Director's picks: must see films at the 2023 Scandinavian Film Fest

Last Updated: 28 Jun 2023
Isabella Colton

The 2023 Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival returns to Perth to showcase the best contemporary cinema from the Nordic regions, with screenings at Palace Cinemas from July 20 to August 9. Expect a lineup of high-calibre and award-winning films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden that explore culture, history and life throughout the region - festival director Elyse Zeccola shares her must-see picks.

LET THE RIVER FLOW

ELLOS EATNU – LA ELVA LEVE

Based on 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.

WILD GAME

VILLIBRÁÐ

An all-star Icelandic cast including Aníta Briem (Quake SCA22, The Minister), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Trapped, Agnes JoySCA21), Hilmar Guðjónsson (also in Godland) and Hilmir Snær Guðnason (A White, White Day SCA19) comes together in this dramatic comedy of manners.

GODLAND

VOLAÐA LAND

Award winning writer/director Hlynur Pálmason’s much anticipated follow-up to his breakout hit A White, White Day is a stunning historical drama of a Danish priest who goes on a pilgrimage across a largely unexplored Iceland in the late 1800s.

BORDER

GRÄNS

Based on a short story by Let the Right One In author John Ajvide Lindqvist, Border explores themes of identity, otherness and societal norms. It delves into the complex nature of human relationships and challenges the conventional notions of beauty and normalcy, by weaving together elements of fantasy, drama and mystery.

DARKLAND: THE RETURN

UNDERVERDEN II
From critically acclaimed director Fenar Ahmad comes pulsating action thriller Darkland: The Return, the highly anticipated successor to the Danish box office smash hit Darkland SCA17, starring an excellent Dar Salim (The Covenant) as the truth-seeking antihero Zaid.

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