“Happy, Happy“ from Norway Opens 53rd Nordic Film Days Lübeck

The feature film competition alone boasts eight German premieres and four world premieres at the 53rd Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Europe's largest film festival for cinema from northern Europe, which presents 147 productions from Scandinavia, the Baltic Region and northern Germany from 2nd to 6th November. The opening film is "Happy, Happy", a tragicomedy from Norway and the debut film by director Anne Sewitzky. The four main actors of this ensemble piece about the demise of a marriage in provincial Norway will join the film's producer Synnøve Hørsdal, director Anne Sewitsky and scriptwriter Ragnhild Tronvoll on location in Lübeck to present the film in person. The feature film competition at the 53rd Nordic Film Days Lübeck further includes the latest productions by the Norwegian director Marius Holst ("King of Devil's Island"), by the Danish director Ole Christian Madsen ("Superclásico") and the Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson ("Brim - Undercurrent"), by Aleksi Mäkelä ("Home Sweet Home") from Finland, by Kjell-Åke Andersson ("Somewhere Else") from Sweden and by Katrin Laur ("The Graveyard Keeper's Daughter") from Estonia.

"Happy, Happy" with Henrik Rafaelsen, Agnes Kittelsen, Maibritt Saerens, Joachim Rafaelsen

Guests include the Norwegian cinema star Rolf Kristian Larsen, who starred in "The Man Who Loved Yngve" (2008 NDR Award for Best Feature Film) and now returns in "I Travel Alone", the Danish actor Lars Ranthe who has already raised attention in Denmark with his role in the box office hit "A Funny Man", the Swedish actress Eva Röse, known in Germany for her leading role in the TV series "Maria Wern" and who now stars in "Submission" by Stefan Jarl. German guests include the actress Cosma Shiva Hagen and actor Ken Duken ("Twisted") as well as Ronald Zehrfeld ("The Hour of the Wolf") and Peter-Heinrich Brix ("Casting His Net"). Also expected are the directors Lars Jessen ("Casting His Net"), Matthias Glasner ("The Hour of the Wolf") and Angelina Maccarone ("Charlotte Rampling - The Look").

Rolf Kristian Larsen in "I travel alone"

A total of eight awards will be presented at the 53rd Nordic Film Days Lübeck on 5th November at the Film Prize Night at Theater Lübeck. Nordic Film Days Lübeck also provides an extensive supporting programme for the media industry, entitled "Lübeck Meetings". This programme includes a Nordic Film Market as well as a meeting for international co-producers. The festival cinemas are CineStar Filmpalast Stadthalle (Mühlenbrücke 11) and Kolosseum (Kronsforder Allee 25).

Nina Hoss and Mark Waschke in "Summer Window"

Download the complete programme of 53rd Nordic Film Days here:

programme_53_nfl.pdf