Short and Sweet - The short film programmes

Lübeck, Oct. 28, 2016.The art of the short is a Nordic favourite that doesn't shy away from any subject matter. Stagnation and change, love and death, great tragedy and the simple perils of everyday life. That diversity is on display in the four thematically arranged programmes at this year's festival comprising a total of 23 films – all bearing that special Nordic touch.   Short and sweet!

In the “Crossroads & Turning Points”, Pia Andell explores – entirely without dialogue – an unexpected encounter at a Finnish bus stop in “A Halt” and Austeja Urbaite show how a young couple's kayak under Lithuanian "Bridges" can turn out to be just as fragile as their friendship.  

With “Expectations & Developments”, the Nordic co-production “The Committee” sees Gunhild Enger and Jenni Tolvoniemi do away once and for all with the beautiful illusion that the northern countries are all alike and always in agreement. “The Valley” is somewhere on the Faroe Islands and for Heidrik á Heygum, it’s a place where the destinies of two people tragically collide, while the Finnish provinces where Teemu Nikki’s “Fantasy” is set, the afflicted son of a potato farmer has totally had it with the potatoes served up daily in every conceivable form and plans a culinary revolution.

The programme “Kicking the Bucket” is proof that even death can have its tragicomic side. It features the Lithuanian short “The Camel” about two zookeepers who are forced to admit that trying to dispose of a camel corpse is no walk in the park, or the Estonian-Finnish Soviet comedy “Mausoleum” about a pathologist's problems dealing with Lenin’s embalmed body, which is under attack by a fly.

And finally, in “Platform Sweden”, the festival and the distribution company KurzFilmVerleih Hamburg celebrate the premiere of renowned Swedish short films that illustrate things we’ve always suspected, but have never seen in quite this way before. For instance, that the production of TV news is possibly not quite as serious a venture as it seems (“Because the World Never Stops”), that enlightened people have no prejudices (“Mother Knows Best”) and that your true character emerges when you’re faced with the decision of whether or not to jump from a “Ten Meter Tower” – or whether to intervene in a “Fight on a Swedish Beach!”

The Film Forum section is also showing a selection of short in three programme blocks, “Short and Dramatic”, “Best of Film Schools” and “Freestyle Docs”. The shorts are in the running for the CineStar Prize, endowed with 3,000 euros, awarded by the CineStar Group since 2012. The Children’s and Youth section presents three short film programmes for different age groups. “Shorts for Shorties”, “Short Stories of Growing Up” and “Love & War”. And with “Februar”, a story about the relationship between people, the city and the environment, and the short "Staccato at Night", the NFL presents short films in a 360° Format.

As you move through the jungle of Nordic short films, we invite you to record your impressions in the equally brief 140 characters of Twitter at #nordicfilmdays and tell us which was your favourite short.

Press contact:

Silke Lehmann
Wiebke Reichenbach
Zara Zerbe
Press and publicity department
Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Schildstr. 12, 23539 Lübeck, Germany
Tel: +49 451 122 1455
presse@filmtage.luebeck.de