Nordic film festival to debut in Seattle next month

Next month, the Nordic Lights Film Festival will open in Seattle, showcasing more than a dozen films from Nordic countries. The festival, organized by the Nordic Heritage Museum, will include feature-length films, documentaries, and short films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It will be from Jan. 18-20 at the Seattle Center, kicking off with a reception at SIFF at 6 p.m., followed by the feature film “Beyond,” directed by Pernilla August and starring Noomi Rapace of “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

From the Nordic Heritage Museum:

Both Saturday and Sunday begin the day at 10:00 a.m. with the family-friendly animated feature Moomin and Midsummer Madness. Saturday continues with the Norwegian documentary Liv and Ingmar, which uses behind-the-scenes footage, still photos, and letters to tell the story of actress Liv Ullman’s and filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s 42-year relationship.

More Saturday highlights include the drama Volcano (Iceland) and the documentary Grandma Lo-Fi Basement Tapes about 70-something Sigrídur Níelsdóttir who creates eclectic and eccentric music in her own home in Iceland. The war-time drama Silence from Finland will play Saturday night followed by a line-up of short films from all over Norden.

A variety of movies continues on Sunday with The Finland Phenomenon, a documentary about Finland’s unique education system, coming-of-age comedy Turn Me On Dammit! from Norway, and Teddy Bear from Denmark, which won the directing award in the World Cinema – Dramatic category at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

The weekend concludes with back-to-back documentaries, the first, Women with Cows, tells the story of two sisters, 77 and 75, who somehow manage to run a dairy farm in rural Sweden, and the second, Hello My Name is Lesbian, reveals the many facets of contemporary lesbian culture in Denmark.

Admission to the festival is $8 for Nordic Hertiage Museum members and SIFF members, and $10 for the general public. The 10 a.m. screenings on Saturday and Sunday are $7. Passes for the full weekend are $50 for members and $55 for the general public. Click here for the full line-up.