Patrick Chesnais
  • Playtime
    1 h 52 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Nord-Ouest Films, SND Groupe M6
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment
Fransk aften

Dinner in America

Simon is a rebellious punk rocker who hides from the police. Just as the cops are about to catch him, he is accidentally rescued by Patty, a shy young woman who has just been fired from her job. Patty invites him to dinner with her parents and offers him a stay there. Simon is also the vocalist in her favorite band. He seems like an arrogant and cynical bully, but the unexpected encounter with Patty awakens the nicer side in him. With punk rock as a spark, the young duo’s adventure starts, and they discover that they have more in common than music. Dinner in America is an unusual room-com, full of rebellious humor. With a frequent rock style and an energetic soundtrack, it celebrates 90’s punk.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Dinner in America
  • Director
    Adam Carter Rehmeier
  • Producer
    Ben Stiller, Nicholas Weinstock, David Hunter, Ross Putman, John Covert, Sam Slater
  • Writers
    Adam Carter Rehmeier
  • Photo
    Jean-Philippe Bernier
  • Actors
    Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Lea Thompson, Mary Lynn Rajskub
  • Playtime
    1 h 46 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    Europafilm

Distance

One bus stop, two men and a major crisis. What would you have done?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Avstand
  • Director
    Erlend Bjelland
  • Producer
    Erlend Bjelland, Ole Erik Fylkesnes
  • Writers
    Erlend Bjelland
  • Actors
    Egil Vihovde, Ole Erik Fylkesnes
  • Playtime
    1 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Absurd Film

Escape from New York

Cult classic Escape from New York turns 40 this year, and is celebrated with a relaunch at the cinema. Finally, it will again be possible to enjoy Kurt Russel in his iconic role as Snake Plissken on the big screen!

In the near future (that is, 1997), crime has exploded in the United States and the entire Manhattan island has been turned into a high-security prison fenced off by soaring walls. The rules are simple. He who enters, does not leave. But after the US president crash-lands on the island, someone has to enter the life-threatening area to find him. The mission goes to a new prisoner and ex-soldier Snake Plissken. If he succeeds, he wins his freedom. If he fails, he dies instantly. He has exactly 24 hours…

  • Program
  • Original title
    Escape from New York
  • Director
    John Carpenter
  • Producer
    Debra Hill, Larry Franco
  • Writers
    John Carpenter, Nick Castle
  • Photo
    Dean Cundey
  • Actors
    Kurt Russel, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau
  • Playtime
    1 h 39 min
  • Year
    1981
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    City Films
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Fabian: Going to the Dogs

We’re thrown into 1930s Germany. An educated academic named Dr. Jakob Fabian works for a cigarette company during the day and at night he walks the city streets, visiting brothels. He is a distant type who falls in love with Cornelia, a lawyer who has ambitions to become an actress. As her career begins to blossom, the prospects for his future begin to wane. Despite a runtime of almost three hours, director Dominik Graf engages you in an spellbinding story where he uses multiple techniques (archive material, split screens and different recording methods). This is a romantic melodrama with the backdrop of the unstoppable rise of Nazism.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Fabian: Going to the Dogs
  • Director
    Dominik Graf
  • Producer
    Felix von Boehm
  • Writers
    Erich Kästner, Dominik Graf, Constantin Lieb
  • Photo
    Hanno Lentz
  • Actors
    Tom Schilling, Albrecht Schuch, Saskia Rosendahl, Meret Becker, Eva Medusa Gühne
  • Playtime
    2 h 56 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Germany
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    ARTE, Amilux Film, Lupa Film, Studio Babelsberg, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Faithful

It is 1956. The Algerian Fernand and the Polish Helene, who are fleeing a communist-ruled Poland, meet in France and fall madly in love (despite the political differences). They travel to Algeria, while the country is a French colony. The revolution is underway. Fernand is an activist fighting for independence with the Algerians and is arrested for a bombing attempt. Helene fights for Fernand’s life. This gripping film is based on the story of Fernard Iverton and gives a historical look at Algeria and the French’s time in that country. This tearjerking flick balances politics and love in an outstanding way.

  • Program
  • Original title
    De nos frères blessés
  • Director
    Hélier Cisterne
  • Writers
    Katell Quillévéré, Hélier Cisterne
  • Photo
    Hichame Alaouie
  • Actors
    Vicky Krieps, Vincent Lacoste, Maximilien Poullein, Meriem Medjkrane, Norbert Ferrer, Hassen Ferhani
  • Playtime
    1 h 32 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    Charades

Favorite Daughter

An ode to crazy dads. A poetic and humorous portrait of a father-daughter relationship. In snapshots, we follow Favorite Daughter through her childhood with a loving and funny father who is the most amazing but also struggling with a bipolar disorder.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Yndlingsdatter
  • Director
    Susi Haaning
  • Producer
    Sophie D'Souza
  • Writers
    Susi Haaning
  • Actors
    Carla Eleonora Feigenberg, Dar Salim
  • Playtime
    7 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    The National Film School of Denmark
  • Distributor
    The National Film School of Denmark
FAVORITE DAUGHTER – Ynlingsdatter

Fittefaen

Buoyant and impulsive Vilde (21) finds out she is pregnant after a one night stand with apprehensive real estate agent Pelle (32), who threatens to commit suicide if she doesn’t have an abortion. After failing to tell her unsupportive family about her pregnancy at a dinner party, she escapes into her own imagination to deal with her feelings

  • Program
  • Original title
    Fittefaen
  • Director
    Ingrid Storrønningen
  • Producer
    Amanda Malmbekk
  • Writers
    Ingrid Storrønningen
  • Photo
    Joachim Magnussen
  • Actors
    Sofie Asplin, Simen Bostad
  • Playtime
    18 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Westerdals ACT / Høyskolen Kristiania
  • Distributor
    Westerdals ACT / Høyskolen Kristiania

Flee

Amin has everything. A great education, success and the love of his life. But when his boyfriend, Kasper, proposes he is overcome with anxiety. For not even Kasper knows Amin’s secret. And for Amin to live the life he wants, the secret needs to be told. He has to confront his past.

This journey takes Amin back to a happy childhood in 80’s Kabul with a-ha and posters of 80’s actionheros. And a vicious civil war, changing a picturesque childhood into a nightmare. At 11 Amin flees Afghanistan with his family, but five years later he arrives in Denmark all alone.

Flee is a beautiful documentary using animation to paint a moving picture of Amin’s story. The film premiered at Sundance, where it also won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary category.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Flugt
  • Director
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
  • Producer
    Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
  • Writers
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
  • Photo
    Mauricio Gonzalez-Aranda
  • Actors
    Rashid Aitouganov
  • Playtime
    1 h 29 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Final Cut for Real
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

From the Wild Sea

It’s wintertime, and volunteer marine activists across Europe are getting ready for some tough months. They work around the clock all year round to save wildlife on the coasts from life-threatening risks such as oil spills, storms or getting caught in plastics. Especially for the seals – the film’s lead roles. Climate change is making winters tougher every year, and storms are becoming more threatening.

From the Wild Sea is a creative documentary that deals with the relationship between man and nature. We join a disturbing and fascinating journey to an ever-increasing ocean. Here we are shown, among other things, all the plastic the sea animals get. From the Wild Sea paints a touching and sensual painting of our modern world and places it in on the big screen.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Fra det vilde hav
  • Director
    Robin Petré
  • Producer
    Malene Flindt Pedersen
  • Writers
    Robin Petré
  • Photo
    Maria Grazia Goya, Robin Petré
  • Playtime
    1 h 18 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Hansen & Pedersen
  • Distributor
    Festivalimport

Gagarine

,

16-year-old Yuri lives in the Gagarine building (Cité Gagarine) on the outskirts of Paris – a classic “Soviet Bloc” residential complex to be demolished. This is a real building that was set up during the communist period and started the demolition process in 2019. The film deals with Yuri’s feelings for his old home. He therefore joins a demonstration group when he hears about the demolition plans. Together with friends Diana and Houssam, they begin various projects in an attempt to prevent the destruction of what Yuri considers his “spaceship”. After all, the film draws parallels to the name behind the Gagarine building: the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. This movie is an introspective and dreamy flight in its narrative form and use of images.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Gagarine
  • Director
    Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh
  • Producer
    Carole Scotta, Julie Billy
  • Writers
    Fanny Liatard, Benjamin Charbit, Jérémy Trouilh
  • Actors
    Alséni Bathily, Lyna Khoudri, Jamil McCraven, Finnegan Oldfield, Farida Rahouadj, Denis Lavant
  • Playtime
    1 h 38 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Haut et Court
  • Distributor
    Selmer Media
Gagarine

Generation Utøya

Four young women who survived Utøya have chosen to continue their strong political commitment. They refused to be silenced and represent a generation of politicians who dare to dream of and fight for a better future. The young politicians were fatally wounded, or they saw their friends and girlfriend killed. Common to them all is that they are forced to process what happened, and have chosen to work actively further for what they believe in. They continue to fight not only on behalf of themselves, but on behalf of an entire generation of young people, while giving hope to an entire country and people. Generasjon Utøya is an important film that is now being launched during the 10th anniversary of the horrific terror on 22 July.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Generasjon Utøya
  • Director
    Aslaug Holm, Sigve Endresen
  • Producer
    Tore Buvarp
  • Photo
    Aslaug Holm
  • Actors
    Ina Libak, Kamzy Gunaratnam, Line Hoem, Renate Tårnes
  • Playtime
    1 t 41 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Fenris film
  • Distributor
    Euforia Film

Goodbye Tornio

Goodbye Tornio is a beautiful short documentary about being young, leaving home and figuring it out on your own. The film follows the life of an 18-year-old Vilma on her last weekend in her hometown Tornio, a small place in Lapland. Situated between a river and the sea, in Northern Finland.

