Charlotte Sieling's The Man to Göteborg

Göteborg Film Festival presents a rich program of films from around the world, with a particular focus on new films from the Nordic countries. This year 13 Danish titles are selected for the festival, kicking off on 27 January.

Selected for the Dragon Award Best Nordic Film is Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson's "Heartstone," already a prize winner at a number of festivals, as well as Charlotte Sieling's "The Man," which will be celebrating its Nordic debut at the festival.

See full list of films below and in factsheets right.

The Man in competition

An experienced director for both Danish and American television, Charlotte Sieling is making her second feature film after her debut "Above the Street below the Water" from 2009.

"The Man" tells the story of an artist, Simon, played by Søren Malling. Simon is the king of the Danish art scene. He is successful and rich, has a beautiful wife and a young mistress. Out of the blue his son Casper, played by Jakob Oftebro, shows up on his doorstep. Casper, a world-famous street artist who goes by the alias The Ghost, takes everyone in his father's posse by storm. This provokes and challenges Simon deeply, and the scene is set for a relentless father-son battle fought with brush and spray can.

Sieling has directed the Danish television series "Unit 1," "The Killing," "Better Times" and "The Bridge." Internationally, she has made a name for herself as director of American series like "White Collar," "The Americans," "Homeland" and "Queen of the South" (as concept director).

"The Man" will have its world premiere in Rotterdam just prior to Göteborg, as a live-streaming at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Here it has been selected as one of six European films to be transmitted live to more than 45 cinemas in 17 countries. See more at iffr.com.

"The Man" is released in Denmark on 2 March.

Three documentaries in competition

Seeing its world premiere in the competition for best Nordic documentary is Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors' "Death of a Child." The directors, who won an award at the Sundance Film Festival for their film about sex offenders, "Pervert Park," are once more confronting a taboo subject: to be responsible for your own child's death.

The other Danish documentaries in competition are Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon's critically acclaimed "The War Show" that takes us on a personal journey through the Syrian civil war, and Lea Glob and Mette Carla Albrechtsen's "Venus," a portrait of young female desire which premiered at IDFA in November.

Populism and Nordic highlights

The festival has selected a series of Danish documentaries, features and short films to take part in the series Nordic Light that shows handpicked highlights from the Nordic countries.

Here Lise Birk Pedersen's "Tutti a Casa – Power to the People?" is making its debut. The director was commended for her previous film about a young Russian activist in "Putin's Kiss" (2012) and is now looking towards democracy and populism in the shape of Italy's protest movement Movimento and its leader Beppe Grillo.

Lone Scherfig in the limelight and new TV script award

Every year the Göteborg Film Festival celebrates a Nordic filmmaker whom the jury believes has created a unique work. This time the Honorary Dragon Award goes to Lone Scherfig, and the festival will be showing several of her films, including her Dogme classic "Italian for Beginners" from 2000. Last year the award went to another prominent Danish director, Susanne Bier.

Finally, a miniseries version of Jesper W. Nielsen's feature film "The Day Will Come" is nominated for the festival's brand new award for best TV script, funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. If awarded, the prize will go to Søren Sveistrup, who wrote the script to the film as well as the series.

Göteborg Film Festival 27 January – 6 February 2017

Danish films at Göteborg Film Festival 2017

Dragon Award Best Nordic Film

• The Man / dir. Charlotte Sieling / prod. Lars Bredo Rahbek for Nimbus Film
• Heartstone / dir. Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson / prod. Jesper Morthorst, Lise Orheim Stender, Anton Máni Svansson for SF Film Production

Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary

• Death of a Child / dir. Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors / prod. Anne Köhncke for Final Cut for Real
• The War Show / dir. Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon / prod. Miriam Nørgaard, Alaa Hassan for Fridthjof Film
• Venus / dir. Lea Glob, Mette Carla Albrechtsen / prod. Kirstine Barfod for House of Real

Nordic Light

• Tutti a Casa – Power to the People? / dir. Lise Birk Pedersen / prod. Lise Lense-Møller for Magic Hour Films
• Who We Were / dir. Sine Skibsholt / prod. Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen
• Across the Waters / dir. Nicolo Donato / prod. Peter Bech for SF Film Production
• In the Blood / dir. Rasmus Heisterberg / prod. Caroline Schlüter Bingestam for Profile Pictures

