17/11/2005

160 films from 40 countries (including 51 debut films), 11 European films out of a total of 18 feature films in the main competition programme, eight films from the Nordic and Baltic countries reunited in the Northern Lights section competing for the FIPRESCI award, and glitz and glamour with filmmakers Terry Gilliam, Miranda July, Dominic Moll, the Quay brothers, Stephen Woolley, Jacques Audiard, Joe Wright and actresses Paprika Steen, Vahina Gioccante, Rosamund Pike just to name a few. These are the highlights of the 16th Stockholm International Film Festival which opens its doors today and closes on November 27.

The Swedish thriller Storm by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein which was sold by Trust Film Sales to seven countries after a seven minutes trailer in Cannes this year will open the competition programme. Among its competitors are the French films Riviera by Anne Villacèque and The Invisible by Thierry Jousse, the Greek Hardcore by Dennis Iliakis, the UK films Festival by Annie Griffith and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes by the Quay brothers, and the Danish Allegro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Christoffer Boe.

The Open Zone Section will present films by established filmmakers from around the world such as Stephen Woolley’s Stoned, Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heat Skipped [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Dominik Moll’s Lemning [+see also:
trailer
film profile], both French films released in Sweden by Non Stop Entertainment in early 2006.
The eight titles in the Northern Light section include the Swedish film Made in Yougoslavia by first time director Miko Lazic released tomorrow in Sweden by Triangel Film, Homesick by the Finnish Petri Kotwica, Land of Glass by the Lithuanian Janina Lapinskaité and Accused by the Danish Jacob Thuesen.

Terry Gilliam who will receive Stockholm’s Visionary Award 2005 has chosen three films that have been his major source of inspiration: Belgian Jaco van Dormael’s 1991 film Toto The Hero, Marlon Brando’s 1961 film One Eyed Jack and Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal, without which, according to Gilliam, "there would be no Holy Grail".