Vilma graduates from school, parties with her parents, siblings and friends and receives unwanted advice from emotional adults. All while she mentally prepares herself for the next step. Her dream, moving to the big city of Helsinki, a 10-hour drive away from her hometown. Goodbye Tornio is a vivid depiction of these rare moments in life when everything is just about to change for good.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hei hei Tornio
  • Director
    Emilia Hernesniemi
  • Producer
    Eveliina Mauno
  • Writers
    Emilia Hernesniemi
  • Photo
    Iiris Heikka
  • Actors
    Vilma Tihinen
  • Playtime
    15 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Aalto ELO Film School
  • Distributor
    Aalto ELO Film School

Gunda

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Poetic images and rich sound design characterize this unique documentary that has charmed critics both in and outside the Scandinavia. We travel with the atmospheric pictures to a farm in Vestfold and meet the pig Gunda. We get to know her, her newborn piglets, some cows, chickens and the rest of the herd – without a classic BBC narrator voice or dialogue.

It is a work with an animalistic perspective in which camera movements at eye level shows us the farm as a separate world full of surprises. There is no suspense music or colors. Everything is an observation where we see life as a “fly on the wall” (or in this case: “the pig on the farm”). The result is a beautiful and moving film, which gives us room to meditate.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Gunda
  • Director
    Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Producer
    Anita Rehoff Larsen
  • Writers
    Ainara Vera, Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Photo
    Viktor Kossakovsky, Egil Håskjold Larsen
  • Actors
    Gunda
  • Playtime
    1 t 33 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Sant og Usant AS
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday – Is a short, brutal and merciless snapshot from a reality far too many has experienced. Drugs destroy not only the addict, but whole families disintegrate from the inside. In this stress both the drug addict and their families can do and say things they would never dream of under normal circumstances. When has things gone too far – when is the point of no return passed and things become hard to repair.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hurra for deg
  • Director
    Mads Eriksen
  • Producer
    Siw Angell-Olsen
  • Writers
    Mads Eriksen, Nils Petter Devold Midtun
  • Photo
    Nils Petter Devold Midtun
  • Actors
    Tor Einar Gudmestad, Per Kjerstad, Nina Ellen Ødegård
  • Playtime
    10 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    TALLFILM AS
  • Distributor
    TALLFILM AS

Herself

The director behind The Iron Lady and Mamma Mia! returns, but this time to a different style. In Herself, a husband beats up his wife Sandra. She escapes with the kids. She struggles with physically and mentally, has two jobs and is under strong pressure from the social and housing bureaucracy. She is also looking for a new home for herself and the daughters, but the money is the problem. She decides to take matters into her own hands and builds a house. Herself has a beautiful focus on the unifying power of building a house, while illustrating a bureaucratic system that does not work. Sandra’s vulnerability is strongly portrayed, through a realistic depiction of domestic violence, but the film pays homage to her courage and determination.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Herself
  • Director
    Phyllida Lloyd
  • Producer
    Rory Gilmartin, Ed Guiney, Sharon Horgan
  • Writers
    Malcolm Campbell, Clare Dunne
  • Photo
    Tom Comerford
  • Actors
    Sharon Horgan, Andrew Lowe, Ed Guiney, Rory Gilmartin, Rose Garnett, Mary Burke
  • Playtime
    1 h 37 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    England, Ireland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Howl’s Moving Castle

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Sofie is a quiet girl who works in a hat shop in an idyllic small town in the 19th century, where most things are steam-powered. One day, her life is turned upside down. The country she lives in is on the brink of war with a foreign power, and proud military parades are adorned by patriotic crowds. She is bewitched by an old woman and whirls into a wonderful and spectacular adventure with a young and handsome wizard, a fat witch, a fire demon, a short-tempered dog, a brutal war, a little love and last but not least a wandering , living castle!

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of the foremost classics from Japanese Studio Ghibli, directed by master director Hayao Miyazaki. It is a firework of imagination, playfulness, vitality and creative joy!

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Hauru no ugoku shiro
  • Director
    Hayao Miyazaki
  • Producer
    Toshio Suzuki, Ned Lott, Rick Dempsey
  • Writers
    Hayao Miyazaki, after Diana Wynne Jones' novel
  • Photo
    Atsushi Okui
  • Actors
    Benedikte Kruse, Inger Teien, Håvard Bakke, Aksel Hennie, Bente Børsum
  • Playtime
    1 h 59 min
  • Year
    2004
  • Country
    Japan
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    Studio Ghibli
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS

There’s a huge problem. The wristwatch that David’s company launches in a few days has a mistake. It doesn’t count seconds precisely. 

This comes up hours before a planned couples vacation. Torn between a huge career opportunity and a vacation with his girlfriend, David forgoes common sense and tries to fix the watch so his co-worker won’t get the credit for it, whilst also enjoying drinks on the beach. 

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    JEG HAR IKKE TID TIL DET HER
  • Director
    Mathias Rodrigues Bjerre
  • Producer
    Mads-August Grarup Hertz
  • Writers
    Mathias Rodrigues Bjerre, Sune Kofod Maglegaard
  • Actors
    Simon Stenspil, Marie Reuther, Troels Lyby, Henning Valin, Alexander, Tronbjerg Andersen
  • Playtime
    18 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    The National Film School of Denmark
  • Distributor
    The National Film School of Denmark

I’m Your Man

Alma is a researcher at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funding for the studies, she accepts an offer to participate in an unusual experiment. For three weeks she has to live with a humanoid robot with artificial intelligence that is designed to look like her ideal life partner. His name is Tom and he does like internet algorithms today: Analyzes the user’s interests and gives them more of what they already like. I’m Your Man twists the classic romantic comedy into smart and charming science fiction. This is a game about what life and consciousness are. A witty look at the future of the human connection created through the achievements of Maren Eggert and Dan Stevens (in a German role!)

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ich bin dein Mensch
  • Director
    Maria Schrader
  • Producer
    Lisa Blumenberg, Benedict Brandt, Marcus Kreuz, Maria Schrader, Dan Stevens
  • Writers
    Jan Schomburg, Maria Schrader, Emma Braslavsky
  • Photo
    Benedict Neuenfels
  • Actors
    Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller
  • Playtime
    1 t 45 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Tyskland
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    Letterbox Filmproduktion
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Kids Cup

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In Kids Cup we travel into the minds of young football players. Anna, Fred, Khalidi, Yu and Afnan have all trained for one year to win at the Norway Cup. They have traveled from Sunnmøre, Palestine and Brazil to Ekebergsletta in Oslo, and now they will be put to the test. Everyone comes on the football field with their unique stories and we follow them closely. Their personal lives are in focus. We see everything through their eyes. The unjust judges, the difficult parents and the new friends. Kids Cup balances friendship and flirtation by giving it all in the match. It is not just about winning or losing, but bringing pride to their country, their families and themselves. A feelgood movie from the world’s biggest football cup.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Bortebane
  • Director
    Line Hatland
  • Producer
    Mari Monrad
  • Writers
    Line Hatland
  • Photo
    Tore Vollan m.fl.
  • Playtime
    1 t 29 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Medieoperatørene
  • Distributor
    Euforia Film

Kusanagi

In the animated music video Kusanaagi artist Sturle Dagsland finds himself inside a unique fantasy world filled with strange plants and mysterious landscapes with hidden faces. Here he meets dark spirits, trolls and ominous obstacles on his journey to return a magical device from the Night Swallower’s cave, filled with stolen treasures.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Kusanagi
  • Director
    Eirik Heggen
  • Producer
    Eirik Heggen
  • Writers
    Eirik Heggen
  • Actors
    Sturle Dagsland, Sjur Dagsland
  • Playtime
    3 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Eirik Heggen Animasjon & Illustrasjon

