Scandinavian Film Festival 2015

Overview

The latest slate of films from the chilly Nordic north is headed to a Palace Cinema near you. Returning for just its second year, the Scandinavian Film Festival will showcase 22 movies from Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Expect kitchen-sink dramas, edge-of-your-seat crime stories and a road movie about a struggling furniture salesman who hatches a plan to kidnap the founder of Ikea.

That last one is actually Norwegian, not Swedish, but should make for a fun watch on opening night. Other comedies in the lineup include oddball Icelandic film Rams, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes earlier this year; as well as the middle-aged rom-com Hello Hello, which proved an audience favourite at festivals in its native Sweden.

Those after something a little bit more serious can check out Danish police procedural The Absent One or drug-fuelled Finnish thriller They Have Escaped, among numerous others. The festival comes to a close with a documentary about Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish actress who went on to become one of Hollywood’s brightest stars.

Image: Young Sophie Bell.