Nordic Light – Short films

• The Rebublic of T.M. / dir. Masar Sohail
• Sisters / dir. Toni Kamula

Audience Favourites

• Wolf and Sheep / dir. Shahrbanoo Sadat / prod. Katja Adomeit for Adomeit Film

Nordisk Film & Tv Fond Prize

• The Day Will Come miniseries 3 x 45 m / dir. Jesper W. Nielsen, writer Søren Sveistrup / prod. Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Louise Vesth for Zentropa

Nordic Honorary Dragon Award

• Lone Scherfig – Italian for Beginners, The Riot Club, Their Finest

The Man

Charlotte Sieling, 2017

Simon is the king of the Danish art scene. He is successful and rich, has a beautiful wife and a young mistress. Out of the blue his son Casper, whom he never knew, shows up on his doorstep.

Heartstone

Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, 2017

A remote fishing village in Iceland. Teenage boys Thor and Kristján experience a turbulent summer as one tries to win the heart of a girl while the other discovers new feelings toward his best friend. When summer ends and the harsh nature of Iceland takes back its rights, it's time to leave the playground and face adulthood.

Death of a Child

Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors, 2017

How does one live with the unbearable? When the worst has happened and the one to blame is yourself? The documentary film is an exploration of the lives of parents who have caused their own children's deaths, encompassing many different situations in life where tragedy hits and someone is at fault. There is, however, something about what these parents have done that seems to trigger a specific social rage and condemnation. Because what kind of parent forgets a baby in a car?

The War Show

Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon, 2016

In March 2011, radio host Obaidah Zytoon and her circle of friends join the street protests against President Bashar al-Assad, as the Arab Spring reaches Syria. Knowing their country would be changed forever, this group of artists and activists begin filming their lives and the events around them. But as the regime’s violent response spirals the country into a bloody civil war, their hopes for a better future will be tested by violence, imprisonment and death.

Venus – Naked Female Confessions

Lea Glob, Mette Carla Albrechtsen, 2017

Two female directors are looking for women to take part in an erotic film – based on their own sexual experiences. 100 curious women reacts to the casting call and shows to an audition, but the casting takes an unexpected turn. Slowly the women begin to take over the interviews, with their own deeply personal stories.

Tutti a casa - Power to The People?

Lise Birk Pedersen, 2016

In many Western democracies, trust between the people and the politicians are at a low point while populist movements are on the rise. In Italy, the protest movement Movimento vows to send all politicians home and bring the people to power. They win a stunning 25% of the vote, but what happens when political ideals meet parliamentary reality? Can you be uncompromising and democratic at the same time? Are internet referendums direct democracy or faceless mob rule? The film follows this democratic experiment.

Who We Were

Sine Skibsholt, 2016

A life like so many others: Kristian and Mette Line have been together for 12 years. In the beginning it was all about falling in love, travelling the world and careers. Later, it grew from a life of just “you and me” into a family and now they have two children named Celeste and Cyron.

Across the Waters

Nicolo Donato, 2016

The year is 1943. Arne Itkin is a famous Jewish jazz musician living in Copenhagen with his wife Miriam and their son Jakob. Rumours are starting to spread that the Germans are planning to deport all Danish Jews, and as the raid on the Jewish community begins, the family barely manages to escape from their central Copenhagen apartment.

In the Blood

Rasmus Heisterberg, 2016

It’s summer in Copenhagen. A time of endless days and carefree nights. Simon goes to medical school with his best friend Knud and they share an apartment with Søren and Esben, the last two friends in the group.

Wolf and Sheep

Shahrbanoo Sadat, 2017

A fantasy-filled drama about a community in a little village in Afghanistan and its everyday life: what is allowed for the villagers to do and say and what is not. The film zooms in on the small details, traditions and values in the village, showing an Afghanistan never portrayed before.

The Day Will Come

Jesper W. Nielsen, 2016

Set in the blooming 1960s, the film centres around two young brothers who are instantly robbed of their lives when they are placed in a boy’s home forgotten by time. Armed only with a vivid imagination and a fickle hope the boys engage in the frightening battle against Headmaster Heck and his lethal tyranny.

Lone Scherfig

Director, born 2/5 1959, Denmark. Studied film at the University of Copenhagen 1976-80. Graduated in direction from the National Film School of Denmark, 1984.

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