Laughing Matters

Maria is recently unemployed and feels a little lost in her life. She takes part in a stand-up class in an attempt to revitalize herself after failing as a writer. She is in a pub and sees a nasty man come up with raucous, male chauvinistic jokes. As a result of that, she chooses to work hard in her standup style. By getting back at him with her own critical voice. Maria ends up on a competition tour for beginners and here she meets the same nasty guy she met that one night. Laughing Matters is a Finnish “road movie” with feminist undertones.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Naurun varjolla
  • Director
    Reetta Aalto
  • Producer
    Sari Lempiäinen
  • Writers
    Anna Ruohonen
  • Photo
    Jarkko Virtanen
  • Actors
    Elena Leeve, Joonas Saartamo, Ernest Lawson, Aino Sirje
  • Playtime
    1 h 28 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Zodiak Finland
  • Distributor
    The Finnish Film Foundation

Little Girl

Sasha is a little girl born as a boy in a small town in France. “When I grow up, I’ll be a girl,” Sasha tells her parents. When Sasha is 7 years old, her parents have realized that this was not just a phase. They do their utmost to make society accept her for who she is, but the understanding and acceptance from the school, the dance school and the parents of the other children is lacking. This touching film sheds light on a very current and important topic that creates strong engagement, and contributes to debate with a perspective that in many ways has been lacking. One which is absolutely crucial to think about how we as a society should relate to gender dysphoria; namely how this is experienced for the child.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Petite fille
  • Director
    Sébastien Lifshitz
  • Producer
    Monica Hellstrøm, Muriel Meynard, Fabrice Puchault
  • Writers
    Sébastien Lifshitz
  • Photo
    Paul Guilhaume
  • Playtime
    1 h 30 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    Available for all ages
  • Production
    ARTE, Agat Films & Cie
  • Distributor
    Selmer Media

Love Tasting

Described as a toned down and naturalistic Gaspar Noë film. Love Tasting introduces us to four young Poles. Olivia lost her virginity a few days ago and learns that she has become pregnant. Tomek is a well-behaved boy from a wealthy family, who learns to dance from YouTube videos. He meets Kuba – the new boyfriend of his twin sister Monika. Tomek is fascinated by the older and more athletic Kuba, to the point that he begins to change his physical appearance to look more like him. Love is put to the test when Tomek confesses to Monika about his sexual identity. This is a lively, modern and visually pleasing coming-of-age film in a small Polish town about teenagers who think too much about themselves.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ostatni Komers
  • Director
    Dawid Nickel
  • Producer
    Marta Habior
  • Writers
    Anna Cieplak, Dawid Nickel
  • Photo
    Michał Pukowiec
  • Actors
    Mikołaj Matczak, Michał Sitnicki, Sandra Drzymalska, Nel Kaczmarek, Jakub Wroblewski, Zofia Swiatkiewicz
  • Playtime
    1 h 25 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Poland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    KinoProject

Luzzu

Jesmark works as a fisherman in Malta and risks everything to ensure a stable life for his wife and newborn son. He is pressured by tight finances, obligations in the family, a shrinking fish population and widespread corruption. This is a man who has to make some tough choices, which contradicts his philosophy of life, when it suddenly affects his future. How much does he have to sacrifice and how far will he go?

This is a film about Malta, filmed in Malta and with Maltese people in the roles. Many of them are real fishermen and amateur actors, which emphasizes the credibility and neo-realism of this work. Luzzu balances between fiction and truth, and the result is a striking depiction of culture and a proud heritage in the face of EU restrictions. Between traditions and bureaucracy.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Luzzu
  • Director
    Alex Camilleri
  • Producer
    Rebecca Anastasi, Ramin Bahrani, Alex Camilleri, Josephine Camilleri, Michael Camilleri
  • Writers
    Alex Camilleri
  • Photo
    Léo Lefèvre
  • Actors
    Jesmark Scicluna
  • Playtime
    1 h 34 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Malta
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

Mad from the Sun

Miina, a middle-aged woman, wakes up early on a Saturday morning. She could continue sleeping, but something is keeping her awake. The rest of her family is still asleep, the house remains quiet.

Miina gets up to make coffee. Her morning routine is interrupted as she finds a small plastic bag taped to the window. Inside, she finds a bloody human ear.

The ear sends Miina back in time to relive her first teenage love affair with Lukas. The couple loves to play a game where they challenge each other to prove their love: “If you love me, you’ll eat that chunk of butter.” Miina gets hooked on Lukas and the game.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Auringonpistos
  • Director
    Anna Äärelä
  • Producer
    Pilvi Kuusrainen
  • Writers
    Anna Äärelä
  • Photo
    Max Smeds
  • Actors
    Julia Von Lerber, Amos Brotherus, Saara Kotkaniemi
  • Playtime
    15 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Aalto ELO Film School
  • Distributor
    Aalto ELO Film School
Auringonpistos -

Mamma Moo Finds Home

Life on Mamma Moo’s farm goes on, but one day a stork lands in the forest near their home. The stork tells Mamma Moo that she has traveled around the world. Then Mamma Moo begins to ask the question of whether she really belongs on this farm, to the crow’s frustration. What if there’s a better place out there? Mamma Moo Finds Home is a fun, colorful and warm, new feature film about the popular and beloved Mamma Moo and the crow. A film about two very different friends who explore and experience life’s great miracles together.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Mamma Mu hittar hem
  • Director
    Christian Ryltenius, Tomas Tivemark
  • Producer
    Filippa Torstensson, executive producers: Jon Nohrstedt, Annika Sucksdorff
  • Writers
    Peter Arrhenius
  • Actors
    Katrine Blomstrand, Øyvind B. Lyse, Ulrikke Døvigen, Suzanne Paalgard
  • Playtime
    1 h 5 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    SF

Margrete – Queen of the North

The year is 1402, and a woman is at the forefront of a new Nordic kingdom. Margrete I has united Denmark, Norway and Sweden in a union, which she manages independently through her adopted son, King Erik. The union is surrounded by enemies, and Margrete is therefore planning a marriage between Erik and the English princess Philippa. An alliance with England will be able to strengthen the Kalmar Union and secure it against attack. But a conspiracy is underway, which puts Margrete in an impossible dilemma, which could cost her everything.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Margrete den første
  • Director
    Charlotte Sieling
  • Producer
    Birgitte Skov, Lars Bredo Rahbek
  • Writers
    Charlotte Sieling, Jesper Fink, Maya Ilsøe
  • Photo
    Rasmus Videbæk
  • Actors
    Trine Dyrholm, Søren Malling, Morten Hee Andersen, Jakob Oftebro, Bjørn Floberg, Magnus Krepper
  • Playtime
    2 h
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Denmark, Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    SF Studios

Mau

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Through Ontario, Mecca, New York and Guatemala. The outgoing designer Bruce Mau has had his creative vision in full swing across national borders. Mau is the adventurous documentary about this Canadian designer and his intense work ethic. The film explores his unique and creative mind, and gives us a clear overview of how he revolutionized modern design. This applies, among other things, to “S, M, L, XL” – better known as the “design bible”, but also gigantic projects such as the social movement “GuateAmala!”

This is an exciting story about breaking the borders and a positive attitude when he now has to embark on his most important project: life itself.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Mau
  • Director
    Benjamin Bergmann, Jono Bergmann
  • Producer
    Karol Martesko-Fenster
  • Photo
    Stefan Würnitzer
  • Actors
    Bruce Mau, Paola Antonelli
  • Playtime
    1 h 13 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Austria
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    Autlook Filmsales

Mind of Modernism

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Mind of Modernism brings you on a meditative and smooth journey through Norwegian architecture. In this film, Paul Tunge and photographer Egil Håskjold Larsen venture out into the public and into rooms, to explore modernist buildings in Norwegian society. This audiovisual journey is composed of three short films: Ad Astra, Bauta and Platform. In Ad Astra you will see brutalist church architecture, which is in stark contrast to the traditional church we all know. In Bauta you will soar around Oslo and observe concrete public buildings, while in Platform you will enter modern villas. Sound and image exist in a calm (but also chilling) symbiosis in this portrait of modernistic buildings.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Mind of Modernism
  • Director
    Paul Tunge, Egil Håskjold Larsen
  • Producer
    Ingvild Evjemo
  • Photo
    Paul Tunge, Egil Håskjold Larsen, Patrick Safstrøm
  • Playtime
    1 h 10 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    4 1/2
Mind of Modernism, world premiere

More Woman, More Cry

A poetic, provocative and emotional journey into the last chapter of Anne Haugsgjerd’s life. A naked story about aging, art and smoking weed.

