Aurora to open the Göteborg Film Festival
Aurora, the Northern drama comedy directed and written by Miia Tervo, is the opening film of the Göteborg Film Festival taking place Jan 25 – Feb 4 in Sweden. It will also compete for the Dragon Award for the Best Nordic Film, worth one million Swedish crowns (approximately 100,000 euros).
The film tells about young Aurora (Mimosa Willamo), living in the suburbs of the Northern city of Rovaniemi, who unexpectedly finds herself helping Darius (Amir Escandari), a single dad and an asylum seeker. Aurora is produced by Max Malka for Dionysos Films.
Gods of Molenbeek, by Reetta Huhtanen, will be in the Nordic Documentary Competition which will award the winner with 250,000 Swedish crowns (approximately 25,000 euros). Set in the suburb of Molenbeek in Brussels, the film is about children playing and looking at the world together, despite their different backgrounds. Molenbeek has been labeled the capital of jihadism in the media, but for the kids it is their home.
Gods of Molenbeek has also been selected as the opening film of the DocPoint Documentary Film Festival taking place in Helsinki starting January 28. It is produced by Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen for Zone2 Pictures.
The festival will also have a focus on Nordic comedy, with three Finnish films selected to the line-up: Happier Times, Grump by Tiina Lymi, Iron Sky: The Coming Race by Timo Vuorensola, and Heavy Trip by Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren.
Klaus Härö’s drama One Last Deal will be shown in the Nordic Light section, and Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre, a horror comedy written and directed by Ilja Rautsi, will screen in the festival’s shorts section. Since its premiere last summer, the film has been shown in over 60 international festivals.
Nordisk Film & TV Fond will give out an award during the festival’s TV Drama Vision event. The award will highlight TV drama writing. The Finnish nominees are Merja Aakko and Mika Ronkainen for All the Sins. The Finnish actor Laura Birn serves in the jury.
https://goteborgfilmfestival.se/en/