Lübeck, Sept. 17, 2014. The 56 Nordic Film Days Lübeck will open on October 29, 2014 with 1001 Grams, a “weighty” yet charming and delicately comedic film by leading Norwegian director Bent Hamer (“Kitchen Stories”, “O’Horten”). The film, which Norway recently put forth as a possible Oscar nominee for best foreign language film, will have its German premier at the festival, with the film’s director and actors in on hand to celebrate. A Norwegian-German-French co-production, 1001 Grams is being distributed in Germany by Pandora Film, and is slated to hit cinemas here on December 18, 2014. The movie starrs Norwegian leading lady Ane Dahl Torp as Marie, alongside French actor Laurent Stocker and Stein Winge, better known in Germany as an opera director.
“1001 Grams deals with really important issues of life with great ease and subtle humour. We’re very pleased to open the 56 Nordic Film Days with this film, and to welcome Bent Hamer, a great cineaste and old friend of the festival, to Lübeck. Since his feature debut Eggs won both the NDR Film Prize and the Baltic Film Prize here in 1995, the Nordic Film Days have felt closely connected to the director and we have remained in constant touch with his filmmaking”, said Linde Fröhlich, the artistic director of the NFL.
As Claudia Steffen (Pandora Film Production) and Björn Hoffmann (Pandora Film Distribution) put it, “each year, Linde Fröhlich and her team succeed in turning Lübeck into the home of Nordic films for a week in the autumn, wowing both the general public and film industry guests. Before 1001 Grams, we were invited to the NFL with Bent Hamer’s earlier films Factotum, O’Horten and Home for Christmas. So presenting 1001 Grams as the opening film in Lübeck feels a little bit like coming home”.
1001 Grams tells the story of Marie, a technician with the Norwegian bureau of weights and measures who travels the country verifying the calibration of various instruments. From postal scales to petrol pumps, Marie notes every deviation. Her personal life, however, doesn’t measure up quite as well. One day, fate sends her to a Paris seminar to re-calibrate the actual weight of Norway’s benchmark kilogramme. It’s a journey that will tip the scales of her life. Amid the early summer breezes of the French capital, the otherwise painstaking and reserved Marie finds herself awash in emotions. In the end, it’s her personal happiness that ends up being assayed.
Bent Hamer’s film had its world premier recently at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens in Norway at the end of September. The movie was produced by Norway’s BulBul Film, in co-production with Pandora Film in Germany, Slot Machine in France and ZDF/Arte. Support for the film was provided by the Norwegian Film Institute - Nordisk Film & TV Fond - Norsk Filmdistribusjon - Film- und Medienstiftung NRW – German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) - Aide aux cinémas du monde - Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée - Ministère des affaires étrangères - Institut Français des affaires étrangères - L'institut Français.
The 56 Nordic Film Days runs from October 29 through November 2, 2014. The full programme will be announced at the press conference on October 7, 2014.
Press contact:
Silke Lehmann
NORDIC FILM DAYS LÜBECK
Head of Press and Publicity
Schildstr.12, 23539 Lübeck, Germany
Ph: + 49 / (0) 451 / 122-1454
Fax: + 49 / (0) 451 / 122-17 99
presse@filmtage.luebeck.de
www.filmtage.luebeck.de
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