19/03/2007

Final preparations are underway for the 20th anniversary of the Rouen Nordic Film Festival, which opens on Wednesday in the Normandy city.

The event, which runs until April 1, will host nine features in official competition: Danish helmer Susanne Bier’s Oscar nominee After the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
interview: Susanne Bier
film profile] (see Focus), Joachim Trier’s Reprise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
interview: Karin Julsrud
film profile], Hans Petter Moland’s Comrade Pedersen, Norwegian director Jens Lien’s The Bothersome Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jens Lien
interview: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
film profile] (see article), A Man’s Work by Finnish director Aleksi Salmenperä, Swedish helmer Björn Runge’s Mouth to Mouth, David Lammers’Northern Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Lammers
interview: Jeroen Beker
film profile], Dutch director Simone van Dusseldorp’s Deep and, last but not least, What Makes You Happy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrizio Rongione
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse (see Focus).

According to Isabelle Duault, head of festival programming, "The presence of three Norwegian films in competition – a first for Rouen – is proof of the emergence of a new generation of directors and an auteur cinema that goes off the beaten track, a remarkable phenomenon for a country this size. However, Scandinavian films still face obstacles when it comes to distribution in France. Bought by small distributors, they often find themselves lost among the numerous releases each week. Moreover, access to these films gets complicated with some international sales agents, such as those in Germany, increasing prices to discouraging levels for French distributors who already face serious difficulties with theatrical releases."

The Rouen festival will also host New from the North, a panorama section of 10 films that includes Danish helmer Anders Morgenthaler’s Princess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (screened at the 2006 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, see article), Restless [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Norway’s Stefan Faldbakken (selected in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes last year), Still Young by fellow Norwegian Birgit Semb Christophersen, as well as Exit by Sweden’s Peter Lindmark (starring Mads Mikkelsen).

There will be a retrospective on films by Belgian producer-director, Marion Hänsel (Sounds of Sand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), who will also hold the traditional Cinema Lesson.

Other highlights in the jam-packed festival programme include a tribute to the late Swedish DoP Sven Nykvist (who worked with Ingmar Bergman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski), 10 Years of Dutch Cinema, the screening of a selection of full-length features and shorts produced in Germany’s Lower Saxony region, festival favourites in the 20 Years, 20 Films sidebar and documentaries on popular Northern European directors.

(Translated from French)