Lübeck, Oct. 29, 2019. The Nordic Shorts section of the 61st Nordische Filmtage Lübeck will screen 25 short films from northern and northeastern Europe in four programmes – “Nordic Combined”, “White Noise”, “Post-pubertal Malfunction”, and “I Want to Believe”.
The selection includes eight German premieres, two international premieres, and two world premieres. In cooperation with the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, this year for the first time, the Nordische Filmtage will be screening the two winners of the Norwegian festival – the Golden Gunnar Grand Prix winner “Still Lives” by Elli Vuorinen and Robin Jensen’s “Farce”, the winner of the Best Nordic-Baltic Short Film award.
“Trials and tribulations, briefly. A variety of perspectives on the varying facets of life and living together … in 8 to 29 minutes. The short film programme is a grab bag full of surprises”, says Sebastian Apel, who put the programme together and will be moderating in the cinemas.
The two world premieres among the shorts tell very different stories. In “The Enemy Within Me”, a young woman talks about her psychological problems and her cutting habit, while “New Beginnings” is about a woman who moves a lot, with each move marking a different phase in her life and a new beginning. The other films in the Nordic Shorts section also reflect a wide variety of life’s facets. Kalervo in “All Inclusive” is an oppressed, impotent, shrinking violet employee whom nobody takes seriously. He’s bullied by his workmates and cuckolded by his wife. But then Annukka, the woman he secretly loves, gives him a gift that changes everything. The young man in “The Proposal” must also come to terms with the fact that true love is not always smooth sailing. On a long, warm summer night, in a small rowboat off an island, he kneels before the woman of his dreams and proposes marriage. But the answer is not what he hoped for, and his onshore buddies, with a plan to salvage the situation, actually make things worse.
Also represented in the short films at the 61st Nordische Filmtage is the culture of the Sami, the indigenous people of the far north. “Govadas” is an experimental montage of images of nature through which a Sami woman moves, combined with archival materials from the 1940s and Super 8 shots from 2010 that document the lived experience of the Sami. And the film “Daughter of the Sun” tackles the issue of discrimination against the Sami, when a Sami writer becomes the target of racist hostility. In the film, the director, herself Sami, uses storytelling as a means to solve a crime.
“In particular for young and aspiring filmmakers, the short format is a chance to advance their career. We want to use international cooperation to network the talent from the various regions”, says curator Sebastian Apel. In addition to partnering with the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, two Dutch shorts will be screened in Lübeck in cooperation with the Noordelijk Film Festival. In “Cuckoo”, a man lives inside a cuckoo clock and just like the cuckoo, he has to jump out once an hour. Not exactly a fabulous job. But because the life of a resident in a home for the elderly depends on his alarm function, so she takes her pills on time, the human cuckoo fulfils his duty faithfully. Until one day, he is tempted by a possible super jackpot on the radio. Meanwhile “Lady” is the touching story of the meeting between two marginalised people – an 18-year-old refugee threatened with deportation, and an elderly homeless man who takes her under his wing. And the short film “I” comes to Lübeck from Iceland, in cooperation with the Reykjavik International Film Festival. Svanur (English: Swan) does not feel comfortable in his body. He would rather have been born a girl. One weekend, Svanur goes to the city to start the gender reassignment process. Svanur returns home to the small town a changed person. What’s grandma going to say?
Alongside the entire festival programme, the short film programme is available online at www.nordische-filmtage.de. Highlights, news, and video clips of festival guests can be seen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube/nordicfilmdays. Press photos are available for download.
Press contact:
Silke Lehmann, David Engh-Bongers, Wim Wessel
Nordische Filmtage Lübeck
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Tel. 0451 – 122 1455
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