The University of Oregon Department of Landscape Architecture presents a new lecture series
THE NORDIC LANDSCAPE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
115 Lawrence Hall—Free and open to the public
All showings at 7:00 p.m.
All five Nordic countries—Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland—have remarkably active film
industries. Come sample a rich variety of contemporary films, all of them in the original language with subtitles in
English. Each film in the ten-week series is preceded by a brief lecture by instructor Whitey Lueck, and is followed
by discussion and Q&A. Films are screened under the Educational Fair Use provision of U.S. Copyright Law.
Maximum seating in 115 Lawrence is 120; seating is first-come, first-served.
Friday, 13 January
Rams (Hrútar) 2015
Directed by Grímur Hákonarson
In a secluded valley in Iceland, brothers Gummi and Kiddi live on
adjacent farms, tending to their sheep—although they’ve not
spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease infects
Kiddi's sheep, the economy of the entire valley is threatened and
the authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain
the outbreak. Each brother tries to stave off this disaster to their
livelihoods in his own fashion, and save the award-winning sheep
breed, unique to that valley, from extinction. (Iceland, 93 minutes)
Friday, 20 January
Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue (Se til venster, der er en
svensker) 2003
Directed by Natasha Arthy
Katrine, who’s Danish, is getting married. She’s got a great
boyfriend, a nice apartment, and gets along well with her
new in-laws. Then Thomsen—a Swede who used to be
Katrine’s sister Mette’s boyfriend—arrives on her doorstep
the day before the wedding, after being in Africa for two
years. The next 24 hours leading up to Katrine’s wedding
become one very wild ride, in part because Katrine has great
difficulty telling people important news that might upset
them. (Denmark, 90 minutes)
Friday, 27 January
Friday, 3 February
So Different (Så olika) 2009
Directed by Helena Bergström
Elvira Madigan 1967
Directed by Bo Widerberg
This film is a comedy about love that revolves around two sisters.
Lotta is a recently divorced mother of two girls who’s just become
a finance commissioner. Sanna is a successful TV producer who’s
in charge of overseeing a live musical program to be filmed among
the animals at Stockholm’s Skansen zoo. It's about falling madly
in love with your worst enemy; about people getting together
despite being complete opposites; and about how, in the end, love
conquers all. (Sweden, 108 minutes)
Based on the true story of a handsome young Swedish army
officer who in 1889 falls in love with a beautiful Danish
circus performer. He gives up everything—his family, his
career, and his social standing—to flee to Denmark and
embark on a passionate, summer-long affair. Then, as the
money runs out, the atmosphere changes. The film’s
sumptuous photography is accompanied throughout by
Mozart’s lovely Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major.
(Sweden, 91 minutes)
Friday, 10 February
Friday, 17 February
The Wave (Bølgen) 2015
Directed by Roar Utlaug
Ariel 1988
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Geologist Kristian Eklund lives in tiny Geiranger—at the head of
the spectacular Geirangerfjord—where he’s part of a team that
monitors a nearby mountain that someday will slide into the fjord
and wreak havoc. But Kristian has found a new job in the big
west-coast city of Stavanger. On the eve of his family’s departure
for Stavanger, he makes a remarkable discovery that will change
him and the village of Geiranger forever. (Norway, 105 minutes)
After Finnish coal miner Taisto Kasurinen’s father commits
suicide, he drives to the bank in his father’s convertible—
even though it’s winter—and cashes out his savings account
before heading south to Helsinki and a hopefully happier life.
When he meets and falls in love with Irmeli, he seems to be
on his way to realizing his dreams. But for Taisto, things
seldom go as planned. (Finland, 73 minutes)
Friday, 24 February
Friday, 3 March
Buddy 2003
Directed by Morten Tyldum
Children of Nature (Börn náttúrunnar) 1991
Directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
Kristoffer is a 24-year-old billboard hanger in Oslo. For fun, he
makes little videos of his roommates—Geir and Stig Inge—doing
silly things. When some of his videos end up in the hands of a TV
talk-show host who finds the young man’s work amusing and
worth sharing with his audience, he fast becomes a local celebrity.
Along the way to (and then from) stardom, he and his buddies
encounter their share of bumps on the highway of life. (Norway,
100 minutes)
Old Thorgeir has to leave his home in rural Iceland and move
into an assisted-living residence in Reykjavik. There, he
meets Stella, an old friend from his childhood. Thorgeir soon
grows unhappy living there and, together with Stella,
embarks on a trip to return to Stella’s old home in
northwestern Iceland. This drama—filmed in some of
Iceland’s most spectacular landscapes—asks us how
important a long life is, if you have to leave everything
behind that has meaning to you. (Iceland, 82 minutes)
Friday, 10 March
A Second Chance (En chance til) 2014
Directed by Susanne Bier
Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead very
different lives. Andreas has settled down with his beautiful
wife and son, while Simon, recently divorced, spends most
of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But
all of this changes when the two of them are called out to a
domestic dispute that initially looks routine—until Andreas
finds the quarreling couple’s filthy infant son crying in the
couple’s closet. That sets in motion a series of events during
which Andreas slowly loses his grip on the difference
between right and wrong. (Denmark, 102 minutes)
Friday, 17 March
Under the Sun (Under Solen) 1998
Directed by Colin Nutley
It’s 1956. Forty-year-old, never-married Olof lives alone on his
family’s farm after the death of his mother. Unable to read or
write, he is dependent on his young friend, Erik, who helps him
with the business aspects of the farm. Olof decides one day to
advertise in a local paper for a housekeeper, and Ellen, a middleclass city woman, arrives to take over the house and—as the
summer progresses—Olof’s heart and Erik’s desire, as well.
(Sweden, 130 minutes)