Dreamland is the first film today, an Icelandic documentary directed by Þorfinnur Guðnason and Andri Snær Magnasson.
This film is very interesting and displays the battle between those who desires economical 'progress' at any cost - mostly politicians, business leaders and locals in need of job - and those interested in preserving the rich flora and fauna and cultural heritage that is an essential part of every nation and country, not least Icelands.
In this case the politicians want to invest in huge aluminium plants but at the same time destroying natural resources and even the crystal clear and drinkable water in their aim to push the Icelandic economy ahead.
The politicians - naively enough - believe in the promises of the companies coming to Iceland and this is a serious mistake - as always.
The documentary also shows how the company involved in these processess uses the economic crises following the collapse of the banking system, to get their will through.
I highly current film, well made and making the different parties express their opinion concerning this issue.
Noël est encore loin (Orpojen Joulu/Christmas in the Distance) by Anu Kuivalainen from Finland is a documentary about how she tries to find her father, a father she never met. This becomes not only the story about this uncertain journey but a story about her inner, emotional journey and the introspective reasoning around sharing this experience with other people in the movie theaters.
Pusher is the first in Nicolas Winding Refns trilogy and I'm not going to write much about it her as I already written about Pusher III. The only think I can repeat is that I/we like the aesthetics in his films and that it also depicts the tough reality among people living on the edge.
Upperdog is made by Sara Johnsen. This film can be described as a 'feel good'-film. The story circles around two young persons, a young man and a young woman who both are adopted, coming to Norway as children.
They are half-siblings but separated when arriving in Norway, raised by two different families, one not so wealthy and the other wealthy (a classical theme).
Through a female friend of the young woman, working with her in a restaurant bu also employed as a domestic worker in the richer family, the adopted woman becomes aware of the existence of her brother and subsequently he also becomes aware of his sister.
First it seems as if they both want to continue their lives without any contact but through the intensive 'mediation' by the female friend - who also falls in love with the brother - they slowly get to know each other, leading to some conflicts between the families.
Courrier pour le pasteur Jacob (or in finnish: Postia pappi Jaakobille/Letters to Father Jaacob) is the last screening today - and the best!
Klaus Härö directed a film called Den nya människan (The New Man) in 2007, a fim about the racial biological ideas in Sweden, emerging during the 1930's, leading up to decades of lobotomy and 'volontary sterilization' of people with mental dysfunctions.
This was a very important film and very well made and since then we both (Aurore and I) have had a wish to see more of Härö.
Now we got the opportunity.
This very quietly told film captured me (Gunnar) and I voted for it as 'best film' in the category 'the Audience Award' - and it actually won.
It tells the story about a female convict, sentenced to life imprisonment but newly pardoned, who is offered a work at an old secluded parsonage where an elderly and blind pastor - Jaacob - lives totally alone.
Her job consists of reading all the letters coming to him from people all over Finland, wanting him to pray for their different problems.
At first she doesn't want to stay at all, finding this old man ridiculous but after a while she gets more and more engaged in both him and his letters.
Their life together also evokes questions concerning the real importance of his pastoral care and with this another vital question: Are these letters for real or written by people who want to support him, not making him feel forgotten?
The mailman indicates something like this.
One day a letter arrives that affects both the woman and the pastor strongly, meaning a turning point in the life of the woman but also a turning point for pastor Jaacob.
Even if the film sometimes bordered on the sentimental edge, I think it was a very charming and interesting film about two superficially different people with more in common than you might have thought at the beginning.
This film is very interesting and displays the battle between those who desires economical 'progress' at any cost - mostly politicians, business leaders and locals in need of job - and those interested in preserving the rich flora and fauna and cultural heritage that is an essential part of every nation and country, not least Icelands.
In this case the politicians want to invest in huge aluminium plants but at the same time destroying natural resources and even the crystal clear and drinkable water in their aim to push the Icelandic economy ahead.
The politicians - naively enough - believe in the promises of the companies coming to Iceland and this is a serious mistake - as always.
The documentary also shows how the company involved in these processess uses the economic crises following the collapse of the banking system, to get their will through.
I highly current film, well made and making the different parties express their opinion concerning this issue.
Noël est encore loin (Orpojen Joulu/Christmas in the Distance) by Anu Kuivalainen from Finland is a documentary about how she tries to find her father, a father she never met. This becomes not only the story about this uncertain journey but a story about her inner, emotional journey and the introspective reasoning around sharing this experience with other people in the movie theaters.
Pusher is the first in Nicolas Winding Refns trilogy and I'm not going to write much about it her as I already written about Pusher III. The only think I can repeat is that I/we like the aesthetics in his films and that it also depicts the tough reality among people living on the edge.
Upperdog is made by Sara Johnsen. This film can be described as a 'feel good'-film. The story circles around two young persons, a young man and a young woman who both are adopted, coming to Norway as children.
They are half-siblings but separated when arriving in Norway, raised by two different families, one not so wealthy and the other wealthy (a classical theme).
Through a female friend of the young woman, working with her in a restaurant bu also employed as a domestic worker in the richer family, the adopted woman becomes aware of the existence of her brother and subsequently he also becomes aware of his sister.
First it seems as if they both want to continue their lives without any contact but through the intensive 'mediation' by the female friend - who also falls in love with the brother - they slowly get to know each other, leading to some conflicts between the families.
Courrier pour le pasteur Jacob (or in finnish: Postia pappi Jaakobille/Letters to Father Jaacob) is the last screening today - and the best!
Klaus Härö directed a film called Den nya människan (The New Man) in 2007, a fim about the racial biological ideas in Sweden, emerging during the 1930's, leading up to decades of lobotomy and 'volontary sterilization' of people with mental dysfunctions.
This was a very important film and very well made and since then we both (Aurore and I) have had a wish to see more of Härö.
Now we got the opportunity.
This very quietly told film captured me (Gunnar) and I voted for it as 'best film' in the category 'the Audience Award' - and it actually won.
It tells the story about a female convict, sentenced to life imprisonment but newly pardoned, who is offered a work at an old secluded parsonage where an elderly and blind pastor - Jaacob - lives totally alone.
Her job consists of reading all the letters coming to him from people all over Finland, wanting him to pray for their different problems.
At first she doesn't want to stay at all, finding this old man ridiculous but after a while she gets more and more engaged in both him and his letters.
Their life together also evokes questions concerning the real importance of his pastoral care and with this another vital question: Are these letters for real or written by people who want to support him, not making him feel forgotten?
The mailman indicates something like this.
One day a letter arrives that affects both the woman and the pastor strongly, meaning a turning point in the life of the woman but also a turning point for pastor Jaacob.
Even if the film sometimes bordered on the sentimental edge, I think it was a very charming and interesting film about two superficially different people with more in common than you might have thought at the beginning.
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