Eight films from Denmark, Norway and Sweden were screened at the Nordic Film Festival 2004 organized between January 14 and 20 at GV Marina cinema, Marina Square shopping centre, Singapore.
From Denmark, “Dogville” by world famous director Lars von Trier and starring Nicole Kidman was the highlight – the tickets was sold out many days before the screening. Director Helle Ryslinge sent “Halalabad Blues” which is a romance, confrontation and hypocrisy in a melodramatic form with stints of humour. Also participating from Denmark is Inheritance (Arven), the second film in director Per Fly’s trilogy depicting three layers of Danish society.
From Norway, director Jens Lien sent his playful and light-hearted film about the complexity of life, “Jonny Vang” while Peder Norlund did with “Wolf Summer” (Ulvesommer), which tells a story of a twelve-year-old girl who has a dramatic encounter with a wolf while out on an expedition during her summer vacation. Another Norwegian film screened was a horror thriller “Dark Woods” (Villmark) by director Pål Øie, who shot the film, about the cast of “Real TV” as they’re haunted by an evil presence in the wilderness, with digital video on location in Kaupanger, Norway.
The other two Scandinavian films, from Sweden, were Josef Fares’ “Kops” and Richard Hobert’s “Everyone Loves Alice” (Alla Älskar Alice). Josef Fares’ story is a comedy that takes place in a small Swedish town, revolving around a group of colleagues at a local police station. In the latter Swedish film, director Richard Hobert tells a dramatic love story about one man, two women and three children, whose everyday lives are forever changed when love suddenly explodes and they are caught in the heat of the blast.
Nordic Film Festival 2004 was organized by the Singapore Film Society and Golden Village in cooperation with the National Film Institutes of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
For more information about Nordic Film Festival, please visit Singapore Film Society’s website <http://www.sfs.org.sg/>.
