The full 2023 Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival program, presented by Palace, has been launched with a vibrant selection set to ease the winter chill. The specially curated program of the best new cinema from the Nordic region features films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and will be screening nationally at Palace Cinemas, July–August.
Opening the festival is the Australian premiere of Let The River Flow (Ellos eatnu – La elva leve) a story of true events that inspired a generation of young Norwegians. Writer/director Ole Giæver’s elegant, multi award-winning drama follows a young woman who is unintentionally drawn into a protest against a dam that may flood Indigenous Sámi land.
Festival centrepiece Godland (Volaða land) is award-winning Icelandic writer/director Hlynur Pálmason’s follow-up to his breakout hit A White, White Day and has been met with widespread critical acclaim. The stunning historical drama follows a Danish priest who embarks on a pilgrimage across a largely unexplored Iceland in the late 1800s.
The highly anticipated sequel to box office smash Darkland, Darkland: The Return is a slick dramatic thriller with a supernatural twist, and from Sweden comes Shadow Island, a pulse-pounding thriller featuring a cast of exciting new talent.
Crowned best Nordic film at the 2023 Göteborg Film Festival, Unruly is an unsettling 1930s-set drama inspired by real-life events from the notorious women’s institution on the Danish Island of Sprogø that taught ‘compliance’ to ‘morally deficient’ girls.
The 2023 Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival will screen at Palace Byron Bay, 20 July– 9 August.
Tickets from www.scandinavianfilmfestival.com
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