Lübeck, Oct. 30, 2014. The 56th Nordic Film Days, which opened yesterday with a showing of 1001 GRAMS, had a surprise waiting for Norwegian star director Bent Hamer after the screening. Linde Fröhlich (artistic director) and Christian Modersbach (managing director) presented the director with a specially created silver marzipan weight under a glass bell jar to symbolise his newest film. The sweet treat was custom made by Lübeck marzipan company MEST. The filmmaker admitted to being a big fan of the almond paste and declared himself delighted at the gift. Bent Hamer was in Lübeck with Claudia Steffen, producer at Pandora Film Produktion in Cologne and Björn Hoffmann, head of distribution for Pandora Film distributors, which is opening the movie in Germany theatres on December 18, 2014.
1001 GRAMS is the fourth feature by Bent Hamer to screen in competition at the festival. The director has been represented at the NFL for 25 years, beginning with his short films. The Nordic Film Days are the most important showcase in northern Europe for new films from Scandinavia, the Baltic States and current films from northern Germany. Moderator duties for the opening night fell to Steen Bille (Danish film institute), who welcomed the NFL’s two organisers, Linde Fröhlich and Christian Modersbach, to the stage and introduced the NDR Film Prize jury, which includes leading personalities from the film industry, among them actors Victoria Trauttmansdorff and Niklas Osterloh.
Before the film, the red carpet at Lübeck’s CineStar Filmpalast Stadthalle was a who’s who of the Nordic region. Additional members of the jury, actor Anton Spieker and director Bernd Sahling (“The Blind Flyers”) were there, as were representatives from the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian embassies. They were joined by members of Schleswig-Holstein’s state government, Lübeck’s mayor Bernd Saxe, city president Gabriele Schopenhauer and culture senator Annette Borns. After the screening of 1001 GRAMS, the 550 guests were invited to a reception in the eastern choir of Lübeck cathedral.
A total of 172 films will screen at the 56th Nordic Film Days Lübeck, which runs through November 2. The Hanseatic League city will welcome many of the filmmakers, directors and actors to personally introduce their films to the movie-going public during the festival. The list includes actors Mario Adorf, Hinnerk Schönemann, Devid Striesow and Angela Winkler. Bestselling author Håkan Nesser is also coming to town to present the film version of his young adult book “And Piccadilly Circus is not in Kumla” alongside the director Bengt Danneborn, as well as to give a reading.
The eight prizes of the 56th Nordic Film Days Lübeck will be awarded on November 1 at the Film Prize Gala in Theater Lübeck featuring prominent guests from the cultural and political sectors.
The festival programme and screening schedule, photos for download and information on sidebar events is available at www.filmtage.luebeck.de - http://twitter.com/nordicfilmdays - http://www.facebook.com/nordicfilmdays
Press contact:
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Silke Lehmann
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presse@filmtage.luebeck.de
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