TIFF 2018 Nordic Film Selection

TIFF season (Sept. 6-16, 2018) is here and the 2018 Nordic film selection is proving to be a varied list of subjects ranging from a Mars expedition and exploration of humanity to a struggling Danish farmer in the 19th century to the trials and tribulations of modern Swedish family life. I don’t need to explain that movies are a true insight into society and culture. This year, it won’t disappoint, as the films take an intense look into Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic worlds . Enjoy my compilation of movie descriptions and links to the TIFF pages where you can purchase tickets (starting September 1, 2018).

If you truly want to delve into the culture, why not learn the language at my school Nordic Languages Initiative? We are starting Nordic language classes the week of TIFF (September 10, 2018) for Fall 2018.

TIFF tickets go on sale starting September 1st, so make sure you buy early. There’s buzz around Ariana, which is making a world premier here in Toronto. You can probably catch some Swedish stars on the red carpet.

Happy stargazing!

Ariana (Swedish)

A ship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe, in Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja’s eerie and caustic sci-fi adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.

Before the Frost (Danish)

Michael Noer’s fifth feature tells the heart-wrenching story of a struggling farmer in 19th-century Denmark who must go against his morals and make a deal with a wealthy neighbour in order to secure his family’s survival over a harsh winter.

Blind Spot (Swedish)

Swedish actor Tuva Novotny’s (Borg vs McEnroe) feature directorial debut is an uncompromising confrontation with family tragedy and heartbreak, about a mother’s struggle to understand her teenage daughter’s crisis.

Border (Swedish, Danish)

Ali Abbasi’s Border follows the story of a border agent who uses her ability to sense or smell human emotions to catch smugglers — but when one man confounds her detection, she’s forced to confront a new reality.

Fuck You (Film Short, Swedish)

On a night out with friends, Alice steals a strap-on and defiantly challenges her boyfriend’s comfort with boundaries. Fuck You is a bold, astute, and unapologetic approach to teenage sex and expected power dynamics.

Heartbound (Documentary, Danish, Swedish)

This dual effort from Janus Metz (Borg vs McEnroe) and Sine Plambech (Trafficking) chronicles the lives of several women who leave their home countries in order to find husbands and provide for their families.

Interior (Film Short, Norwegian)

Gripping and provocative, Reed Van Dyk’s superb follow-up to his recent Oscar nominee DeKalb Elementary delineates the increasingly fraught dynamic between a lonely boy and his mother within the home that may feel more like a prison to them both.

Let Me Fall (Icelandic, Finnish)

Drawing on true stories and interviews with the families of addicts, this harrowing portrait of addiction follows Stella and Magnea through the decades as precarious teenage years morph into perilous adulthoods.

One Last Deal (Finnish)

An aging art dealer — left behind by the corporatization of his industry and estranged from his family — hopes an undervalued icon will turn his fortunes around, in the latest from veteran Finnish director Klaus Härö.

Persona (Swedish)

Ingmar Bergman’s enigmatic and frightening masterpiece of psychological horror explores the relationship between an actress (Liv Ullmann) who has lost the power of speech, and her young, cheerful nurse (Bibi Andersson) whose own anguish is unleashed by the woman in her care.

Phoenix (Norwegian, Swedish)