02/11/2015 - Denmark has five and Iceland three contenders in the main competition at the Nordic Film Days between 4 and 8 November

Unspooling from 4-8 November, the 57th Nordic Film Days Lübeck – the largest festival outside Scandinavia dedicated to films from the Nordic and Baltic countries – has selected 180 titles for this year’s programme, including 16 for the main competition, dominated by Denmark (five entries) and Iceland (three). 

Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson and his lead actors Sigurdur Sigurjónsson and Theódór Júlíusson will attend the festival opening with their award-winning Rams [+see also:
film review
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interview: Grimur Hakonarson
film profile]; Icelandic director Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain [+see also:
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film profile], which last month (27 October) received the Nordic Council Film Prize 2015 (see the news), is also on show in competition, with its star Gunnar Jónsson among the guests.

Danish actor Søren Malling will be in Lübeck with two films, Danish directors Tobias Lindholm’s A War [+see also:
film review
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interview: Tobias Lindholm
film profile] and Christina Rosendahl’s The Idealist [+see also:
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film profile], with the latter set to be introduced by the director. Finnish filmmaker Mika Kaurismäki will present three films: his latest, The Girl King [+see also:
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film profile], in the Specials section, and The Worthless (1982) and Rosso (1985) in the Retrospective.

“Of particular interest this year is the number of co-productions in the programme,” said Nordic Film Days’ artistic director, Linde Fröhlich. Three films in the main competition were staged with German participation: Martin Zandvliet’s Land of Mine [+see also:
film review
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interview: Louis Hofmann
interview: Martin Zandvliet
film profile], Bobbie Peers’ The Disappearing Illusionist [+see also:
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interview: Bobbie Peers
film profile] and Klaus Härö’s The Fencer [+see also:
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interview: Ivo Felt
film profile].

Other titles in the Specials section include Finnish director Jörn Donner’s Armi Alive! [+see also:
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interview: Jörn Donner
film profile], which deals with the creator of Marimekko, Armi Ratia; Norwegian director Gunnar Vikene’s comedy Here Is Harold [+see also:
trailer
interview: Gunnar Vikene
film profile], whose lead character targets the founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad; and Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs [+see also:
film review
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interview: Joachim Trier
film profile], which was Norway’s first bid for the Cannes Palme d’Or for 36 years. 

Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug’s The Wave [+see also:
film review
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interview: Roar Uthaug
film profile] – which has now been sold to the US – is the first disaster movie to come out of the Nordic countries and will be shown at the gathering. Other selections include Bille August’s Silent Heart [+see also:
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film profile] (starring Ghita Nørby as a terminally ill materfamilias) and Daniel Dencik’s feature debut, Gold Coast [+see also:
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interview: Daniel Dencik
film profile], which explores Denmark’s involvement in West Africa’s slave trade. 

Danish director Christian Braad Thomsen will be in Lübeck to introduce Fassbinder – To Love without Demands, about his German friend and colleague Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Also in the documentary section, two Swedish films will take a closer look at the refugee crisis: Patrik Andersson’s Nice People and I Am Dublin, directed by David Aronowitsch, Ahmed Abdullahi, Anna Persson and Sharmarke Binyusuf.