Eight new Nordic films have been chosen to take part in the Nordic Competition at the Göteborg Film Festival. The award consists of an award sum of 150 000 SEK and the statuette Filmdraken (the Film dragon) by Swedish artist Ernst Billgren.
Göteborg Film Festival will be inaugurated January 27. Opening film will be the Viking drama Beowulf & Grendel by director Sturla Gunnarsson. Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård plays one of the main characters and will also be present on the Opening night. Never Like the First Time! (Aldrig som första gången) by Jonas Odell will be the short film of the Opening night.
Here are all the films in competition:
Beowulf & Grendel, an epic Viking drama directed by Sturla Gunnarsson (Iceland/ Canada/ UK) Wellkåmm to Verona, a burlesque set among senior citizens directed by Suzanne Osten (Sweden) Dark Horse (Voksne mennesker), a slacker movie from the Nordic Award winner of 2004, Dagur Kári (Denmark/ Iceland)
Om Gud vill, inspired debut placed in Stockholm in the 1970s, directed by Amir Chamdin (Sweden) Matti ? Hell is for Heroes, a portrait of a living sports legend on a down slope, directed by Aleksi Mäkelä (Finland)
Izzat, hardboiled story from Oslo?s underworld, directed by Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen (Norway) We Shall Overcome (Drømmen) a story of a struggle against unjust authorities directed by Niels Arden Oplev (Denmark)
Little Trip to Heaven, a film noir transforming Reykjavík into Hastings, Minnesota, directed by Baltasar Kormákur (Iceland)
The Swedish films competing for the short film award, Brateks Startsladd, are the following:
Blue, Karma, Tiger by Mia Hulterstam and Cecilia Actis Hilma by Christina Sikström
Shortcut (Genvägen) by Rafael Deugenio
Mr Andrzej (Herr Andrzej) by Emil Graffman
In the Best of Possible Worlds (I den bästa av världar) by Nina Holst
Backyard Suicide by Mats Karsvall
Never Like the First Time! (Aldrig som första gången) by Jonas Odell
The Watermelon (Vattenmelonen) by Gorki Glaser-Müller
For further information please contact Åsa Larsson via +46 31-339 30 12, +46 707-61 38 01 or through press@filmfestival.org.