The 64^th edition of the Nordic Film Days will take place in the Northern German city of Lübeck from 2-6 November. As usual, the festival focuses on a selection of new productions from Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. The programme will showcase a total of 173 movies and series, scattered across a total of nine sections. Among them is a new one called Immersion 360°, which, for the first time, will present 16 360-degree films and artworks in a mobile, full-dome theatre. Among the highlights is the collective work Árran 360° by six leading Sámi artists, which premiered at this year's Venice Biennale and which combines indigenous storytelling with innovative technology.

This year, the festival has a new head for its Series section: US programmer and film journalist Wendy Mitchell has selected eight productions from Scandinavia, including The Kingdom Exodus [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Asta Kamma August
intervista: Hubert Toint e Mark Denessen
scheda series] by Danish director Lars von Trier. Nordic Film Days’ retrospective is titled “Cross and Queer” and will present 14 films made between 1921 and 1981 that hinge on the topics of dressing differently and gender identity. As for the homage, it is dedicated to Icelandic director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. Friðriksson, who was born in 1954, is one of the big names in Icelandic cinema. His career started in the 1980s, and his 1991 romantic drama Children of Nature is the only film from Iceland to have been nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign-language Film/Best International Feature Film so far. In Lübeck, it will be possible to watch this movie as well as four more, which were created between 1994 and 2010 – namely, Movie Days (1994), Cold Fever (1995), Angels of the Universe (2000) and Mamma Gógó [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (2010).

The core of this year's edition is its competition. The films taking part will be competing for a total of 12 awards endowed with €63,000, and a jury and the audience will be the ones deciding on the winners. The fiction-feature competition comprises 14 titles. They include A Matter of Trust by Annette K Olesen, a Danish drama that tells the complex story of five different people who all struggle to find a place in life where they can feel safe and loved; the coming-of-age drama Beautiful Beings [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
scheda film], about a 14-year-old boy with a drug-addict mother and a violent stepfather, helmed by Icelandic director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson; Norwegian director Hallvar Witzø’s comedy Everybody Hates Johan [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], in which the protagonist is particularly fond of dynamite; Dovilė Šarutytė, representing Lithuania, with her debut, Feature Film About Life [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dovile Sarutyte
scheda film], in which she accompanies her protagonist through her grief over the death of her father; Boy from Heaven [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tarik Saleh
scheda film] by Swedish director of Egyptian heritage Tarik Saleh, which is set in Cairo and tells the story of a student struggling with his search for faith; Godland [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Elliott Crosset Hove
intervista: Hlynur Pálmason
scheda film] by Hlynur Pálmason, a historical drama co-produced by Denmark, Iceland, France and Sweden; the social satire Sick of Myself [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kristine Kujath Thorp
intervista: Kristoffer Borgli
scheda film] by Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli; and the tragicomedy The Woodcutter Story [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mykko Myllylahti
scheda film] by Finnish helmer Mikko Myllylahti.

Also part of the fiction-feature competition are the Latvian-Lithuanian-Polish production January [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Viesturs Kairišs, set in the winter of 1991 at the moment when Latvia gains its independence; the animated film from Latvia My Love Affair With Marriage [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Signe Baumane
scheda film] by Signe Baumane; the Norwegian coming-of-age flick with fantastical elements Sister, What Grows Where Land Is Sick? [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Franciska Seifert Eliassen; the thriller-horror-drama Speak No Evil [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Tafdrup
scheda film] by Danish director Christian Tafdrup; the drama about a single mother The Store [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Ami-Ro Sköld; and, finally, The Great Silence [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kristine Kujath Thorp
scheda film] by Denmark’s Katrine Brocks, which tells the story of a young novitiate.

Besides the fiction-feature competition, there is also one dedicated to documentaries, which boasts 18 highly acclaimed titles including A House Made of Splinters [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Simon Lereng Wilmont, Nelly & Nadine [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Magnus Gertten
scheda film] by Magnus Gertten, The Eclipse [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nataša Urban
scheda film] by Nataša Urban, Polaris [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ainara Vera
scheda film] by Ainara Vera, Ruthless Times – Songs of Care [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Susanna Helke
scheda film] by Susanna Helke and The Territory [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Alex Pritz.

Last but not least, a short-film programme with 32 titles has been scheduled, and there will also be a section with 29 films chosen specifically for a young audience. The festival will open on 2 November with the Danish documentary Music for Black Pigeons [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jørgen Leth e Andreas Koef…
scheda film] by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed, which is also part of the documentary competition. The film, which accompanies a group of jazz musicians, will enjoy its German premiere in Lübeck.