Writers Guild Theatre Hosts Scandinavian Film Festival, 1/8-16

The 12th Scandinavian Film Festival L.A January 8, 9, 15, 16 unreels at the Writers Guild Theater (135 S. Doheny/at Wilshire) in Beverly Hills with a program of both blockbusters and discoveries. The festival offers an annual immersion into the world of Nordic film during the winter "film season" that makes its way through festivals and awards in the build up to Academy Awards nominations and the Awards themselves. The festival focuses on the work of filmmakers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden including Nordic Oscar contenders, additional current feature films, and a sampling of shorts and documentaries.

Opening day Jan 8 starts with a film from Iceland, Dagur Kári's The Good Heart, followed by the first in the Swedish block-buster Stig Larsson Millennium Trilogy-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (The entire trilogy will screen at the festival!) Next comes a troubling Denmark/Greenland story in Louise N.D. Friedberg's The Experiment. Finally the festive opening gala/buffet precedes the opening day festivities and evening screening that takes the entire audience into the sauna, with Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotikainen's Finnish Oscar entry Steam of Life.

Sunday Jan 9 starts with shorts from Norway followed by the gripping Mama Gogo from award winning veteran Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. Then comes the second installation in the Millennium Triology-The Girl Who Played with Fire, before a special screening of Norway's Oscar entry The Angel from Director Margreth Olin. The day concludes with veteran Danish DirectorThomas Vinterberg's feature film Submarino.

The second week-end of the festival kicks off January 15 with the final Millennium offering-The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Then comes a twosome of animated shorts from Denmark and Norway preceding Finnish director Dome Karukoski's Forbidden Fruit. Norwegian feature A Somewhat Gentle Man from Hans Petter Moland follows. Into the evening the festival continues with the presentation of a $10,000 SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Association) film stipendium to young Swedish film maker Terese Andrén whose short film, Nina Argentina, will be followed by Director Andreas Öhman's Swedish Oscar Contender, Simple Simon. The Sunday Jan 16 line-up includes award winning Danish documentary Michael Madsen's Into Eternity. The film is considered to be one of the most important environmental documentaries ever and feels more like an eerie sci-fi offering with its chilling story about storage of nuclear waste. Later it's Swedish director Josef Fares' Balls, and, finally the festival wraps up with veteran Danish Director Christoffer Boe's Everything Will Be Fine.

The festival has become an important annual opportunity for both delight and discovery while traversing the world of Nordic cinema. The focus of our festival offers unique opportunities for explorers as well as devotees of international cinema, European cinema, and Nordic film. "We've offered a lot of films in twelve years" says Festival Founder/Director James Koenig "some disposable but entertaining, some profound and enduring, some that leave lingering images like the reverberation of a chord struck on heart strings. So, 'on we go'-- our annual 'residency' of Nordic film in Hollywood continues. Eager to sample a new menu, our devoted audience of film lovers, industry professionals, along with Nordic and other European "expats" have laughed and cried and witnessed six Academy Award 'Best Foreign Language Film' nominations, as well as nominations and wins in various categories. There is an aurora borealis on the big screen! And, despite Northern climates, Nordic film is as hot as the best Finnish sauna!"

Parent organization of Scandinavian Film Festival is the American Scandinavian Foundation of Los Angeles. Support for the festival includes individuals, organizations, and corporate sponsorship, with the assistance of The Danish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Finnish Film Foundation, and the Icelandic Film Centre. The festival is proud to partner with ELMA-European Languages and Movies in America, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Association), the Royal Norwegian Consulate, and the Finnish Consulate, with help from the local honorary Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic Consulates in the concerted effort to bring Nordic film culture to the Los Angeles/Hollywood cultural scene.