5and½ Scandinavian Visions of Culture
film screenings :: 10.05 - 13.05 :: 2017
5 and ½ Scandinavian Visions of Culture
All movies have English subtitles
PROGRAM
10 MAY – 18.30
Homecoming – 2015, ICELAND
Director: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Writer: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Stars: Harpa Arnardóttir, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, Margrét Guðmundsdóttir
100 min.
Gunnar is a sociologist in his fifties who has written countless self-help books. He lives in a beautiful house that is way too big for him and Dísa, his wife of thirty years. Their relationship has become resentful and discontent as everyday life and total lack of passion dominates their marriage. Their only child, David, is 25 years old and returns home with a new girlfriend, after travelling through Europe with his friends. His girlfriend, Sunna, is pretty, smart, polite and nothing but a perfect daughter in law. However when Gunnar meets Sunna his life takes a quick turn and he is forced to face his deepest secrets. Although his life’s work has been to instruct others how to work through their struggles he is not capable of dealing with his own dilemma. He starts to act really strangely and tries everything to sabotage his son’s relationship with Sunna. But the noose tightens and he is forced to face his biggest fear – telling the truth. Sunna is Gunnar’s daughter from a brief love affair he had with a woman when his wife Dísa was pregnant with David. When his lover became pregnant their relationship ended and he never had any relationship with his secret daughter. But now the secret is out..
11 MAY – 18.30
SILEND HEART – 2014, DENMARK
Director: Bille August
Writer: Christian Torp
Stars: Ghita Nørby, Paprika Steen, Danica Curcic
97 min.
Three generations of a family coming together over a weekend. A sick mother’s wish to die before her disease worsens gets harder to handle as old conflicts come to the surface.
12 MAY – 18.30
WE ARE THE BEST – 2013, SWEDEN-DENMARK
Director: Lukas Moodysson
Writers: Lukas Moodysson, Coco Moodysson
Stars: Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne
102 min.
Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band — despite not having any instruments and being told by everyone that punk is dead.
13 MAY – 18.30
UNDERDOG – 2015, NORWAY-SWEDEN
Director: Ronnie Sandahl
Writer: Ronnie Sandahl
Stars: Bianca Kronlöf, Henrik Rafaelsen, Mona Kristiansen
97 min.
23-year-old “Dino” (Bianca Kronlöf) dreams of a different life. Like an abundance of Swedes her age, she has fled the mass unemployment of her home country in search of a more worthwhile existence in a nouveau-riche Oslo. But her new life is caught in deadlock – Dino finds herself stuck in a destructive loop of temporary jobs, financial trouble and hard partying. A broken arm incidentally leads to a position as a housekeeper in a Norwegian middle-class home. Dino is thrown into a reality very far from her own. During a few sultry summer weeks she ends up the centre of an odd love triangle, an unpredictable struggle for affection as well as dominance. “Underdog” is a tender and raw story of privilege and longing, yet at the same time a humorous and unmerciful observation of the shifted power balance between Sweden and Norway – an actuality where Swedes have become the Norwegians’ servants.
