Prize winners and new talents meet up in Competition at the 60th Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Lübeck, Oct. 29, 2018. There are 17 films in the 2018 Competition section of the 60th Nordic Film Days Lübeck (Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, 2018), vying for the NDR Film Prize, endowed with 12,500 euros, including nine first feature narratives. It is a great honour for the NFL that many of the filmmakers and actors will be coming to Lübeck, where audiences will have the pleasure of direct interaction with them. The 60th Nordic Film Days Lübeck opens on October 30, 2018 – for the first in its history with a film from Estonia –in “The Little Comrade” (EE 2018) by Moonika Siimets, the terror and confusion of the Stalin era is depicted from the point of view of a six-year-old girl. The director will be in Lübeck, along with her lead actors and some of the crew, to personally introduce her first feature film.
In this year’s Competition, a host of established filmmakers, whose work has been seen many times at the NFL, will meet up with promising newcomers. In addition to Moonika Siimets, the Baltic states are represented by two young, innovative, women filmmakers from Lithuania. Giedrė Beinoriūtė will introduce her family tragedy “Breathing into Marble” (LT/LV/HR 2018), and Marija Kavtaradze her melodramatic comedy “Summer Survivors” (LT 2018), whose lead actress Gelmine Glemzaite will also be a guest in Lübeck.
From Iceland, we welcome director Isold Uggadóttir with “And Breathe Normally” (IS/SE/BE), which tells the story of two very different women who find themselves in unusual circumstances and are forced to rely on each other. Another “island” film is “Nina” (DK/FO 2018) directed by Maria Winther Olsen, about a young woman who moves from Copenhagen to the Faroe Islands, where she faces a new life and her own loneliness.
Niclas Bendixen will be a guest in Lübeck with his first feature “Ditte & Louise” (DK 2018), a humorous take on gender roles. He will be accompanied by the two screenwriters and the lead actors Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz. Also from Denmark, the NFL will welcome director Kasper Kalle and actor Rosalinde Mynster. They will be introducing the period drama “Christian IV” (DK 2018), set largely inside a horse coach.
Camilla Strøm Henriksen and Tuva Novotny will be representing Norway. Best known for their acting, both women have now taken a turn behind the camera, with their directing debuts causing a stir. In “Phoenix” (NO/SE 2018), Henriksen uses style elements familiar from horror films to tell the story of 13-year-old Jill, who suffers under the loss of her father and her mother’s psychologically precarious state. Novotny’s “Blind Spot” (NO/DK2018) follows the parents of a young girl after a sudden accident; the film was shot in a single take.
In addition to those new stories, three former winners of the NDR Film Prize are showing their latest in this year’s Competition –in “Let me Fall” (IS/DE/FI 2018), Baldvin Z. meticulously traces the downward spiral of a young man who falls in with the drug scene. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken will be in Lübeck with his lead actor Andrea Bræin Hovig to present his new film “An Affair” (NO 2018). Hovig plays a teacher who begins a fateful romance with one of her students. Michael Noer’s “Before the Frost” (DK 2018) is a tale of farm life in 18th century Denmark; the film will be introduced at the NFL by lead actor Rasmus Hammerich. And Klaus Härö, two-time winner of the Audience Prize awarded by the Lübecker Nachrichten newspaper, will be here alongside his lead actor Heikki Nousiainen, to introduce “One Last Deal” (FI 2018).
Benedikt Erlingsson’s debut film “Of Horses and Men” opened the 2013 Nordic Film Days., His entry in the Competition this year is “Woman at War” (IS/FR/UA 2018), a likeable comedy about a choir director and environmental activist who stands up against the state power company. In his period drama “Laugh or Die” (FI/SE/LV 2018), Heikki Kujanpää tells the story of the challenges facing an actor at the end of the Finnish civil war. The director will be here from Finland, alongside compatriot Simo Haninen, who will present his thriller “East of Sweden” (FI/SE 2018). In “A Moon of my Own” (SE/NO 2018), Hannes Holms effectively uses period flavour to draw a touching portrait of pop musician Ted Gärdestad, played by Adam Pålsson. Both the director and the lead will be guests at the Nordic Film Days.
In addition to the NDR Film Prize, the Competition films are also in the running for the Audience Prize awarded by the Lübecker Nachrichten, and the Interfilm Church Prize”.
Films that fit the category will also be eligible for the Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic narrative feature. Films by first-time feature directors will be on the ballot for a new prize for Best Feature Debut, endowed with 7,500 euros by the Friends of the Nordic Film Days Lübeck.
You can find the complete Competition programme here, as well as the complete schedule of films and events at the upcoming 60th Nordic Film Days Lübeck, which has been available on the festival homepage since October 20, 2018.
Four cinemas will be hosting this year’s NFL films, the Cinestar Filmpalast Stadthalle, Kolosseum, the repertory Kino Koki, and the CineStar Filmhaus.
Press photos for the festival films are now available for download, alongside detailed information about the festival at www.nordische-filmtage.de; follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Tickets are now available at the CineStar Filmpalast Stadthalle cinema, online at the festival website, and at www.cinestar.de.
Press contact:
Press and Publicity Department
Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Schildstr. 12, 23539 Lübeck
Tel: 0451-122 1455
presse@nordische-filmtage.de
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