Yes, it’s been awhile, but I finally got some time to sit down and write a post about an important event in Toronto – TIFF 2016 from September 8-18th! There usually is a great selection of Scandinavian films, as those Nordic folks are masters of melancholy movies.
Here’s your chance to see a Nordic film primarily about Scandinavian culture or by Scandinavian producers/directors. I’ve gathered them in one post for you, but feel free to visit TIFF’s website for more information.
Scandinavian Films 2016
Denmark / Sweden / Netherlands
The new film from Danish auteur Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt,The Celebration) focuses on a middle-aged professional couple in 1970s Denmark who decide to experiment with communal living by inviting a group of friends and random eccentrics to cohabit with them in a sprawling house.
Sweden / Denmark
A young man born with a deformity that impedes his ability to communicate finds freedom in his fantasies, in the touching feature debut from Swedish director Johannes Nyholm.
Iceland / Denmark
The years-long friendship between two pre-teen boys in a small Icelandic village is threatened when they strike up romantic relationships with a pair of local girls, in the affecting and beautifully crafted debut feature from Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson.
Denmark
A brilliant but entitled Danish medical student allows his possessive feelings for his best friend throw his decadent social circle into chaos, in this scathing critique of contemporary upper-class amorality from the screenwriter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and A Royal Affair.
Finland / Denmark
Frustrated by her mother’s erratic behaviour, a 12-year-old girl sets out on an impromptu quest to find her birth father, in this sharp and touching portrait of adolescence from Oscar-nominated Finnish filmmaker Selma Vilhunen.
Sweden / Denmark / Norway
Amanda Kernell’s powerful feature debut follows a teenage Sámi girl in the 1930s who is forcibly removed from her family and sent to a state boarding school that is intended to raise its Indigenous charges to a level “acceptable” to the rest of Swedish society.
Mexico / Denmark / France / Germany / Norway / Switzerland
Cannes prize-winning director Amat Escalante (Heli) combines family drama and social commentary with science fiction and horror in this hypnotic and utterly enthralling tale, about an unhappily married couple whose life is turned upside down when they encounter a mysterious creature that is both a source of pleasure and a force of destruction.
Denmark / Finland / Syria
A Syrian radio DJ documents the experiences of herself and her friends as their dreams of hope and liberation in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring give way to the grim realities of repression, forced emigration and extremism.
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
Finland / Germany / Sweden
Winner of a top prize at this year’s Cannes festival, the irresistibly charming debut feature from Juho Kuosmanen is a funny and forlorn comedy-drama inspired by the real-life showdown between Finnish boxer Olli Mäki and American champion Davey Moore in 1962 Helsinki.
Iceland
Icelandic auteur Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband, 2 Guns,Everest) directs and stars in this psychological thriller about a father who tries to pull his daughter out of her world of drugs and petty crime, only to find that danger can be found in unexpected places.
Norway
Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia) returns with this slow-burning psychological study about a young arsonist terrorizing a rural community.
Sweden
When we tune into a newscast, we expect a reassuring authority, but is what we see anything other than a performance? Shot behind the scenes during a live broadcast, Because the World Never Stops is a revelatory look at the hidden side of the evening news.
Sweden
In the wake of a breakup, Hans decides to take the plunge and become a sugar daddy after spotting “toyboy” Andrej on the nightclub dance floor. Money can’t buy love, but it can buy pleasure, and Hans is desperate to regain any kind of control he can.
Learn a Nordic language now!
Interested in learning a Scandinavian language? My language school, Nordic Languages Initiative is now teaching Danish Level I and Norwegian Level I! We are also teaching Swedish Levels I, II and III.
the swede life in toronto 
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