Festival 2019
January 5th
Mihkel (Iceland – feature)
Based on true events from a 2004 criminal case in Iceland where a body was discovered by a chance by a diver in the Neskaupstaður harbor.
To Be Continued (Latvia – Oscar submission)
Ivars Seleckis takes a look at five children and their families from throughout Latvia. Shot over a period of two years, the film explores how choices made by adults are reflected in a child's thinking.
Border (Sweden – Oscar submission)
Customs officer Tina is known for her extraordinary sense of smell – she can sniff out fear on anyone. But when Vore walks past her, her abilities are challenged for the first time. Tina can sense Vore is hiding something she can’t identify. Worse, she feels a strange attraction to him. This fateful encounter calls into question her entire existence.
The Guilty (Denmark – Oscar submission)
When police officer Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is demoted to desk work, he expects a sleepy beat as an emergency dispatcher. That all changes when he answers a panicked phone call from a kidnapped woman who then disconnects abruptly. Asger, confined to the police station, is forced to use others as his eyes and ears as the severity of the crime slowly becomes more clear. The search to find the missing woman and her assailant will take every bit of his intuition and skill, as a ticking clock and his own personal demons conspire against him.
January 6th
Euthanizer (Finland – Oscar submission)
This violent summer noir tells the story of Veijo, a 50-year-old mechanic, whose second job is to put sick pets to sleep. He’s also an animal whisperer and prefers to personally deliver justice to careless owners who neglect their pets. His unconventional but meticulously organized life is disrupted when he comes across Petri, a garage mechanic and member of a neo-Nazi gang, and Lotta, a young nurse who understands his psychosis. The themes revolve around animal rights, suffering and death. But the real story is not about good or evil – it’s about intolerance and the stupidity of absolute men.
Woman at War (Iceland – feature)
Halla, a woman in her fifties, declares war on the local aluminum industry to prevent it from disfiguring her country. She risks all she has to protect the highlands of Iceland-but the situation could change with the unexpected arrival of a small orphan in her life.
What will people say? (Norway – Oscar submission)
Sixteen-year-old Nisha lives a double life. When out with her friends, she’s a normal Norwegian teenager. At home with her family, she is the perfect Pakistani daughter. But when her father catches her alone with her boyfriend in her room, Nisha’s two worlds brutally collide.
Unknown Soldier (Finland – feature)
Based on novel of the same name by Váinö Linna the film follows a fictional Finnish Army machine gun company on the Karelian front during the War from 1941 when the troops prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union until armistice in 1944. The author himself had served in such a company.
Morgen (Norway – short)
It can seem like we are living on the edge of the world. But one morning 200,000 soldiers march into our arctic landscape. Four years later they stumble out leaving everything in ruins. As if nothing has happened. What in human nature trigger violent acts of war, thousands of miles into the wild? Can it happen again? As the ice melts?
The 12th Man (Norway – feature)
True World War II story about Jan Baalsruds, one of the 12 saboteurs sent in 1943 from England to the Nazi occupied Northern Norway. After their boat is sunk by the Germans, the Nazis killed 11 of them. The 12th man, Jan, goes on the run towards the neutral Sweden. However, the brutal weather conditions turn out to be an even greater foe than the Nazi patrols.
January 19th
Rendel: Dark Vengeance (Finland – feature)
A Finnish superhero, a masked vigilante Rendel seeks for revenge and fights against VALA, the huge criminal organization
Ted: Show Me Love (Sweden – feature)
Chronicling the beautiful and tragic life and career of legendary Swedish singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestad, this biopic tells the story of the great highs and lows of one of Sweden’s moved loved artists.
Three August Days (Estonia – short)
In the midst of the political upheaval of the early 1990s in Soviet Union, an Estonian girl and a Russian boy reach across cultural lines to unite over a shared bottle of American soda.
Take It or Leave It (Estonia – Oscar submission)
One sleepy Saturday morning a 30-year-old construction worker Erik gets some earth shattering news: his ex-girlfriend Moonika who he hasn't even seen for the past six months is about to go into labor. She however is not ready for motherhood and if Erik doesn't want the kid either, the little girl will be put up for adoption. Take it or leave it!
Vultures (Iceland – feature)
Sharp-suited Erik represents the aspirational face of modern Iceland. Atli, a petty criminal just released from prison, is stuck in a downward spiral. The distance between these two very different brothers vanishes when the duo teams up to smuggle cocaine into Iceland, inside plastic pellets swallowed by a young Polish mule, Sofia. But things go wrong when rule-breaking cop Lena starts closing in on them and Sofia falls sick. With the drugs yet to reach their destination and a rival gang demanding a slice of the action, time is a luxury that the brothers can't afford. Charismatic anti-hero Erik's ability to stay one step ahead is tested to the limit - how many lives is he willing to sacrifice to sustain his own?
The Cake General (Sweden – feature)
Set in 1984, Hans Pettersson (Hasse P.) decides to create the largest sandwich cake ever made in order to put his home town, Köping, on the map.
January 20th
Wonderful Losers (Lithuania – Oscar Submission documentary)
They're called water carriers, domestics, 'gregarios', 'Sancho Panzas' of professional cycling. Always at the back of the group, with no right for a personal victory. These wonderful losers are the true warriors of professional cycling.
Becoming Astrid (Denmark – feature)
Biopic of Swedish writer Astrid Lingren, the author of numerous children’s books and creator of Pippi Longstocking.
The Green Valley (Norway – short)
The Green Valley is a short film that explores the connection between politics, art and daily life in a multicultural neighborhood in Oslo. The film is inspired by three real events that took place in the director's neighborhood.
Utoya: July 22 (Norway – feature)
A teenage girl struggles to survive and to find her younger sister during the July 2011 terrorist mass murder at a political summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utøya.
One Last Deal (Finland – feature)
An elderly art dealer Olavi (72) is about to retire. A man who has always put business and art before everything - even his family - cannot imagine life without work. At an auction, an old painting catches his attention. Olavi suspects it is worth much more than its starting price, which is low because its authenticity hasn't been confirmed. Olavi's instincts kick in. He decides to make one last deal in order to earn some proper pension money. At the same time, Olavi's daughter Lea (42) - whom he hasn't seen for years - asks him to help her with his teenage grandson Otto (15). Together with Otto, Olavi starts to investigate the background of the painting. They find out that the painting is called Christ and was painted by Ilya Repin. Olavi manages to buy the painting, but when the auction house realizes that there has been a mistake with the original pricing, they turn against him. To fulfill his dream, the old dealer must face both the auction house and his own past mistakes.