NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK announces first programme details and developments: Festival now part of new coalition agreement – 25 years of FILMFORUM – Retrospective features thrilling programme – German-Norwegian film project for adolescents – Festival-BOX begins
Lübeck, 19th June 2012 – Europe’s largest festival of Nordic cinema, the 54th NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK, takes place from 31st October to 4th November 2012, presenting innovative films from Scandinavia and the Baltic region. At today’s summer press conference, Annette Borns, Senator for Cultural Affairs of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, joins the two leading heads of Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Linde Fröhlich (Artistic Director) and Christian Modersbach (Festival Manager), to announce first programme details and developments.
The festival is very pleased about the recognition it has received by the new Land Government of Schleswig-Holstein. “Nordic Film Days Lübeck plays a weighty part in the cultural life of Schleswig-Holstein and its Nordic profile and I am very happy that the coalition agreement expressly recognizes this by codifying future Land support. This an excellent prerequisite for the next few years,” says Annette Borns.
The FILMFORUM section, which introduces films, filmmakers and topics from Northern Germany, is celebrating its 25th anniversary at this year’s festival. To mark the occasion, a special edition will be published, looking back on a quarter of a century’s worth of programmes. Linde Fröhlich reminisces: “At the first FILMFORUM in 1988, the opening film was called ‘Hinter den Elbbrücken’ (lit: ‘Behind the Elbe Bridges’); back then the Land of Schleswig-Holstein was largely cinematic terra incognita. But there was a committed and talented young film scene, which FILMFORUM provided with a home advantage on the international stage of NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK, to the immediate enthusiasm of the festival audience. Many famous filmmakers such as Lars Jessen (“Dorfpunks”) or Miguel Alexandre (“Der Mann mit dem Fagott”) enjoyed their first success here. Today the film production country of Schleswig-Holstein releases countless directing surprises and highlights on a regular basis. FILMFORUM is the place to discover them!”
This year’s Retrospective is entitled “Das kalte Grauen - Grusel und Schauder im skandinavischen Kino 1921 – 2011” (lit: “Cold Horror – Dread and Shudders in Scandinavian Cinema 1921-2011”) and will open – fittingly – on Halloween, 31st October 2012. Fans and lovers of sanguinary Nordic cinema will be getting their money’s worth for five long days. Besides silent film classics and numerous feature films from the past decades, the programme also includes high-tension modern Scandinavian genre films that recently ran in the cinema. The programme will be announced in October 2012.
In cooperation with the Bergen Filmfestival (Norway), the 54th NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK presents, for the first time, the “Young Video Journalists”project. Both festivals are partners in a youth exchange programme that supports young people in the phase of seeking their profession. Five adolescents from both countries will write their own concepts at this year’s festival in Lübeck to then realize them as video film projects under the guidance of experienced international filmmakers. The main focus will lie on documentary work. The German-Norwegian groups’ aim is the enjoyment of creative work and the conveying of media-pedagogical topics by concrete examples. The project is supported by the Norwegian-German Willy-Brandt Foundation (Berlin) and Landesverband Jugend und Film Schleswig-Holstein.
The Festival-BOX is another novelty introduced this year: Developed during a mutual initiative of NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK and conegge Film!, an interactive film box will be erected at various locations in Lübeck throughout the festival period from 31.10. to 04.11.12. Anyone can take a seat in the box – alone, in pairs or in a group, and can submit a comment to the festival in the form of a video statement. Afterwards a souvenir snapshot can be printed out or directly shared with friends by e-mail. The Festival-BOX will already be in action throughout the summer and be used for this year’s Festival-Trailer 2012. The cinema trailer will be shown in cinemas in and around Lübeck end September /early October. It consists of touchingly humorous short clips that advertise the nearing festival and introduce the idea of the Festival-BOX to the Lübeck audience. The Festival-BOX is sponsored by the Lübeck enterprises Colibri, JessenLenz, Betten Struve, Das kleine KRA – Schmuck heute, sitz-art, Skanbo, Abessa Kaffee Welt and the advertising agency RESULTED, all of whom are long-standing supporters of cultural projects.
In the name of the festival, Festival Manager Christian Modersbach would further like to thank the Possehl-Foundation, the Radisson Blu Senator Hotel, DONG Energy, CineStar, all sponsors, supporters, donors and Freundeskreisder NORDISCHEN FILMTAGE LÜBECK for their commitment: “Thanks to the support of our long-standing sponsors, donors and Freundeskreis, this year’s festival stands on firm financial ground. Very special thanks are also due to all the awards sponsors and our media partners.”
Renate Menken, Chairwoman of the Foundation Board at Possehl-Stiftung: “The Nordic Film Days have been enriching Lübeck’s cultural life for more than 50 years, by effortlessly achieving the balancing act between audience appeal and high artistic demand on an annual basis. Possehl-Stiftung is very happy to contribute to that.”
Oliver Fock, Executive Director of the CineStar group: “As one of the main sponsors of Nordic Film Days Lübeck. we are very pleased to once again be supporting a film fest that has established itself as the leading festival for films from Northern and North-Eastern Europe and is a firm institution in our Hanseatic City. The great diversity of the films and events and the close exchange between creative minds and their audience makes the festival an extraordinary cultural experience, which CineStar – as a cinema company situated in Lübeck – feels particularly obliged to.”
Radisson Blu Senator Hotel: “As a long-standing supporter and partner of the Nordic Film Days, we are very much looking forward to a joint future. The Radisson Blu Senator Hotel and the Park Inn by Radisson Lübeck are glad to be sponsors of the Nordic Film Days as they are very important for the Hanseatic City of Lübeck.”
Jan Ingwersen (DONG Energy, Vice President, Regulatory and Public Affairs): „DONG Energy has sponsored Nordische Filmtage for six years and has been very satisfied with the exposure this has given the company in Lübeck and in the surrounding area. Our customers and employees have benefited greatly from the good hard work that has gone into organising the festival. We are proud to be sponsoring Nordische Filmtage also in 2012.“
This year’s media partners of NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK are once again Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Lübecker Nachrichten.
The complete programme of the 54th NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK will be announced at a press conference early October 2012 (date to be announced). The festival cinemas are CineStar Stadthalle and Kolosseum.
Please find further information on NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK at www.filmtage.luebeck.de – Accreditations will be issued as of September 2012.
Contact:
Silke Lehmann
NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK
Head of Press and Publicity
Schildstr.12, 23539 Lübeck
Tel.: +49 178 525 9874
Fax: 0451-122-17 99
silke.lehmann(at)filmtage.luebeck.de
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