14/01/2013 - 20 Scandinavian films were showcased at the 2013 Palm Springs Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which came to a close this weekend in the desert town two hours east of Los Angeles, showcased a staggering 20 recent Scandinavian titles under the banner Nordic Light.

The festival, now in its 24th edition, presented some 40 Foreign Language Oscar submissions in total, including the Scandinavian titles Purge [+see also:
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film profile] (representing Finland); The Hypnotist [+see also:
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making of
film profile] (Sweden); the shortlisted The Deep [+see also:
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film profile] (photo - Iceland) and the Oscar-nominated titles A Royal Affair [+see also:
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interview: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
interview: Nikolaj Arcel
film profile] (Denmark) and Kon-Tiki [+see also:
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film profile] (Norway). The nominations were announced during the festival.

The directors of Kon-Tiki, Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, were also honoured at the 10 Directors to Watch brunch organised by Hollywood industry paper Variety, along with Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm, whose film A Hijacking [+see also:
film review
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interview: Tobias Lindholm
film profile] also played at Palm Springs.

Further Scandinavian treats included the road movie Road North [+see also:
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film profile] from Finland; the comedy-dramas King Curling and Either Way [+see also:
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interview: Hafstein Gunnar Sigurdsson
interview: Hilmar Gudjônsson - Shootin…
film profile], from Norway and Iceland respectively, and the dramatic as well as funny Norwegian Jackpot [+see also:
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interview: Magnus Martens
film profile] and Swedish Eat Sleep Die [+see also:
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interview: China Ahlander
interview: Gabriela Pichler
interview: Nermina Lukac
film profile].

Scandinavian masters whose films played at Palm Springs include two-time Danish Palm d'Or winner Bille August, with his film Marie Krøyer [+see also:
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film profile] and The Last Sentence [+see also:
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film profile] from Swedish giant Jan Troell.  

A rare film from Greenland was also part of the programme: the coming-of-age drama Inuk from director Mike Magidson was presented at the festival, which the director also attended.

The documentary Liv & Ingmar, about Scandinavian cinema's most famous couple, also screened in Palm Springs.

Two Scandinavian films were part of the festival's New Voices/New Visions competition: Danish entry This Life - Some Must Die, So Others Can Live [+see also:
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interview: Anne Grethe Bjarup Riis
film profile] from director Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis and Norwegian contender I Belong from filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud.