Lübeck kicks off to the sound of Swedish Noise
by Annika Pham
The 52nd Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, Germany kicks off tonight off with fanfare with the Swedish musical film Sound of Noise [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. With 30 films on show, Sweden has the strongest presence at the festival, which this year is presenting a total of 140 features, shorts and documentaries from the Nordic and Baltic regions and Northern Germany, through November 7.
Denmark brings 20 films to the event, Norway and Finland 17 and 16, respectively, and Iceland six. "Nordic films are getting better each year and the 2010 crop in particular is very exciting, across all five countries," said artistic director Linde Fröhlich. "What surprised me is the wide variety of stories and cinematic approaches, from established directors such as Jörn Donner and Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, to newcomers like Babak Najafi, Maria Sødahl and Louise Friedberg."
Among the Baltic countries, Estonia has the largest number of titles in selection (five), including Marko Raat’s The Snow Queen, which is competing for the festival’s NDR Award for Best Feature Film, along with 16 other titles.
An impressive list of top directors and actors are coming to the Hanseatic City, including The Interrogation director Jörn Donner and star Minna Haapkylä; and director Dome Karukoski and acting trio Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen and Timo Lavikainen of Lapland Odyssey [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
Two Norwegian films opening soon in Germany will be introduced by their directors: Bent Hamer’s Home for Christmas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bent Hamer
film profile] (Pandora, December 2) and Hans Peter Moland’s A Somewhat Gentle Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hans Petter Moland
film profile] (Neue Visionen, December 9).
Among the guests of honour is Sweden’s Christina Lindberg, who made an interesting career change from cult actress in the 1970s to editor of the largest Swedish aviation magazine Flygrevyn and will be reunited in Lübeck with Stellan Skarsgård. The two co-starred in the 1973 film Anita Swedish Nymphet.
German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl will also be on hand to celebrate his 80th birthday and his honorary citizenship of Schleswig-Holstein.
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