  • Program
  • Original title
    More Woman, More Cry
  • Director
    Anne Haugsgjerd
  • Producer
    Jarle Bjørknes
  • Writers
    Anne Haugsgjerd
  • Photo
    Anne Haugsgjerd
  • Playtime
    24 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Incitus FIlms
  • Distributor
    Incitus FIlms

Mother’s Wrath

Tiina hides her anger to be an exemplary mother to her child Amanda. The atmosphere of their mother-daughter family vacation is getting tense, as pre-teenaged Amanda is growing out of the cramped caravan and childish games. In addition to her feelings, Tiina also has to suppress unexplainable fires in the campsite. 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Perintö
  • Director
    Tuuli Sirkeinen
  • Producer
    Janne Lähteenmäki
  • Writers
    Mikko Peltotupa
  • Actors
    Noora Dadu, Elea Susipolku, Miiko Toiviainen, Sonja Kuittinen
  • Playtime
    17 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Aalto ELO Film School
  • Distributor
    Aalto ELO Film School
PERINTO // Mor vet best

Natural Light

A dark, “down in the mud” thriller through swamps and pale landscapes. It is the main character István Semetka who is “the natural light” in this war film. He is a simple Hungarian farmer who is in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II. During the war, he is a lieutenant in a special unit that hunts for partisan groups. On his way to a remote village, his troop falls under enemy fire. When the boss is killed, Semetka must overcome the fear and take command of the unit when he is dragged into a chaos that he can not control. The film consists of aesthetically depressing and striking images that bring out the realism of war through mud, dirty clothes and frozen feet.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Természetes fény
  • Director
    Dénes Nagy
  • Producer
    Melanie Blocksdorf, Caroline Piras, Marcell Gerö, Sára László, Inese Boka-Grūbe
  • Writers
    Nagy Dénes
  • Photo
    Tamás Dobos
  • Actors
    Ferenc Szabó, Tamás Garbacz, László Bajkó
  • Playtime
    1 h 43 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Hungary
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Campfilm
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Nice to Meet You

Paul Château Têtard is 48 years old, has never had children and comes from the cream of the Parisian nobility. For the first time, he will take the well-known metro in the capital. There he meets Ava, a young office director who works for the metro in Paris. He falls in love with her. When he plans to marry her, his mother – known as “Queen Adelaide” – becomes suspicious. She has no good thoughts about Ava and becomes suspicious of where this humble young lady is during the day. Adelaide hires a private detective to follow her, to prove that she is unfaithful to her son.

  • Program
  • Original title
    La Pièce rapportée
  • Director
    Antonin Peretjatko
  • Producer
    Mathieu Verhaeghe , Thomas Verhaeghe
  • Writers
    Antonin Peretjatko
  • Photo
    Simon Roca
  • Actors
    Anaïs Demoustier, Philippe Katerine, \William Lebghil
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12 years

Ninjababy

23-year-old Rakel discovers that she is six months pregnant. She got pregnant after a not-so-romantic one-night stand. Rakel has never wanted to be a mother, and reacts with denial, anger and frustration. When the fetus, which she calls “ninja baby”, soon crawls out of Rachel’s comics and out of her mind, it does not take long before he realizes that he must fight for his own future. Rakel, on the other hand, has to navigate between what she thinks is best for herself and what is best for her child – or is it perhaps the same thing? Ninjababy is a moving and funny film about growing up, and how unprepared you can be to experience something as natural as getting pregnant.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ninjababy
  • Director
    Yngvild Sve Flikke, Johan Fasting, etter Inga H Sætres tegneserieroman Fallteknikk
  • Producer
    Yngve Sæther
  • Writers
    Johan Fasting
  • Photo
    Marianne Bakke
  • Actors
    Kristine Kujath Thorp, Arthur Berning, Nader Khademi, Tora Dietrichson, Silya Nymoen, Herman Tømmeraas
  • Playtime
    1 t 43 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Motlys
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Nordic Council Film Prize: Danish nominee – Flee

Amin has everything. A great education, success and the love of his life. But when his boyfriend, Kasper, proposes he is overcome with anxiety. For not even Kasper knows Amin’s secret. And for Amin to live the life he wants, the secret needs to be told. He has to confront his past.

This journey takes Amin back to a happy childhood in 80’s Kabul with a-ha and posters of 80’s actionheros. And a vicious civil war, changing a picturesque childhood into a nightmare. At 11 Amin flees Afghanistan with his family, but five years later he arrives in Denmark all alone.

Flee is a beautiful documentary using animation to paint a moving picture of Amin’s story. The film premiered at Sundance, where it also won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary category.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Flugt
  • Director
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
  • Producer
    Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
  • Writers
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
  • Actors
    Rashid Aitouganov
  • Playtime
    1 t 29 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Danmark
  • Production
    Final Cut for Real
  • Distributor
    Mer Film

Nordic Council Film Prize: Finnish nominee

This film takes us to a refugee center in Finland. Here we get to know Bahman, Mahtab, Ramin and Donya Mehdipour – a family from Iran. While the 13-year-old Ramin enjoys the school holidays, the family gets an unfortunate answer about their asylum application. The family strives to have a normal everyday life and maintain a positive attitude despite the threatening danger of deportation. The family uses their last chance to hold appeals, but they continue living life as it should be, driven by their exceptionally positive views and attitudes. Especially for the 13-year-old Ramin who is about to start middle school, where every moment will be more valuable than ever. The film is based on the director’s own experiences, after fleeing the Middle East and settling in Finland.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Ensilumi
  • Director
    Hamy Ramezan
  • Producer
    Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka
  • Writers
    Hamy Ramezan, Antti Rautava
  • Actors
    Shahab Hosseini, Shabnam Gorbani, Aran-Sina Keshvari, Kimya Eskandari, Laura Birn
  • Playtime
    1 t 22 min
  • Country
    Finland

Nordic Council Film Prize: Icelandic nominee – Alma

Five years after the shooting started, the Icelandic Alma is complete. This is the last film with the award-winning Emmanuelle Riva, who died in 2017.

The result is an icy and engaging work. Here we are introduced to three-year-old Alma, who comes to Iceland with her mother after fleeing a war-torn country. Now, 25 years later, Alma is in a psychiatric ward for murdering her boyfriend. A crime she cannot remember. But when she discovers that her boyfriend is still alive, Alma decides to escape and kill him. We get to know the shy, mysterious and brutal side of Alma. Her complex nature opens up for cosmic sensory impressions and invites us to an enchanting journey in sterile rooms and beautiful natural images

  • Program
  • Original title
    Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
  • Director
    Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
  • Producer
    Guðrún Edda Þórhannesdóttir
  • Writers
    Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
  • Photo
    Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
  • Actors
    Snæfríður Ingvarsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Kristbjörg Kjeld, Snorri Engilbertsson, Emmanuelle Riva, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Iceland
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Evil Doghouse Productions, Duo Productions
  • Distributor
    Europafilm

Nordic Council Film Prize: Norwegian nominee – Gunda

Poetic images and rich sound design characterize this unique documentary that has charmed critics both in and outside the Scandinavia. We travel with the atmospheric pictures to a farm in Vestfold and meet the pig Gunda. We get to know her, her newborn piglets, some cows, chickens and the rest of the herd – without a classic BBC narrator voice or dialogue.

It is a work with an animalistic perspective in which camera movements at eye level shows us the farm as a separate world full of surprises. There is no suspense music or colors. Everything is an observation where we see life as a “fly on the wall” (or in this case: “the pig on the farm”). The result is a beautiful and moving film, which gives us room to meditate.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Gunda
  • Director
    Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Producer
    Anita Rehoff Larsen
  • Writers
    Ainara Vera, Viktor Kossakovsky
  • Actors
    Gunda
  • Playtime
    1 t 33 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norge
  • Production
    Sant og Usant AS
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Nordic Council Film Prize: Swedish nominee

The nominee for the Nordic Council Film Prize will be announced on 24 August.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Tigrar
  • Director
    Ronnie Sandahl
  • Producer
    Piodor Gustafsson, Lucia Nicolai, Marcello Paolillo, Birgitte Skov
  • Writers
    Ronnie Sandahl
  • Actors
    Erik Enge, Frida Gustavsson, Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Maurizio Lombardi, Alfred Enoch, Liv Mjönes
  • Playtime
    1 t 26 min
  • Year
    15 år
  • Country
    Sverige

Nowhere Special

The window washer John has dedicated his life to raising his 3-year-old son Michael, whose mother left them shortly after birth. John is sick, with only a few months left to live. He will try to find a new family for Michael, but at the same time protect him from the awful reality. Initially, he is sure that he knows what he is looking for in a perfect family, but gradually he is overwhelmed by doubt. How can he judge a family by a brief encounter? And does he know his own child well enough to make this choice? Nowhere Special is an extremely moving film about father and son. Here you just have to take out the handkerchiefs.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Nowhere Special
  • Director
    Uberto Pasolini
  • Producer
    Chris Martin, Cristian Nicolescu, Uberto Pasolini, Roberto Sessa
  • Writers
    Uberto Pasolini
  • Actors
    James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O'Higgins
  • Playtime
    1 h 36 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    United Kingdom
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    Picomedia, Digital Cube
  • Distributor
    Norsk Film Distribusjon

Oh, It Hertz!

