17/08/2023 - The 51st edition of the Norwegian Film Festival offers a full week of audience and industry activities, including the Amanda Awards ceremony and New Nordic Films

For seven lively days (19-25 August), the city of Haugesund will host the 51st edition of the Norwegian Film Festival, as it’s officially dubbed. Kicking off the festivities on Saturday night is the ceremony for the national film awards, the Amandas, celebrating the most recent Norwegian film year. The industry section of the festival, New Nordic Films, will take place from 22-25 August, with an expected 300 participants.

The jam-packed film programme kicks off with the world premiere of Listen Up!, based on Gulraiz Sharif’s multi-award-winning, best-selling novel about 15-year-old Mahmoud’s very special Oslo summer when his uncle arrives from Pakistan for a visit. First-time feature director Kaveh Tehrani and his cast, including British comedian Asim Chaudhry, will brighten up the red carpet. Big-screen premieres are also in store for K-town, Kristian Landmark’s dark comedy about a sex-shop business in the Norwegian Bible Belt; Laurens Pérol’s Practise, a road movie centring on a young climate activist; and Mari Nilsen Neira’s Maternity Ward Guerillas, a documentary about the grassroots fight for delivery rooms in rural Norway. From the Nordic neighbours comes the acclaimed Tove’s Room by Denmark’s Martin Zandvliet, starring Paprika Steen as author Tove Ditlevsen, and Frederikke Aspöck’s Empire, a story from the Danish West Indies in the 19th century. Sweden brings along Erik Gandini’s documentary After Work [+see also:
film review
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interview: Erik Gandini
film profile] as well as the Sundance- and Berlin-awarded And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine [+see also:
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interview: Axel Danielson, Maximilien …
film profile], Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s exploration of the camera image through the ages. From Finland, Aki Kaurismäki’s Cannes favourite Fallen Leaves [+see also:
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film profile] will open the New Nordic Films events on the 22nd. A selection of highlights from the latest editions of various A-list festivals includes Ken Loach’s The Old Oak [+see also:
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film profile], Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex [+see also:
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interview: Molly Manning Walker
film profile] and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
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interview: Justine Triet
film profile]. In all, the audience will encounter around 60 features, 20 shorts and a decent batch of VR experiences.

As is Haugesund tradition, the five nominees for the Nordic Council cinema prize will be announced, with the directors present in person. The Next Nordic Generation selection presents works from film students from the Nordic countries. Exhibitions, seminars and panels will also fill the agenda, this year with “unity” as a keyword, under headings such as “Working Towards a More Inclusive Film Exhibition Sector”, “Socially Relevant Films as Event Releases at the Cinema” and “Filmmaking and Accountability Amidst the Climate Crisis”. For the second time, the festival is organising the Children's Film Convention, an all-day conference on film and games aimed at children and young people, discussing topics such as getting the “TikTok generation” to immerse itself in film. There are also yoga sessions, free screenings for local teachers, a champagne school and French (!) afternoon tea – all taking place in the Homeland of the Viking Kings, as this region is officially, and rightly, christened.

The full programme can be found here.