19/11/2008

The Scanorama-Nordic Film Forum, the biggest film event in Lithuania, which is spread over two weeks and three cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda) until November 30, is introducing some 125 films from the Nordic and Baltic countries to local film fans and professionals.

The main programme, Scanorama News, has 20 recent Nordic films on show, such as Terribly Happy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Denmark), The Home of the Dark Butterflies [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Finland), The Man Who Loved Yngve [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Norway) and Astropia (Iceland).

The Crossing Europe section features some of Europe’s most talented emerging talents, including Germany’s Florian Gaag (Wholetrain [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Greece’s Thanos Anostopoulos (Correction), who also take part in the Young Film Generation co-production forum. Other international experts on hand to share their knowledge with Lithuanian filmmakers include Soon-Mi Peten and Kerstin Olander.

Festival director Gražina Arlickaitė says that one of Scanorama’s key objectives is “to place the achievements of Baltic filmmakers in an international context”. With this goal in mind, Arlickaitė has put together the new programme New Baltic Cinema, combining the latest productions from the region, such as the award-winning Monotony (Latvia), Estonian Oscar entry I Was Here [+see also:
film review
film profile] and The Bug Trainer (Lithuania).

Swedish star Lena Endre and the Icelandic filmmaker of Quiet Storm, Guðný Halldórsdóttir, are among the Nordic delegation attending the event, with Bjarke Ytre-Arne and Jan Erik Holst from the Norwegian Film Institute.

Scanorama is part of Vilnius-European Capital of Culture, which officially kicks off on New Year’s Eve.