Oh, It Hertz! is a sensual deep dive into the sounds we surround ourselves with. The collective experience of sound. Documentary filmmaker Gunnar Hall Jensen collaborates with sound researcher and vocalist Laurie Amat in this exploration. Here we meet sound experts from all over the world, who give us both a personal approach to sound, but also a scientific perspective. This film is like a engaging music lesson where you will explore what the Nazis achieved when they changed the standard frequency of the A-tone from 432 to 440 Hertz. What does sound do to us? Can it manipulate us and be used as a weapon? And even more frightening, what did the Nazis know about this?

  • Program
  • Original title
    Oh, It Hertz!
  • Director
    Gunnar Hall Jensen
  • Photo
    Måns Berthas
  • Playtime
    1 h 27 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    UPNorth Film

Olga

In this intense sports film we meet the 15 year old Olga. A talented Ukrainian gymnast, who works hard to participate in the European Championships. The year is 2013 and life in Ukraine is starting to get worse. The Euromaidan uprising breaks out in Kiev, and suddenly her closest ones are involved. Her mother sends her to Switzerland, where the training continues. Olga tries to adapt to the new country, but the cultural differences and envious competitors make life difficult for the ambitious girl. This is a movie where sports meet politics. About the link between geographical and personal boundaries. And it gets worse when riots escalate in the home country, where Olga’s mother is and works as a journalist who reports on the protests.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Olga
  • Director
    Elie Grappe
  • Producer
    Tom Dercourt, Jean-Marc Fröhle
  • Writers
    Raphaëlle Desplechin, Elie Grappe
  • Photo
    Lucie Baudinaud
  • Actors
    Anastasia Budiashkina
  • Playtime
    1 t 25 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Frankrike, Ukraina
  • Age limit
    15 years

Pecking Order

Miko and his big brother Dimas, two brothers from Ukraine, grow up in Norway in a rough environment. Their days are filled with MMA training and driving their car. Miko convinces his big brother to let him tag along to the techno club, but the reveal of Dimas’ sexual orientation may be too much for Miko to handle.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Hønekamp
  • Director
    Johannes Veine Wiig
  • Producer
    Kjetil Jore
  • Writers
    Johannes Veine Wiig
  • Photo
    Fredrik Fossum Hallerud
  • Actors
    Jakob Fort, Håkon Bøhmer Gomez
  • Playtime
    15 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Westerdals - Høyskolen Kristiania
  • Distributor
    Westerdals - Høyskolen Kristiania

Petite Maman

Following the masterpiece Portrait of a Woman on Fire, director Céline Sciamma moves to another vulnerable theme. Eight-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding forest area. Marion, her mother, used to play there and build the wooden house Nelly has heard so much about. The mother disappears and then Nelly meets a girl at her age in the woods, who is building a wooden house. Sciamma wraps a lot of emotions in the short runtime. This is a genuine reflection on childhood and the relationship with a mother.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Petite Maman
  • Director
    Céline Sciamma
  • Producer
    Bénédicte Couvreur, Claire Langmann, Cécile Négrier
  • Writers
    Céline Sciamma
  • Photo
    Paul Guilhaume
  • Actors
    Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse
  • Playtime
    1 h 12 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Production
    Lilies Films
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Pleasure

We join the inside of the porn industry in this work by Swedish Ninja Thyberg. The 20-year-old Bella Cherry leaves the small town life in Sweden and crosses the Atlantic to become the next big porn star. She lands in Los Angeles and is quickly met with uncertainty. The whole film is based on the questions of consent. In some cases she experiences care and respect, while in others she feels like a piece of meat that can be maltreated. Do you sign the devil’s contract as you enter this industry and what intrigues happen when the cameras are turned off? Pleasure can offer a brilliant character development in a very uncomfortable industry.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Pleasure
  • Director
    Ninja Thyberg
  • Producer
    Papa Boye
  • Writers
    Peter Modestij, Ninja Thyberg
  • Photo
    Sophie Winqvist
  • Actors
    Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock
  • Playtime
    1 h 49 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    18 years
  • Distributor
    SF Studios

Quo Vadis, Aida?

We’re in Bosnia, July 1995. Aida works as an interpreter for the UN in Srebrenica. Serbian military forces are taking over the city and Aida’s family is among the many thousands seeking refuge in the UN-controlled area. Quo Vadis, Aida? is an intense depiction of the courage, love and willpower of a woman captured in a war waged by men.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, and is based on unreal, but true, events. – How could that happen? Director Jasmila Zbanic has dedicated the film to the women of Srebrenica and their 8372 fallen sons, fathers, husbands, brothers, cousins, neighbors …

  • Program
  • Original title
    Quo Vadis, Aida?
  • Director
    Jasmila Žbanić
  • Producer
    Damir Ibrahimovich
  • Writers
    Jasmila Žbanić
  • Photo
    Christine A. Maier
  • Actors
    Jasna Djuricic, Raymond Thiry, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, Jovan Zivanovic
  • Playtime
    1h 41 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

Red Soil

César winner Zita Hanrot, known from Love, Death & Robots on Netflix among other things, takes on the role of the nurse Nour. She is a new employee at her father’s chemical factory in the south of France after she was fired from her job in the ER. Her father (played by Sami Bouajila – also a César winner) has worked at the factory for over 30 years.

Here she begins to sense that something’s off. The authority pushes away the problems as it reveals secret agreements between the industry, politicians and syndicates to hide life-threatening working conditions from the public. In this eco-thriller, Nour must choose whether to expose the conspiracy or remain loyal to her father, highlighted by brilliant acting performances from them both. An absorbing and rewarding thriller!

  • Program
  • Original title
    Rouge
  • Director
    Farid Bentoumi
  • Producer
    Frédéric Jouve
  • Writers
    Farid Bentoumi, Samuel Doux, Audrey Fouché, Gaëlle Macé
  • Photo
    Georges Lechaptois
  • Actors
    Zita Hanrot, Sami Bouajila, Céline Sallette, Olivier Gourmet
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Les Films Velvet, Les Films du Fleuve, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
  • Distributor
    Njuta Films

Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam

Seyran Ateş grew up in Berlin as a young Muslim girl, fighting against oppression. Since then, she has strived to reorganize Islam. Now she is a lawyer, feminist and one of the first female imams in Europe, working for a sexual revolution within the religion. Among other things, she is opening the first mosque without gender segregation. Here we get to know how wise, energetic and tough this woman is. Especially in a time of countless online threats. The humanitarian focus of this radical woman is highlighted in a personal documentary, which draws on the revolutionary thoughts of the hippie movement in the 1960s, as well as the terror and right-wing extremism in Norway on July 22, 2011.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islam
  • Director
    Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
  • Producer
    Jørgen Lorentzen
  • Writers
    Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
  • Photo
    Anders Hoft
  • Actors
    Seyran Ateş
  • Playtime
    1 t 21 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    Integral Film
Arrangement under filmfestivalen

Skies of Lebanon

In the 1950’s, the young Alice leaves mountainous Switzerland for the sunny and lively Mediterranean city of Beirut in Lebanon. There, she falls madly in love with Joseph, a strange astrophysicist who wants to send the first Lebanese citizen into space. Alice quickly fits into this environment but after many years of happiness, the gunfires start in 1975. The civil war in Lebanon is underway. Skies of Lebanon is a heartwarming and stylistic film that combines several film techniques. Everything from animation to theater art. And it does so to tell a charming and poetic story, rooted in loss and violence.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Sous le ciel d'Alice
  • Director
    Chloé Mazlo
  • Producer
    Frédéric Niedermayer
  • Writers
    Yacine Badday, Chloé Mazlo
  • Photo
    Hélène Louvart
  • Actors
    Alba Rohrwacher, Wajdi Mouawad, Isabelle Zighondi, Mariah Tannoury
  • Playtime
    1 h 30 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12 years

