Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2014 (NFDL2014)

After having seen in San Sebastian a few movies from Latvia (filter with LV) and liking some movies from Scandinavia (filter for Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) and Baltic countries (filter for Lituania, and Latvia), I [raf] was curious to see some more. Now I would like to share my impressions about this Festival. 

Still possible to have diner outside in Lübeck, JoRafCinema and Co 

 

Between Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon JoRafCinema have seen 11 movies in total. Plus one session of short cuts. As we like statistics about the movies we have seen, here are some. 

The map of Northern Europe below presents one ball per country represented in the NFDL2014 which size and colour are varying. The size of the ball depends on the ratio number of movies watched per country over movies proposed by NFDL2014 per country (the larger the size, the larger is the ratio). The colour of the ball represents the average rating per country (blue for low and red for good ratings). In the label, the average rating, the number of movies seen per country and the ratio number of movies watched per country over movies proposed by NFDL2014 per country are numerically given. 
The conclusion could be that I liked more the movies from Lituania, Finland and Denmark than the other countries. This shows also that I did not watch many of the movies presented. Indeed, there were 172 movies including the shorts. This was definitely too much for a festival aiming to let discover Nordic films in Europe.  

 

Rating by country on the map, NFDL2014

I tried to discover some countries anddid my personal selectionwilling to watch at least one Children movie, one documentary and one movie from a retrospective. But there are too many movies to discover, too many that will be impossible to watch in the movies later on. Or I may have to change my strategy to make the JoRafCinema selection. Lessons learnt for next year! 

The most striking movies that we recommend to everybody independently from your taste: 
Blind, from Sweden, for the mysterious story,
Ekskursante, from Lituania, on the deportation within UdSSR after the 2nd world war in Lituania, for its cathartic value, its amazing story and its acting, 
Itsi Bitsi, from Denmark, for its emotional content. 
 
I enjoyed discovering actors Vera Vitali in Blind, Jessica Chastain in Miss Julie and Joachim Fjelstrup in Itsi Bitsi as well as directors like the Lituanian Audrius Juzenas of Ekskursante and the Finnish creative J-P Valkeapää of He ovat paenneet.

The official prices have gone to: 
Life a fishbowl, from Iceland, got the NDR Filmpreis, 
Hallåhallå, from Sweden, got the Audience prize

As presented in the top picture, Lübeck is a very nice city and from the main movie theaters everything can be done by foot. Several restaurants are close. The foyer of the main movie theater (CineStar) is relatively large but too small for a quiet stay. I believe I will come back next year!