The year has come and gone and once again we can host a showcase of the best of Nordic cinema from the past year. The SCANDI Festival is back! However, for this tenth anniversary year, we are expanding our offer. We won't just be releasing four films like last year and the year before. It's obviously not enough for you... This year you can come to SCANDI twice in one day, because on Mondays at the end of January and the beginning of February we will show two films. Always at five and eight in the evening, Mondays 22 and 29 January and 5 February.
What to look forward to at this year's screening? Acting megastars of Nordic cinema like Mads Mikkelsen and Trine Dyrholm, a mix of different genres but also film legends of Nordic cinema.
Monday 22 1 2024
17:00 ON THE ROAD WITH MAMA / Á Ferð með Mömmu
Comedy / Drama
Estonia / Iceland, 2022, 114 min
Directed by Hilmar Oddsson
This black-and-white Icelandic comedy with elements of magical realism won the Grand Prix and Best Music Award at the Tallinn Black Night 2022 film festival last year. Jon is a middle-aged man who lives with his elderly mother in a remote part of Iceland. His mother is a woman who is always clear about everything. When his mother dies, the son quite naturally follows all the instructions on what to do after her death. Jon brushes and dresses his dead mother, puts her in the back seat of his old car, takes his faithful dog Bresnef with him, and the journey to the other side of the country, to the place his mother told him to bury her, begins. Accompanying the deceased on his last journey is naturally a sad thing most of the time. In this black comedy, however, there is mirth.
20:00 BASTARD / Bastarden
Drama / Historical / Biographical
Denmark / Sweden / Norway / Germany, 2023, 127 min
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
The main draw of this year's SCANDI showcase brings together the art of several masters of contemporary Nordic cinema. Danish director and screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel returns to the historical film genre with this film, his last film in the genre being The Royal Affair, which was nominated for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. For this film, moreover, he has joined forces with another master of the craft, Anders Thomas Jensen, perhaps Denmark's most highly regarded screenwriter and also an active director. The megastar of world cinema, Mads Mikkelsen, excels under the acting baton. Filmed in the Czech Republic, the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was awarded Best Actor, Cinematography and Costumes at the European Film Awards. And what is it about?
In 1755, impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer the rugged, inhospitable Danish moors with a seemingly impossible goal: to build a colony there in the name of the king. In exchange, he will gain for himself a much-coveted title of nobility. But the sole owner of the area, the ruthless Frederik de Schinkel, arrogantly believes that the land belongs to him alone. When de Schinkel learns that his maid Anna Barbara and her husband have run away to hide with Kahlen, the privileged and vicious owner of the moor swears revenge and does everything he can to drive the captain out. Kahlen will not be intimidated and puts up an unequal fight - risking not only his own life, but that of the fugitive family gathered around him.
Monday 29 1 2024
17:00 SONG OF THE EARTH / Fedrelandet
Documentary
Norway, 2023, 90 min
Directed by Margreth Olin
The mountainous landscape of Norway forms a monumental backdrop to this cinematic experience of the outdoors. Against the backdrop of a grand existential journey, the human dimension of which is the director's parents, the primal forces of the land loom large. Margreth Olin has created a stunning cinematic work about life, death, nature and simply being present in the world. Against the backdrop of the dizzyingly beautiful mountain scenery of her native Norway, Margreth Olin embarks on an existential journey with her own aging parents, whose human presence serves as a benchmark for the vastness of nature's endless spaces. Her family has always lived here side by side with nature, despite times when the earth's primal forces show their ruthless face. Her parents' mutual love and lifelong loyalty are a silent testament to how nature reflects the human soul and vice versa. But even the most solid mountain is not immutable - and certainly not in times like ours. The film is Norway's Oscar nominee.
20:00 MAN NAMED OVE / En man som heter Ove
Drama / Comedy
Sweden, 2015, 116 min
Directed by Hannes Holm
A Man Called Ove is the oldest film in our show and an audience hit based on Fredrik Backman's bestselling book, which recently earned an American remake starring Tom Hanks. Compared to the American remake, the Swedish original starring Rolf Lassgard can be said to have earned cult status for its distinctive charm and cynical humour and has already achieved cult status.
Ove is a stubborn and short-tempered curmudgeon who despises everyone around him and makes it clear to them. The former chairman of the owners' association, whose beloved wife Sonja recently died, now terrorises the neighbourhood as a self-appointed enforcer of order. A twist in his life routine comes with the arrival of his new neighbours, a young Pakistani family whose lifestyle he initially finds repugnant. When they accidentally crash their car into Ove's mailbox, it sets off a chain of unexpected events.
Monday 5 2 2024
17:00 FOUR LITTLE ADULTS / Neljä pientä aikuista
Comedy / Drama
Finland, 2023, 122 min
Berlinale Glass Bear winner Selma Vilhunen comes up with a new comedy that aims to open up the themes of midlife crisis and polyamory. Nowadays, polyamory seems to be exclusively associated with the alternative lifestyle of Generation Z. But perhaps some of us who have been through a lot in our love lives also feel too limited in our desires by monogamous relationships. Juulia is a successful Member of Parliament and lives in a seemingly perfect marriage with her husband, the priest Matias. However, when Juulia discovers that Matias has been having an affair with Enni for a year, she breaks down. To save her marriage, she involves Enni in her life and they all begin to live together in a polyamorous relationship. When Juulia accepts the new rules, she falls in love with the young Misca, who seems to be the most mature of the foursome. All four love each other, but no matter how hard they try, they can't get rid of their problems. This is a moving and human portrait of four adults with the pains of growing up.
20:00 BIRTHDAY GIRL
Drama
Denmark, 2023, 95 min
Directed by Michael Noer
A gripping detective drama about a mother's relentless search for justice. Single mother Nanna, played by European film star Trine Dyrholm, invites her daughter Cille on an ocean cruise bound for the Caribbean to celebrate Cille's 18th birthday. They both have high expectations for the trip and have made plans in advance for what to spend their time on board and how to celebrate the birthday. However, on the very first night, the dream holiday turns into a nightmare, a rape occurs - or does it? A mother's hunt begins to investigate the case, which is complicated by the space of international waters where no rules apply. A true Nordic "#meetoo detective story"
The Scandi Film Showcase aims to bring the diversity and richness of current Scandinavian cinema to the audience. It focuses on films that have been successful at festivals or have resonated with local audiences and film critics. It selects films that are diverse in genre and that stimulate debate on pressing social issues.
If you want to learn more about the films, you can read about them on the official SCANDI showcase website or in our PROGRAM.
