A preview of the 8th edition, taking place in Rome from May 2 to May 5, 2019
Since its launch, in 2012, the Nordic Film Fest has become the ultimate gathering for movie lovers who are interested in the new cinema voices of Northern Europe. Marking its 8th edition this year, the festival will take place at Casa del Cinema in Rome, Italy, from May 2 to May 5, 2019.
Born to promote the culture and the cinematography of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the festival is organized in partnership with the four nordic embassies in Italy and the Scandinavian Society in Rome. This year, the festival will showcase international premieres and films which are unreleased in Italy.
The program of the 2019 edition includes 13 feature films, 2 documentaries and 4 short films that share a common subject: this year’s theme is Borders, a word which is not limited to its geographical sense, but that includes different worlds and ways of thinking.
The 8th edition of the Nordic Film Fest will open with the biopic about the life of the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, Becoming Astrid, by Pernille Fischer Christensen, starring Alba August: the actress and the producer, Lars G. Lindström, will attend the preview on May 2, 2019.
On May 3, the Finnish director Aleksi Salmenperä will present his film Void, a tragicomedy about a couple dealing with the price of success and the fear of failure. The film won 4 Jussi Awards (the most important prize in the Finnish cinema industry), including Best Film and Best Director. On May 4, director Iram Haq will introduce What Will People Say, a film about the life of a 16-year-old Norwegian-Pakistani (played by Maria Mozadah), whose family lives in Norway. The film tells the true story of Haq, who was kidnapped and sent to Islamabad by her parents when they discovered that she had a boyfriend. Haq’s film won 4 Amanda Awards and it was Norway’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2019 Academy Awards.
The Icelandic film Woman At War, by Benedikt Erlingsson will close the 8th edition of Nordic Film Fest, on May 5: the film had its world premiere at Cannes’ Seimane de la Critique and won European Parliament’s Lux Prize: it’s an outside-the-box comedy about an apparently ordinary woman who secretly acts as an ecoterrorist against the multinational corporations that are devastating her country. The film will soon have an American remake, written and directed by Jodie Foster, who also stars as the main character. On the final day, the festival will also feature an event dedicated to Skam, the Norwegian teen drama web series which received critical acclaim and spawned American and European remakes.
Nordic Film Fest is completely free: for the full program and a comprehensive list of the special guests, please visit the website www.nordicfilmfestroma.com .