Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
This year’s Scandinavian Film Festival consists of specially curated films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, including ten directed by women with many screening for the first time outside of Europe.
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Festival will feature the award winning The Emigrants which follows a struggling farming family in mid-19th Century Sweden who decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.
The other major highlights are:
- The Exception is an electrifying Copenhagen-set psychological thriller about four colleagues at a NGO who suspect each other after a series of mysterious death threats.
- Helene a captivating portrait of Finland’s most acclaimed painter of the early 20th century, Helene Schjerfbeck while TOVE is a fascinating depiction of the life and personal relationships of Finnish visual artist/author Tove Jansson.
- In the Games People Play a group of old friends gather at an idyllic Finnish seaside villa to celebrate a surprise birthday where old feelings and power struggles rise to the surface.
- Persona Non Grata is a black comedy from Denmark about uncomfortable family relations which follows a cosmopolitan Copenhagen writer who returns to her rural hometown for her brother’s wedding.
- Diana’s Wedding is a bittersweet tribute to love, which tells the story of Norwegians Liv and Terje and the unconventional, stormy marriage they embark on the same day as Diana Spencer and Prince Charles exchange vows
- Tigers is the enthralling true story of Swedish football genius Martin Bengtsson, a former Inter Milan player
- Beware Of Children is a critically acclaimed drama from Norway tracing the dramatic aftermath of a tragic event in a middle-class suburb of Oslo, examining society’s reaction when crisis strikes amongst children.
- Any Day Now is a Danish production about an Iranian family in Finland awaiting a decision about whether they will be granted official asylum status.
- Agnes Joy is a tale of intergenerational struggle in a picturesque setting that was a winner with audiences.
- The Last Fishing Trip is Iceland’s #1 box office hit comedy in which six friends depart on their annual fishing trip leaving their wives, work and worries at home!
- Grandma Hofi features a pair of senior citizens, fed up with the conditions in their retirement home and decide to rob banks so they can afford a small apartment.
- The County is at the Centrepiece of the Festival, an eagerly anticipated follow-up to the global hit Rams. It is a rousing comedy about a dairy farmer’s wife who takes on the corrupt local co-op in her remote Icelandic valley.
The 2021 Scandinavian Film Festival is screening nationally until 4 August in the following cities:
Sydney: 6 – 28 July, Palace Norton, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinemas TBC
Canberra: 7 – 28 July, Palace Electric
Melbourne: 8 – 28 July, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino and Pentridge Cinema
Adelaide: 13 July – 4 August, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas
Perth: 14 July – 4 August, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX & Palace Raine Square
Brisbane: 15 July – 4 August, Palace James St, Palace Barracks
Byron Bay: 16 July – 1 August, Palace Byron Bay
