Australia's Scandinavian Film Festival Announces Full 2017 Program

Film festival season is well and truly upon us, with the Scandinavian Film Festival the latest to unveil their 2017 lineup. Taking place across July and August, the Nordic-focused movie showcase will bring 20 new features to Palace Cinema screens around the country.

Heading to the festival after its Australian premiere in Sydney Film Festival's official competition, The Other Side of Hope will kick off the Scandi cinema fun with a big-hearted look at one refugee's attempt to start a new life in Finland. Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (winner of the Silver Bear for best director at this year's Berlinale), it's an amusing yet insightful look at an important topic — as well as an enjoyable way to get the Scandinavian Film Festival underway for its fourth outing.

With the 2017 selection also boasting titles from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, other highlights include World War II drama The King's Choice, which was shortlisted for this year's best foreign-language film category at the Academy Awards; biopic Tom of Finland, about one of the country's unorthodox international heroes; and closing night's A Hustler's Diary, which follows a petty criminal in the suburbs of Stockholm. Bittersweet romance One-Two-Three-Go!, Copenhagen-set arts scene satire The Man, stunningly shot coming-of-age effort Heartstone, and a theatrical version of popular Danish TV show 1864 also feature, as does Sami Blood, which explores the cultural oppression of Sweden's Sami people.

Of course, because Nordic noir is everyone's insatiable genre pick since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo became such a literary and film hit, the festival will also delve into darker territory. Audiences can get their brooding mystery fix with crime action-thriller Darkland, which has been compared to the films of Nicolas Winding Refn; black comedy Small Town Killers; and A Conspiracy of Faith, the third feature in the Department Q book-to-screen adaptations following The Keeper of Lost Causes and The Absent One.

The Scandinavian Film Festival tours the country between July 11 and August 6, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street and Palace Verona from July 11 to August 2, Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay and Palace Westgarth from July 13 to August 2, and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from July 20 to August 6. For the full program, visit the festival website.