Among several world premieres in the freshly announced programme of the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, which will take place from 20-25 September, is this year’s opening film: Stefan Berg’s Leslie on Fire (Sweden). Concentrating on Leslie Tay, a promising artist who was already the subject of Berg’s earlier 2008 film Leslie - A Star Waiting to Shine, it will show his struggles as he awaits the release of his long-awaited debut album, all the while battling the memories of his difficult upbringing in Sofielund, a place noted for its poverty and crime. “This is my biggest and perhaps most relevant film project ever,” admits Berg, a Malmö-based filmmaker who also started out as a musician. “It’s a breathtaking story about a very talented performer, who is also a complex and charismatic individual.”

Apart from new discoveries, the programme of the festival also includes several titles that have already made their mark on the international festival circuit – such as the Göteborg Film Festival Dragon Award winner The Distant Barking of Dogs [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Denmark/Finland/Sweden), directed by Danish documentarian Simon Lereng Wilmont and set in Eastern Ukraine, on the front line of the war; The Deminer [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Sweden), about a Kurdish man who has disarmed thousands of roadside bombs and mines; and Inka Achté’s Boys Who Like Girls [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Finland/Norway/India), an interesting exploration of complicated gender politics in the aftermath of the infamous Delhi rape case. All three will be competing alongside 12 other films for the prize of €11,000, which will be awarded to the winning director courtesy of Nordic public broadcasters DR, YLE, RUV, NRK and SVT. “We are having a very exciting year,” adds festival manager Viktor Jepson. “Documentaries such as Karen Winther’s Exit [Norway/Germany] and Håvard Bustnes’ Golden Dawn Girls [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] [Norway/Denmark] deal with hate and extremism – a very topical subject. But we will also show some strong personal portraits.”

The festival will also step out of the cinema thanks to its seminars on subjects ranging from sound in documentary to brand-new ways of reaching young audiences, and special events such as “Sacred Cinema” – a screening of the Norwegian documentary Per Fugelli - I Die [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Norway), directed by Erik Poppe of U - July 22 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Erik Poppe
ficha de la película] fame, held in one of Malmö’s biggest churches.

The other films competing for the title of Best Nordic Documentary are A Year of Hope by Mikala Krogh (Denmark), Beyond Strength [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Baldvin Z (Iceland), False Confessions by Katrine Philp (Denmark/Germany), Living.Loving by Mette Aakerholm Gardell (Sweden/Norway), Punk Voyage [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by J-P Passi and Jukka Kärkkäinen (Finland/Denmark/Norway), Raghu Rai - An Unframed Portrait by Avani Rai (Finland/Norway/India), The Raft [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marcus Lindeen
ficha de la película] by Marcus Lindeen (Sweden/Denmark/USA) and The Stranger by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi (Denmark).

The gathering will also shine the spotlight on virtual reality. Thanks to a collaboration with development fund BoostHbg, Bombina Bombast (Malmö’s performing arts company under the artistic direction of Emma Bexell and Stefan Stanisic) and production companies AutoImages and Klassefilm, viewers will get to experience the documentary video game Cosmic Top Secret, based on a true story, as well as a VR film called Kinematografi. Realising what could surely be described as Woody Allen’s wildest dream, it will offer full-on immersion in the mind of a woman who believes she is a character from an Ingmar Bergman film.

The event, which expects to welcome over 900 accredited guests from the Nordic and international film industry, including a team of film professionals from South Korea, will be hosted by the City of Malmö, Film i Skåne and Nordisk Panorama.