Stay Home

Everything turned upside down in 2020. It was the year when people all over the world were forced to stop and adapt to a new everyday life. Stay home allows us to join the homes of 11 children and young people from eight countries in different continents during the first year of the pandemic, from March 2020 to January 2021. The film shows not only the degree to which they turn the world upside down, but also that they all shares a common concern for the world and a strong need for hope – despite very different lives and circumstances. Together, they weave a global narrative about the consequences of lockdown. The production company Fuglene has co-produced a serial version of the film for the web with aftenposten.no, and will now have its Norwegian premiere of the feature film in Haugesund.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Vi blir hjemme
  • Director
    Maren Victoria Thingnæs, Marianne Mørk
  • Producer
    Kari Anne Moe, Gudmundur Gunnarsson
  • Writers
    Maren Victoria Thingnæs, Marianne Mørk
  • Photo
    The young actors themselves, directed by: Thingnæs, Mørk
  • Playtime
    1 h 25 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Fuglene AS

Sun Children

12-year-old Ali and his three friends all work hard to survive and support their families. They do small jobs in a garage and commit petty crimes to make quick money. Then Ali gets the chance of a lifetime. He is entrusted with finding a hidden treasure underground. He recruits his gang, but first, to gain access to the tunnel, the children must enroll in Sun School, a charity that tries to educate street children and child laborers near where the treasure is located. Director Majid Majidi, known from the fantastic Children of Heaven, once again brings brilliant and naturalistic children’s acting packed in a solid script. In terms of genre, it balances between a tearful drama about child labor and an exciting heist film.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Khorshid
  • Director
    Majid Majidi
  • Producer
    Amir Banan, Majid Majidi
  • Writers
    Majid Majidi, Nima Javidi
  • Photo
    Hooman Behmanesh
  • Actors
    Roohollah Zamani, Ali Nassirian, Javad Ezati, Tannaz Tabatabaei
  • Playtime
    1 h 39 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Iran
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Production
    Majid Majidi Film Production
  • Distributor
    Storytelling

Swan Song

Pat Pitsenbarger (Udo Kier) is a retired hairdresser. One day he leaves the retirement home to do a new hair assignment for one of his old customers. A rich and recently deceased lady, who needs some hair care in connection with her funeral. Pat reminisces about his flamboyant glory days. At the retirement home, he has felt empty and lost, but when he finally gets out, the vibrant energy wakes up again. You’ve never seen Udo Kier in a role like this. He rocks the “look” with mascara, lipstick, Cinderella shoes, rings and fedora. Swan Song is lifted by the fabulous lead role and reflects on the gay environment, both in the past and present. All with a twinkle in the eye.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Swan Song
  • Director
    Todd Stephens
  • Producer
    Todd Stephens, Rhet Topham, Stephen Israel, Eric Eisenbrey, Drew Sklar, Jay Michael Fraley
  • Writers
    Todd Stephens
  • Photo
    Jackson Warner Lewis
  • Actors
    Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Evans, Michael Urie, Ira Hawkins
  • Playtime
    1 h 45 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    6 years
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment
Afternoon tea hos carlos swan song

The Art Of Whistling: A Portrait of Thorvald Steen

The famous Norwegian photographer Per Maning has followed his friend Thorvald Steen with his camera for 25 years. Thorvald is active as a public speaker, author and cultural communicator. As an author, he has published over 40 literary works. Everything from children’s books to poetry collections. Thorvald unfortunately suffers from a rare type of muscular dystrophy. The horrible disease causes a gradual and irreversible paralysis of his body. The muscles gradually break down. Nevertheless, Per Maning highlights that it has not stopped Thorvald’s commitment. In this documentary, he talks about society and the meaning of life. Through Thorvald’s sense of humor, this documentary paints an intimate, touching and poetic picture of an unusual life.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Kunsten å plystre
  • Director
    Per Maning
  • Producer
    Jørgen Lorentzen, Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
  • Photo
    Per Maning, Anders Hoft
  • Actors
    Thorvald Steen
  • Playtime
    53 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    Integral Film

The Children

The Children find a magic place inside a pile of branches – the same pile the grown-ups plan to get rid of.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Barna
  • Director
    Liss-Anett Steinskog
  • Producer
    Gunhild Oddsen
  • Writers
    Liss-Anett Steinskog
  • Actors
    Amelia Bokn, Lykke Bokn
  • Playtime
    11 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    GOfilm
Barna, foto Leander Haavik

The Gravedigger’s Wife

Screenwriter and director Khadar Ahmed, born in Somalia but living in Finland, gives us a film that takes place in Djibouti, Africa. Guled and Nasra live outside the capital with their son Mahad. Guled works as a gravedigger, so he literally waits for people to die to work. However, they are facing difficult times: Nasra needs expensive surgery to treat a chronic kidney disease. How will they find the money to save Nasra? The Gravedigger’s Wife gives us a beautiful and well-played family relationship and explains how money is the catalyst between life and death. The work is also beautifully photographed by Arttu Peltomaa, with soft yellow tones in this warm and sunny landscape.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Guled & Nasra
  • Director
    Khadar Ahmed
  • Producer
    Thanassis Karathanos, Stéphane Parthenay, Mark Lwoff, Misha Jaari, Robin Boespflug-Vonier, Risto Nikkilä, Stéphane Parthenay
  • Writers
    Khadar Ahmed
  • Photo
    Arttu Peltomaa
  • Actors
    Omar Abdi, Yasmin Warsame, Kadar Adboul-Aziz Ibrahim
  • Playtime
    1 h 22 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Finland
  • Age limit
    9 years

The Innocents

It is summer and the days are both long and bright. But not everyone goes on a holiday. Four children get to know each other and together they explore the apartment buildings where they live and the forest around. Hidden from the parents’ eyes, the children’s innocent play develops into something more. Creepy things start to happen.

The Innocents is a nailbiting thriller, directed by Eskil Vogt, and was selected for the Un Certain Regard program in Cannes this year. The film mixes both horror elements with intelligent shades of social realism, offers fantastic role performances of children and adults and is a powerful film that sits with the viewer

  • Program
  • Original title
    De uskyldige
  • Director
    Eskil Vogt
  • Producer
    Maria Ekerhovd
  • Writers
    Eskil Vogt
  • Photo
    Sturla Brandth Grøvlien
  • Actors
    Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Morten Svartveit, Kadra Yusuf, Lisa Tønne
  • Playtime
    1 h 57 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Mer Film
  • Distributor
    Mer Film
Lommeprogrammet er klart

The Kicksled Choir

,

Gabriel (10) loves to sing and he has a wish: to sing in the local Kicksled Choir, started by one of the villagers. The choir runs kicksled-trains from house to house to collect money and clothes for the newly arrived refugees. But when Gabriel’s father gets into an argument with one of the village’s refugees, Gabriel ends up in a dilemma.

The film was shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Short Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.

  • Program
    ,
  • Original title
    Sparkekoret
  • Director
    Torfinn Iversen
  • Producer
    Julia Andersen
  • Writers
    Torfinn Iversen
  • Photo
    Odd Reinhardt Nicolaysen
  • Actors
    Benoni Brox Krane, Stig Henrik Hoff, Khaled Saleh Ankila, Nicholai Evans
  • Playtime
    18 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years

The Kid

Charlie Chaplin’s classic is 100 years old. This charming film starts with Edna, who leaves her infant in a limousine. Some thieves steal the car and dump the infant near a trash can. The Tramp (Chaplin) walks by, discovers the child and picks him up. Edna changes her mind and realizes that the car has been stolen and her child is gone, while the Tramp changes his home to adapt to the child. Five years have passed and Edna – who is now a big star – is looking for her lost son, who has since been raised by the Tramp. This is one of the most heartwarming films that came out in the silent film era. It has a simple premise, which makes it easy to enjoy for all age groups. It’s an artwork that has really withstood the test of time.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Kid
  • Director
    Charlie Chaplin
  • Producer
    Charlie Chaplin
  • Writers
    Charlie Chaplin
  • Actors
    Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller
  • Playtime
    53 min
  • Year
    1921
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Charles Chaplin Production
  • Distributor
    Arthaus

The Man Who Sold His Skin

Oscar-nominated for Best International Film earlier this year. Sam Ali, a young and impulsive Syrian, flees to Lebanon to escape the civil war in his home country. In order to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he agrees to have his back tattooed by one of the world’s most pioneering contemporary artists. But Sam must soon realize that transforming his own body into a prestigious work of art can mean anything but freedom. The Man Who Sold His Skin is a contemporary film based on an international crisis that is far ahead in the consciousness of us all. The film’s award-winning female director, Kaouther Ben Hania, manages to capture the humanity and reproduce what desperation (and love) can drive an individual to.

