Scandinavian Films Announced at TIFF

The Toronto International Film Festival 2013 is world-renowned and coming soon (September 5-15th), and I’m excited to announce the line-up of Scandinavian movies that will be showing. Now that the kiddos are going to be in school, get ready to cozy up to fresh popped popcorn and some interesting Nordic films. Below is a brief synopsis of Nordic films that have been announced:

Antboy (Danish)
A shy twelve-year-old becomes a superhero after being bitten by a very special ant, in this delightful comedy-adventure based on the popular children’s books by Kenneth Bøgh Andersen.

Concrete Night (Finnish)
A fourteen-year-old boy in a stifling Helsinki slum takes some unwise life lessons from his soon-to-be-incarcerated older brother, in Finnish master Pirjo Honkasalo’s gorgeously stylized and emotionally devastating work about what we pass on to younger generations, and the ways we do it.

Heart of a Lion (Finnish/Swedish)
The leader of a gang of racist skinheads finds his prejudices and misplaced loyalties pitted against his desire for love and family when he falls for a waitress whose son is of African descent.

Hotell (Swedish)
Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair) stars in this comedy-drama as a recovering control freak who finds support and a new lease on life when she enters group therapy.

I Am Yours (Norwegian/Swedish/Urdu)
A twentysomething single mother in Norway’s expatriate Pakistani community struggles with her dysfunctional relationship with her perpetually disapproving mother, in this startlingly assured feature debut by Norwegian actor, singer and filmmaker Iram Haq.

The Immoral (Norwegian)
Lars Daniel Krutzkoff Jacobsen’s corrosive look at contemporary Norwegian society is also a hilarious and provocative comedy that cuts across class lines and rampages through notions of good taste, as it follows an ex-soldier and a single mother who go into the prostitution business after getting kicked off welfare.

Metalhead (Icelandic)
Acclaimed Icelandic filmmaker Ragnar Bragason (Children, Parents) directs this darkly comic drama about a grief-stricken young woman who adopts the persona — and decibel-blasting predilections — of her deceased brother.

Pioneer (Norwegian)
Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia) directs this gritty drama about the risky experiments and shady dealings that led to the birth of the Norwegian oil-drilling industry in the early 1980s.

We Are the Best (Swedish)
Provocative Swedish auteur Lukas Moodysson (Show Me Love, Together) returns with this raucous and ebullient tale of three preteen outcasts who form an all-girl punk band.