10th annual Nordic Lights Film Festival coming up soon

Next month, the Nordic Museum will be putting on the annual Nordic Lights Film Festival, happening March 1 – 3 at the SIFF Cinema Uptown.

The festival, in its tenth year, will open with the award-winning Icelandic film Woman at War, showing on Friday, March 1 at 7pm. The film is about a choirmaster, Halla, who is about to adopt a child from war-torn Ukraine. “The only hitch is that Halla is also a terrorist — an eco-terrorist to be exact,” the synopsis reads.

An opening night reception will follow the film.

On Saturday, March 2, there will be films all day starting at 10am:

10am: SUMMER CHILDREN/SUMARBÖRN (photo above from the film’s trailer)
Drama | Iceland | 2017 | 84 minutes | Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir
“The siblings Eydis and Kari are only five and six years old when their parents’ marriage breaks apart. As their mother struggles to find her footing following the divorce, they are sent temporarily to a countryside children’s home. But the stay turns out to be longer than they had ever expected. Eydis and Kari take matters into their own hands.”
12pm: WONDERLAND/JOULUMAA
Comedy/Drama | Finland |2017 | 92 minutes | Inari Niemi
“The idea of having to spend Christmas alone prompts recently separated Helena to join best friend Ulli on a farmhouse getaway for the holiday. Their hosts, a young urban couple with a small daughter, trying their hand at organic farming are facing their own challenges adjusting to country life. A third guest, Oiva, is also escaping to the country for Christmas which will turn out quite different from everyone’s expectations.”
2pm: HANDLE WITH CARE/HJERTESTART
Drama | Norway | 2017 | 102 minutes | Arild Andresen
“A father. A son. A journey. When his wife dies, offshore worker Kjetil is left with his six-year-old adopted son Daniel. To find out more about the boy’s background Kjetil takes Daniel back to Colombia. The journey will change them both forever. Kjetil, a Norwegian offshore worker is a recent widower, now left to take care of his six-year-old adopted son Daniel. Unable to deal with his lone parent role, Kjetil decides to bring Daniel to Colombia to find the boy’s biological mother. In Bogot, a taxi driver and his family assist Kjetil in his search for Daniels mother while the young little by little reconnects with his country of origin. Gradually Daniel gets use to life in Colombia and Kjetil is presented with an option that can change their life.”
4pm: NORDIC SHORTS
A WORTHY MAN/ EN VÆRDIG MAND
Short | Denmark | 2018 | 19:11 minutes | Kristian Haskjold
“Night after night, Erik works alone in his bakery. His only company is a late-night radio program, which he persistently attempts to get through to in order to be honored as “Joker of the Week”. A growing depression hurls Erik to spin out of a key, which in the end culminates in a desperate cry for help.”
FOGGY DAYS/DIMMIGA DAR
Short | Sweden | 2018 | 17:15 minutes | Martin Sandin
“Stockholm 2018. I9n a time where social media gives us performance anxiety and confirmation is becoming increasingly important; Clara meets Peter. Clara wants the world. Peter wants nothing but to be loved. The usually confident Peter quickly becomes inferior to the charismatic Clara, leaving him with only one last option: to confront her with his true feelings. Together they are drawn into a world where love is currency to feed their own ego. Their relationship is a battle without a winner.”
THREE MEN/ÞRIR MEN
Short | Iceland | 2017 | 11:47 minutes | Emilsson Emil Alfreð
“After an incident on an isolated farm in the Westfjord a young man feels he has to start acting more his age in order to please his father and to keep his little brother out of harm’s way.”
SUPER COMFORT
Short | Finland | 2017 | 14: 39 minutes | Kirsikka Saari
“Taina is preparing a perfect weekend with the family, since her son Eetu is visiting with his girlfriend. But the more Taina tries to entertain everyone, the less comfortable they feel.”
THINGS WE DON`T TALK ABOUT/DET VI IKKE SNAKKER OM
Short | Norway |2017 |18:11 minutes | Dan Johan Filip Svensson
After surviving a car accident, thirteen-year-old Edvin isolates himself from friends and family. When his father forces him to go to rehabilitation, he can no longer avoid dealing with his trauma.
ÁRBI
Experimental Short | Sápmi/Finland | 2018 | 2minutes | Lauda Suomenrinne
“A woman’s Sámi headdress serves as an object and gateway between her ancestors, reminding her of the importance of keeping her traditions alive.”
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT FISH/GUOLLESÁGAT
Short | Sápmi/Norway |2018 | 12:07 minutes | Egil Pedersen
“Three women meet. One of them wants to talk about the important things in life, but it is safer to talk about fish.”
6:30pm: LAND OF HOPE/OMA MAA
Historic Drama/Romance | Finland |109 minutes| Markku Pölönen
“Homeland is a love story of Anni and Veikko. It also tells the story of the times after WWII – from 1945 to 1952, when Finland had to settle over 440 000 evacuees and war invalids from Karelia. Over 100 000 new homes were established.”
8:30pm: TBD