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Man Who Sold His Skin
  • Director
    Kaouther Ben Hania
  • Writers
    Marie-Hélène Dozo
  • Photo
    Christopher Aoun
  • Actors
    Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Monica Bellucci, Koen de Bouw, Darina Al Joundi, Christian Vadim
  • Playtime
    1 h 44 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Tunisia
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Cinétéléfilms, Tanit Films
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Director Luchino Visconti struggled to find the perfect child actor for his next film, Death in Venice. He found Björn Andresen and at the world premiere, Visconti proclaimed his star Björn as “the world’s most beautiful boy”. A shadow that today, 50 years later, weighs Björn’s life. This is a tragic documentary that addresses the film industry’s exploitation of child actors. Björn had an unknown father, lost his mother at a young age and was raised by his grandmother. This tearful film uses a lot of archive material and film from Björn’s life today. It will make you think of today’s young movie stars, and hope they have caring people around them. Something that Björn did not have.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Världens vackraste pojke
  • Director
    Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
  • Producer
    Stina Gardell
  • Writers
    Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
  • Photo
    Erik Vallsten
  • Actors
    Björn Andrésen
  • Playtime
    1 h 33 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Sweden
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Mantaray Film
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

The Next Door

A young man wakes up in a dirty old waitingroom. He does not know where he is, who he is or why he is there.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Neste dør
  • Director
    Sander Lid Fiskå
  • Producer
    Rune Sørensen
  • Writers
    Sander Lid Fiskå
  • Actors
    Marko Iversen Kanic, Balder Scheen Jacobsen
  • Playtime
    7 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Vinter Film

The Painter and the Thief

In Benjamin Ree’s critically acclaimed documentary, a painter meets the thief who stole her art – and ends up painting him. The result has been a unique film, about a very special friendship, and with plot twists that surpass the imagination. As the director himself states: “I was interested in art thefts – and art thieves – and then suddenly this case of the theft of two paintings from Galleri Nobel in Oslo appeared. I immediately started filming the interaction between the artist Barbora and the thief Karl-Bertil, from the fourth time they met. It started with being a short documentary, but then so much happened, so unexpected and so interesting, that I continued to film – and I had no idea that it would happen during the project.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Kunstneren og tyven
  • Director
    Benjamin Ree
  • Producer
    Barbora Kysilkova, Øystein Stene, Karl-Bertil Nordland
  • Writers
    Benjamin Ree
  • Photo
    Benjamin Ree, Kristoffer Kumar
  • Playtime
    1 t 42 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    Medieoperatørene
  • Distributor
    Euforia Film

The Reason I Jump

In 2007, a non-verbal autistic 13-year-old by the name of Naoki Higashida wrote a book about autism using an alphabet board. The Reason I Jump is adapted from this book. Under the direction of Jerry Rothwell he examines the lives of five non-speaking, autistic teenagers, by using a number of audiovisual tricks to show how certain sensory overloads can affect their lives and insights. The film captures an accurate depiction of autism and uses paragraphs from this book, to illustrate the differences in the thinking of those with autism and everyone else around.

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Reason I Jump
  • Director
    Jerry Rothwell
  • Producer
    Paul G. Allen
  • Writers
    Naoki Higashida
  • Playtime
    1 h 22 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    USA, United Kingdom
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Distributor
    Selmer Media

The Rose Maker

Eve was one of the world’s best rose makers. The unique color combinations of roses crossed at her nursery became award winners year after year. But that was a long time ago. Now the nursery is on the verge of bankruptcy, and as if that were not enough, her assistant has hired three criminals. They are completely devoid of knowledge about plants and horticulture. Although they have little in common, they come together on a cunning plan to save the business. It should turn out that they have other talents you can make money on than just green fingers. This peaceful and comfortable film takes you to the French countryside and is suitable for anyone with a slight fascination for plant life and garden care.

 

NB: This film will be shown with Norwegian subtitles.

  • Program
  • Original title
    La fine fleur
  • Director
    Pierre Pinaud
  • Producer
    Stéphanie Carreras, Philippe Pujo
  • Writers
    Fadette Drouard, Philippe Le Guay, Pierre Pinaud
  • Photo
    Guillaume Deffontaines
  • Actors
    Catherine Frot, Melan Omerta, Fatsah Bouyahmed, Olivia Côte, Marie Petiot, Vincent Dedienne
  • Playtime
    1 t 34 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Frankrike
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Estrella Productions, France 3 Cinéma
  • Distributor
    Storytelling

Titane

This year’s Palme d’Or winner! This psychosexual and hypermasculine treat starts with Alexia, who gets a titanium plate in her head after surviving an ugly car crash with her family. She gets a sexual fascination for cars. What follows are a series of unique and unexplained crimes that lead to a father being reunited with his son who has been missing for 10 years. Director Julia Ducournau came out with the cannibalistic Raw a few years ago. She takes human results to new and brutal heights in this work, and gives us an original and ambitious sexual experience with murder and engine. She takes new steps from David Cronenberg’s Crash and drives on with ambitious twists, powerful sound design and brilliant photography.

 

  • Program
  • Original title
    Titane
  • Director
    Julia Ducournau
  • Producer
    Jean-Christophe Reymond, Christophe Hollebeke
  • Writers
    Julia Ducournau
  • Photo
    Ruben Impens
  • Actors
    Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cissé
  • Playtime
    1 h 48 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    France, Belgium
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment
Gullpalmevinneren

Tokyo Shaking

Tokyo Shaking is a French drama set in the wake of the huge tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011 in Japan and triggered the Fukushima disaster. Alexandra is the newly appointed French middle manager in the Tokyo office of an international company, and has a tough time juggling family and career in yet another new place. The husband has remained in Hong Kong, where he follows the news with increasing anxiety and wants the family to return as soon as possible. The confusion surrounding the disaster is great, and people in Tokyo vary between total calm and hysterical fear, but no official sources are able to assess the extent of the crisis. Alexandra is torn between loyally following the company’s instructions and taking responsibility for the other employees, or trying to get herself and her family out of Tokyo before it’s too late.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Tokyo Shaking
  • Director
    Olivier Peyon
  • Producer
    Aude Cathelin, Kristina Larsen, Hiroto Ogi
  • Writers
    Cyril Brody, Olivier Peyon
  • Photo
    Alexis Kavyrchine
  • Actors
    Karin Viard, Stéphane Bak, Nola Blossom, Simon Ayache, Yoshi Kuremura
  • Playtime
    1 h 41 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    France
  • Age limit
    12 years

Trick or treat

Magda, 11, is a fresh black metal-fan. She is not like the other girls, something she will notice. When Halloween comes, she has no one to go trick or treating with. She lives with her Polish father and her 16-year-old big sister. When her sister goes to an illegal party, Magda is left alone, and has a bad encounter with some girls from school. But during the evening she meets Nils Olav who she is in love with and who is also a metal-fan. The two hit it off, and Magda gets the confidence to ignore the pretty girls.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Knask eller knep
  • Director
    Morten Evelid
  • Producer
    Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, Linda Bolstad Strønen
  • Writers
    Morten Evelid
  • Actors
    Andrea Othelie Wilhelmsen Grøtnes, Angela Joy Munck McKenna, Sofian Eidesund, Jon Ketil Johnsen, Hermine Svortevik Oen, Sanna Birkeland, Susanne Thorstensen Enehaug
  • Playtime
    17 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Norge
  • Age limit
    9 years
  • Production
    DUOfilm AS

URSA – The song of the northern lights

A beautiful and melancholic story about one little polar bear who is alone in the cold dark Arctic and looking for his mum.

  • Program
  • Original title
    URSA - Nordlysets sang
  • Director
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Producer
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Writers
    Natalia Malykhina
  • Playtime
    10 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    All ages admitted
  • Production
    Ulvenfilm AS
  • Distributor
    Ulvenfilm AS

View

Some are looking for a beautiful view. Some lose their view. A huge cruise ship is approaching a small town.

  • Program
  • Original title
    View
  • Director
    Odveig Klyve
  • Producer
    Gunhild Oddsen
  • Writers
    Odveig Klyve
  • Playtime
    5 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Production
    GOfilm AS

When the Mill Hill Trees Spoke to Me

The filmmaker returns to her childhood village. As she looks at her own past and the place’s history, an investigation into the relationship between human and nature takes form. The presence of history in sacrificial stones from pre-Christian times, as well as slowly degenerating modern village centers, and age-old yet modernized human interactions with nature portray the layers of time within the place, and the human-nature relationships it holds. Alongside the linearity of time in cultural history runs the cyclical time of nature.

