Nordic Festival, premiere in Bucharest

The first edition of the Nordic Festival, a multidisciplinary event that explores and celebrates the culture of the Nordic countries, through a program of award-winning films, debates with special guests, literary events, concerts and many other surprises, will take place in Bucharest, from February 13 to 16. Under the motto "Enchanting Aurora - A Nordic Cultural Expedition', the festival aims to connect the local environment to the lifestyle, artistic creations and recent innovations from the five participating countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - and to facilitate dialogue and exchange of experience between the Nordic countries and Romania, inform the organizers. During the four days of the event, the Bucharest audience will have the opportunity to meet and discuss with invited international artists and experts, who will address topics of public interest, such as education, green transition or artificial intelligence. The section dedicated to Nordic cinema will take place at Cinema Elvire Popesco. The selection is prepared by journalist and film critic Ionuţ Mareş: "The selection aims to bring the most important recent fiction films from the five organizing countries, made by both established and experienced filmmakers and new and promising talents. Films that have been included in the selection of the largest international festivals and that are seen, in their vast majority, for the first time in Bucharest. The section is completed with some new and relevant documentaries or restored heritage films, as well as films for children and young audiences". Eight of the most appreciated recent Nordic fiction feature films, awarded at major festivals, a documentary about Roy Andersson, Nicolas Winding Refn's cult film, "Pusher', newly restored, a special guest from Iceland and two screenings for children are part of the cinema section's program. The selection includes two titles from each of the five Nordic countries, and the vast majority of the films are premiering in Bucharest. The festival will be opened by Finland's Oscar nomination, "In the Family', directed by Tia Kouvo, a film that had its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival. The program also includes two screenings for children. First, very young audiences will be able to see a selection of six educational Norwegian short films from 2018-2019, both animations and live action films, recommended for children over five years old. Then, in the animated feature film "Monty and the Street Party', directed by Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler, a little boy plans the most epic street party of all time, in an attempt to reconcile his parents, who are in the midst of a divorce. The only documentary in the program is the Swedish production "The Andersson Brothers' ("The Andersson Brothers', 2024), by director Johanna Bernhardson. The film is a tender portrait of four brothers who have separated, one of whom is the world-renowned director Roy Andersson, and the other, the filmmaker's father. One of the Nordic Festival sections proposes a series of debates with special guests - prominent personalities from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, specialists who have substantially contributed to the development of innovative approaches in their countries, in areas such as education, sustainability, ecological transition, heritage protection or artificial intelligence. The debates will take place at POINT and the Odeon Theater, and the guests from the Nordic countries will be joined by Romanian experts on the same topics, who will open the topics to a local perspective, facilitating dialogue with the audience and the exchange of experience between the Nordic countries and Romania. Continuing the multidisciplinary approach, the debate topics will be contextualized at the Nordic Festival and within a theater performance, a concert or an exhibition.

Admission to the POINT events and the Green Hours concert is free, and the debates will take place in English. The initiative is organized by the Embassy of Denmark, the Embassy of Finland, the Consulate of Iceland, the Embassy of Norway and the Embassy of Sweden in Romania and will continue in March with two days of cultural events in Chisinau.