Children’s and Youth Film Programme Features Nine German Premieres

The children's and youth film programme at the 53rd Nordic Film Days Lübeck sets a new record. Nine of the twelve feature films presented in the section "Films for Young Viewers" are German premieres: "Jitters" (director: Baldvin Z) tells of an Icelandic clique, torn between parties and despair, and in search of love and sexual identity. Living her sexuality is also what 16-year-old Alma wants to do in "Turn Me On, Goddammit!" (director: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen), but she receives little sympathy for it in provincial Norway. Aku has just finished school and experiences a one-of-a-kind summer in the Finnish film "August" (director: Oskari Sipola). Anders Grönro's literary adaptation "I Miss You", from Sweden, takes a sensitive approach to death and grief and is simultaneously an ode to life itself. The story of the twin sisters Tina and Cilla enthralled a young reading audience throughout Europe in the 1990s and won numerous awards including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize). Hans Fabian Wullenweber's Danish action musical "Bora Bora" rocks the world of juvenile pickpockets in Copenhagen.

"Turn Me On, Goddammit!"

The children's programme sees "Elias", the little lifeboat from Norway, embark on a new adventure, and the Icelandic adventures of Sveppi and Villi continue in 3-D in Bragi Thór Hinriksson's "The Secret Spell". A Finnish contribution is set on the Åland Islands in the 19th century, where the young "Iris" (director: Ulrika Bengts) is confronted with the struggles of the emancipation of women and with a dark family secret, against a seemingly idyllic Bullerby backdrop. In recent years, Norway has been setting the standards as regards high-quality children's entertainment. Its contributions "Elias and the Treasure of the Sea" (director: Lise I. Osvoll), "The Liverpool Goalie" (director: Arild Andresen), "Totally True Love" (director: Anne Sewitsky) and "Coming Home" (director: Anders Øvergaard) constitute more than half of the entire children's programme.

"Iris"

A selection of short films for all age groups completes the programme. Besides the programme for the youngest audiences on Sunday morning and the films for older kids, we have also selected a number of university films this year, which target an adolescent audience.