  • Program
  • Original title
    When the Mill Hill Trees Spoke to Me
  • Director
    Kirsikka Paakkinen
  • Producer
    Kirsikka Paakkinen
  • Writers
    Kirsikka Paakkinen
  • Photo
    Mauri Lähdesmäki
  • Playtime
    17 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Finland, Sweden
  • Production
    HDK-Valand
  • Distributor
    HDK-Valand

Wild Men

Deep in the Norwegian wilderness we find the Dane Martin (Rasmus Bjerg) dressed as a Viking, wandering into a store to exchange fur for groceries. He has a midlife crisis and chooses to live as our ancestors did. He meets Musa (Zaki Youssef), a drug smuggler fleeing across the border. All this is being investigated by a policeman (Bjørn Sundquist) who is looking for a tracking dog, only to be informed that it “does not work today”. The dark and subtle Scandinavian humor shines through. The script has energy! This Scandinavian comedy has a beautiful Norwegian mountain landscape as a backdrop in an absurd film that wraps modern masculinity into several layers – from fragile and modest to toxic and old-fashioned.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Vildmænd
  • Director
    Thomas Daneskov
  • Producer
    Lina Flint
  • Writers
    Thomas Daneskov, Morten Pape
  • Photo
    Jonatan Rolf Mose
  • Actors
    Rasmus Bjerg, Zaki Youssef, Bjørn Sundquist, Sofie Gråbøl, Marco Ilsø, Jonas Bergen Rahmanzadeh
  • Playtime
    1 h 38 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Denmark
  • Age limit
    12 years
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment
Vildmænd 2021

Winner, the Andreas Award – The Man Who Sold His Skin

Oscar-nominated for Best International Film earlier this year. Sam Ali, a young and impulsive Syrian, flees to Lebanon to escape the civil war in his home country. In order to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he agrees to have his back tattooed by one of the world’s most pioneering contemporary artists. But Sam must soon realize that transforming his own body into a prestigious work of art can mean anything but freedom. The Man Who Sold His Skin is a contemporary film based on an international crisis that is far ahead in the consciousness of us all. The film’s award-winning female director, Kaouther Ben Hania, manages to capture the humanity and reproduce what desperation (and love) can drive an individual to.

  • Program
  • Original title
    The Man Who Sold His Skin
  • Director
    Kaouther Ben Hania
  • Writers
    Marie-Hélène Dozo
  • Actors
    Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Monica Bellucci, Koen de Bouw, Darina Al Joundi, Christian Vadim
  • Playtime
    1 t 44 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    Tunisia
  • Production
    Cinétéléfilms, Tanit Films
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment

Winner, The Audience Award – Young and Afraid

Young and Afraid is a raw and unadorned film about young people fighting their demons. In the autumn of 2017, Petter (24) is standing on top of a bridge and is about to end his life, but he is stopped by the police at the last minute. This will be the start of a therapeutic journey with best friend and co-director Sverre. Equipped with a film camera, they search the streets of Oslo and get to befriend people. People with mental health problems are both in front of and behind the camera, which creates a reciprocity between the filmmakers and their subjects. They want to shed light on how other troubled people are coping with the problems. They encounter both drug addicts and transsexuals. This will bring light into Petter’s dark mind. By aiming to understand their destructive patterns, Petter becomes aware of his own.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Nattebarn
  • Director
    Petter Aaberg, Sverre Kvamme
  • Producer
    Carsten Aaronsen, Even Benestad
  • Writers
    Sverre Kvamme, Petter Aaberg
  • Playtime
    1 t 40 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norge
  • Production
    Indie Film

Winner, The Norwegian Film Critics Award – Swan Song

Pat Pitsenbarger (Udo Kier) is a retired hairdresser. One day he leaves the retirement home to do a new hair assignment for one of his old customers. A rich and recently deceased lady, who needs some hair care in connection with her funeral. Pat reminisces about his flamboyant glory days. At the retirement home, he has felt empty and lost, but when he finally gets out, the vibrant energy wakes up again. You’ve never seen Udo Kier in a role like this. He rocks the “look” with mascara, lipstick, Cinderella shoes, rings and fedora. Swan Song is lifted by the fabulous lead role and reflects on the gay environment, both in the past and present. All with a twinkle in the eye.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Swan Song
  • Director
    Todd Stephens
  • Producer
    Todd Stephens, Rhet Topham, Stephen Israel, Eric Eisenbrey, Drew Sklar, Jay Michael Fraley
  • Writers
    Todd Stephens
  • Actors
    Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Evans, Michael Urie, Ira Hawkins
  • Playtime
    1 t 45 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    USA
  • Distributor
    Another World Entertainment
Afternoon tea hos carlos swan song

Winner, The Ray of Sunshine Award – CODA

As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby is torn between pursuing her love of music and the fear of leaving her parents. Screenwriter and director Sian Heder follows Ruby’s struggles and emotions during this turbulent youth. Emilia Jones in the role of Ruby is both witty, charming and confident. With Oscar winner Marlee Matlin in the role of the mother as well, makes this is a heartwarming human symphony of humor, a beautiful script (adapted by the French film The Family Béliér) and good acting performances.

  • Program
  • Original title
    CODA
  • Director
    Sian Heder
  • Producer
    Patrick Wachsberger, Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Sarah Borch-Jacobsen, Ardavan Safaee
  • Writers
    Sian Heder
  • Actors
    Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin
  • Playtime
    1 t 51 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    USA
  • Production
    Vendome Pictures, Pathé Films, Picture Perfect Federation
  • Distributor
    Nordisk Film Distribusjon

Wolka

Anna is released from a Polish prison after serving 15 years for murder. She wants to deal with some past events and sets herself a goal. Finding a woman named Dorota. To achieve this, she must go on an unforeseen journey to Iceland. What dark secrets does our heroine hide, and what is the real purpose of the visit? One thing is for sure – it’s not safe on this island anymore. This psychological thriller takes the atmosphere of the Scandinavian crime novels and gives it an Eastern European twist. The heroine is like a Polish Lisbeth Salander. A strong and uncompromising woman who drives this intense story.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Wolka
  • Director
    Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson
  • Producer
    Hilmar Sigurðsson, Beggi Jónsson
  • Writers
    Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson, Michał Godzic
  • Photo
    Marek Rajca
  • Actors
    Olga Bołądź, Eryk Lubos, Anna Moskal
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Iceland
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Sagafilm

Young and Afraid

Young and Afraid is a raw and unadorned film about young people fighting their demons. In the autumn of 2017, Petter (24) is standing on top of a bridge and is about to end his life, but he is stopped by the police at the last minute. This will be the start of a therapeutic journey with best friend and co-director Sverre. Equipped with a film camera, they search the streets of Oslo and get to befriend people. People with mental health problems are both in front of and behind the camera, which creates a reciprocity between the filmmakers and their subjects. They want to shed light on how other troubled people are coping with the problems. They encounter both drug addicts and transsexuals. This will bring light into Petter’s dark mind. By aiming to understand their destructive patterns, Petter becomes aware of his own.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Nattebarn
  • Director
    Petter Aaberg, Sverre Kvamme
  • Producer
    Carsten Aaronsen, Even Benestad
  • Writers
    Sverre Kvamme, Petter Aaberg
  • Photo
    Sverre Kvamme, Petter Aaberg
  • Playtime
    1 h 40 min
  • Year
    2021
  • Country
    Norway
  • Age limit
    15 years
  • Production
    Indie Film

Zola

Zola is a hilarious, acid-tripping film, inspired by a viral Twitter thread from 2015. Yes, you read that right. A long wall of Twitter messages, written by Aziah “Zola” King, have been adapted for the big screen. The waitress and stripper Zola (Taylor Paige) works in Detroit and befriends the client Stefani (Riley Keough), who seduces her into joining a party in Florida. Zola hears that they can make big bucks there. She joins Stefani and her insidious group of friends. The trip is filled with, unexpected experiences (to put it mildly). The film is trashy, entertaining, chaotic, charming, stylistic and crazy, with a soul that has its feet planted in modern internet culture.

  • Program
  • Original title
    Zola
  • Director
    Janicza Bravo
  • Producer
    Christine Vachon, Dave Franco, Vince Jolivette, Kara Baker, David Hinojosa, Gia Walsh
  • Writers
    Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris, David Kushner, A'Ziah King
  • Photo
    Ari Wegner
  • Actors
    Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Colman Domingo, Nicholas Braun, Ari'el Stachel, Jason Mitchell
  • Playtime
    1 h 26 min
  • Year
    2020
  • Country
    USA
  • Age limit
    15 years