Lübeck, Nov. 4, 2019. Festival directors Linde Fröhlich (artistic director) and Florian Vollmers (festival manager) were upbeat as a successful 61st Nordische Filmtage come to close after six days yesterday. With 36,000 cinemagoers, the festival matched last year’s audience numbers for films from north and north-eastern Europe. “We are very pleased to have matched the numbers of our anniversary last year”, said Florian Vollmers, “We sold 1,000 more tickets, which gave a small boost to revenues, while industry visitors took greater advantage of our extensive side-bar programme”. The numerous visitors to the successful new event “Wissensglobus”, which was presented at the Fulldome cinema with the cooperation of Lübeck’s cultural affairs department, were not included in the festival’s statistics. “Last year, the holiday Reformation Day and the Saturday were clearly the strongest festival days and we’re happy that the Nordische Filmtage Lübeck once more proved its mettle as one of the most significant events on the city’s calendar”, added Vollmers. A total of 196 films were shown this year in 283 screenings (previous year: 331).
Some 570 industry visitors and press, as well as 210 filmmakers were in Lübeck for the 61st festival. “The film industry guests arriving from Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and northern Germany had a wealth of opportunities for a lively discussion with audiences here in Lübeck”, said Linde Fröhlich, artistic director of the Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, “Many of them were guests in Lübeck for the first time and were thrilled by the positive reception they received and the many interesting questions from audiences. The reaction of industry representatives was also extremely positive, highlighting the significance of the Nordische Filmtage Lübeck as a showcase and market for northern European cinema”. There was a good mood feeling at the many sold-out screenings at the venues CineStar Filmpalast Stadthalle, Kolosseum, Kino Koki, CineStar Lübeck – Das Filmhaus, as well as the special venues, the Fulldome tent and Schuppen 6, where the Retrospective’s silent film concerts and some Specials were shown. Also popular were the industry side-bar events such as the “Lübeck Meetings” with industry screenings, or an international panel discussion in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk Hamburg and Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Commission, at which Norwegian and Danish producers tackled “how to premiere a film successfully”, and a Master Class on current trends in nature documentaries.
Nine prizes with a total endowment of € 52,500 were awarded at the glittering Prize Gala on November 2 at Theater Lübeck. Three of those prizes went to Finland, the Audience Prize of the Lübecker Nachrichten newspaper to “Master Cheng” by Mika Kaurismäki, the prize for Best Feature Debut endowed by the Friends of the NLF to Miia Tervos for “Aurora” and the DGB District North trade union prize for best documentary to “The Power of Yoik” (dir: Paul-Anders Simma). Like last year, the NDR Film Prize, endowed with € 12,500 went to Iceland. Director Hlynur Pálmason expressed pleasure in a video message played during the award ceremony as his lead actor, Icelandic star Ingvar E. Sigurdsson accepted the award for “A White, White Day”.
The festival’s two media partners, broadcaster NDR and the Lübecker Nachrichten newspaper provided extensive coverage, with reports and interviews.
Detailed information on the 61st Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, including prize winners and jury statements, is available at www.nordische-filmtage.de and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram / nordicfilmdays
Save the date: The 62nd Nordische Filmtage Lübeck will run from November 3 – 8, 2020.
Contact
Nordische Filmtage Lübeck
Press and Publicity Department
Schildstr. 12, 23539 Lübeck
Tel: +49 451 122 1455
presse@nordische-filmtage.de
www.nordische-filmtage.de
Stay connected with us all year long: Join the Friends of the Nordic Film Days Lübeck!