The schedule for Sunday, March 3 is the following:

10am: LOVING PIA/AT ELSKE PIA (photo above by Daniel Borgman)
Drama/Romance | Denmark | 2017 | 99 minutes | Daniel Borgman
“A work of fiction, the film is developed from the life of – and starring – a real woman, Pia, who is intellectually disabled. Pia is 60 years old and she lives in rural Denmark in the care of her mother Guittou, 84. In the story, Guittou is getting old, and Pia worries about what will happen when her mother dies. She is afraid of being left alone. Although Pia has never had a boyfriend, she thinks that she needs to find a man to love in order to survive. Then Pia meets a man called Jens at the harbor. Pia embarks on a quiet and simple relationship with him, not realizing that in the meantime it is her mother who is left alone.”
12pm: DARLING
Drama | Denmark | 2017 | 102 minutes | Birigtte Stærmose
“Darling is a world-famous Danish ballerina. After a long absence, she and her husband Frans return to the Royal Danish ballet in Copenhagen to perform the classic ballet “Giselle”. She will dance the title role with Frans as choreographer. During rehearsals, Darling collapses in pain. Try as she may to deny it; the prognosis is clear: her hip is irreparably damaged. She will never dance again. Her professional life, her world is in ruins. But Darling refuses to let go. She decides to train her replacement, a young ballerina named Polly, to make Polly the Giselle she can no longer be. But as Polly becomes the center of attention, of Frans’ attention, Darling’s emotional stability begins to unravel.”
2pm: DREAMS BY THE SEA/DREYMAR VIÐ HAVIÐ
Coming of Age Drama | Faroe Islands | 2017 | 78 minutes | Sakaris Stórá
“On an isolated island, Ester goes about her mundane life, quietly obeying her religious parents. One day the rebellious Ragna moves to town. Trying to protect her younger brother from their alcoholic mother, Ragna sees an ally in Ester, and together they enjoy the summer nights, dreaming about something better. But summer doesn’t last long on the Faroe Islands and soon reality catches up with the girls. Dreams by the Sea is a story of struggle, love and identity, and that growing desire to get away, when everything else seems to stay in place.”
4pm: FOR ALL OUR FATHERS FOUGHT/ALT HVA FEDRENE HAR KJEMPET
Documentary | Norway | 2018 | 89 minutes | Hilde Korsaeth
For All Our Fathers Fought tells the concealed story of the Norwegians who fought side by side with the Russians, those who won the war but lost the peace. It deals with the wounds of war and the Cold War, as well as the people trapped on the borderland between the politics of East and West. It is also the story of a son’s search for the truth about his father, in order to make peace with painful memories. The troublesome story of how Norway betrayed those who sacrificed everything.
6pm: EAST OF SWEDEN/KÄÄNTÖPISTE
Drama/Thriller | Finland | 2018 | 104 minutes | Simo Halinen
“Three men, who all have something to hide, share a cabin on a northbound night train. Dominick is an undocumented African immigrant, Jere is caught up in criminal activity and Aleksi is a psychiatric patient running away. While Jere and Dominick just want to make it to their destination in silence, Aleksi starts causing commotion. A violent confrontation ensues, which leads to his accidental death. Jere and Dominick make a difficult decision -to dump the body and pretend it didn’t happen. They part ways in northern Finland, but they aren’t finished with each other yet. Through circumstance, the men fall in with Aleksi’s ex wife, the beautiful Vera, and her small daughter. With the help of Vera, Dominick attempts, but fails, to escape Finland and Jere, who is starting to fall in love with Vera, becomes increasingly paranoid about what they have done. Both men seek to gain Vera’s trust but struggle with everything they are hiding. The truth will out, but how will the men come to terms with what they have done?”
8pm: TBD