Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2003)
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It is winter in the mid-1970s in Tornio, a village near the northern border between Finland and Sweden. Esko is a boy with a lot of problems. He has succeeded in getting on the wrong side of his gang.
The young Norwegian girl Kim almost gets killed after falling from a hillside. She finds shelter and stumbles upon the territory of a wolf and her puppy. She barricades herself, but as time passes she finds the wolf less and less frightening. When she finds out three shepherds are out to kill the wolf, she decides to get across the border to Sweden, where they don't hunt for wolves.
A young reindeer who suffers from vertigo learns to overcome his fear, takes flying lessons from a clumsy flying squirrel and heads to the North pole to save a troubled Santa and his fleet of flying reindeer.
Peter-No-Tail is a cat who's born without a proper tail on a farm by the Swedish countryside. Due to economical difficulties, the farmer is forced to get rid of Peter. The farmer can't bring himself to drown the cat, so he sneaks Peter inside the car of a family who are renting a house close to the farm for their summer vacation. When the family finally reach their home in Uppsala, Sweden, they find Peter and decide to keep him. Without a tail, he becomes the talk of the town among the other cats and, especially Mike, who teases him cruelly. Mean Mike and his two companions, Bill and Bull, are notorious for the nasty tricks they like to play on other cats. Mike is currently trying to court Molly Silk-Nose, but his rough and silly approach does not impress her, since she becomes interested in the kind and gentle Peter. But Mike won't give up that easily and he has a plan for how he'll get his revenge.
Eskil moves from town to town with his father in Northern Sweden. He misses his mother and sucks at playing hockey, the main activity among the boys his age. Things changes when he meets Trinidad, a mysterious woman who lives outside society spending her time building a great ship that perhaps could take Eskil to his mother...
The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.
943: Nine-year-old Eero whose father is killed during the war is brought to Sweden to foster parents to his protection like thousands of other Finnish children. Eero feels lost, particularly as his foster mother Signe behaves very unfriendly. She was expecting a little girl and still mourns for her daughter who drowned in the sea.
A poignant story, told with sincerity and humor, about a young woman´s dramatic childhood and about her grief and the struggle to move on. Noomi Rapace plays the main character in her first feature after the success with the Millennium trilogy and she plays opposite her husband, actor Ola Rapace.Award winning actress Pernilla August makes her directorial debut with her take on the bestselling novel Svinalängorna by Susanna Alakoski.In other main roles we see rising star Tehilla Blad and the Finnish acclaimed actors, Ville Virtanen and Outi Mäenpää.A morning just before Christmas, Leena, 34, receives a phone call from a hospital in her childhood hometown telling her that her mother is dying. This news takes her on a journey to face her mother for the first time in her adult life. Leena has fought all her life to let go of her grief over her lost and dark childhood. She is now forced to deal with her past to be able to move on.
Lilya (Oksana Akinshina) lives in poverty and dreams of a better life. Her mother moves to the United States and abandons her to her aunt (Liliya Shinkaryova), who neglects her. Lilya hangs out with her friends, Natasha (Elina Benenson) and Volodya (Artiom Bogucharski), who is suicidal. Desperate for money, she starts working as a prostitute, and later meets Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov). He offers her a good job in Sweden, but when Lilya arrives her life quickly enters a downward spiral.
Vampires terrorize a city in Norrbotten, Sweden.
September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.
Queen Christina of Sweden is a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.
Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practices of establishment Swedish figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and those in high office who abuse underage girls, Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation.
Modern finnish movie about two very different young adults that after a chance meeting end up making music together and fall in love.
While Nellis parents have the perfect career and man planned, she dreams of becoming a singer. Through a chance meeting at the studio, she meets the young and grungy Hip Hop music artist Sunen and asks him to help her make a demo tape. Not only is the ensuing story about differences growing closer and the difficulties that have to be overcome, well told. Also the music is exceptionally well made. It is quite unbelievable that this is the first feature of the director.
A young Eastern European immigrant working in Sweden is faced with a painful choice when she's laid off from her factory in the name of "efficiencies." This film by Gabriela Pichler is possibly the most exciting and emotionally acute first feature to emerge from Sweden in well over a decade.
'The Midwife' (fin.'Kätilö') is a romance-drama set during WWII in Finlandâs Lapland province, a major European battle ground of the war. Based on Katja Kettuâs bestselling novel, 'The Midwife' turns on the love affair between a Lapp midwife and a Nazi SS officer set against the backdrop of the Lapland War, which opposed Finnish and Germany armies in 1944-45. The themes in the story are international. Itâs about conquering love and war, and class boundaries that are broken down.
The end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find employment at a large farm, but are treated as the lowest form of life. Pelle starts to speak Danish but is still harassed as a foreigner. But none of them wants to give up their dream of finding a better life than the life they left in Sweden.
It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns - the war has begun. The Finnish troops attack and quickly move across the border. The young, nervous rookies of the company get their baptism of fire, and the men become familiar with death and the hardships of war. Under strength and badly equipped they fight a superior enemy. The lists of heroes and of the dead seem endless. Edvin Laine's epic interpretation of Väinö Linna's war novel "Tuntematon Sotilas" is an entire chapter in the book of Finnish movie history.
Second silver screen adaption of the Finnish war book by Väinö Linna. The story is based on Linna's experiences as an infantry man in the Finnish army during the so called "Continuation War" (1941-1944).
The Kurdish boys Azad and Tigris are brothers. Due to an airstrike Tigris cannot speak anymore. They are sent to an uncle in Germany, the parents plan to come soon afterwards. The boys travel through Sweden and are accompanied by another family until Sweden. They get stuck there and have to live with the family in Sweden.Azad is good at high jumping and gets the opportunity to travel to Germany for a competition. However, he has no passport. Therefore he borrows the passport of a Swedish friend, and changes his appearance to look like the picture: he puts in blue lenses and dyes his hair blonde. Tigris is smuggled into Germany in a suitcase. When he is about to be discovered by the border guard, the latter is distracted with conversation, and they can move on.In Germany Azad wins the competition and is reunited with his parents.
The story bases on four Finnish brothers, nicknamed 'the Eura Daltons' who received nation-wide notoriety for tearing gas pumps apart when they needed cash. The cast is an impressive one: the brothers are portrayed by Peter Franzen, Lauri Nurkse, Niko Saarela and Jasper Pääkkönen while their really evil father is played by Vesa-Matti Loiri, one of the grand old men of Finnish cinema.
A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.
Populärmusik från Vittula is the filmed version of a best-selling book by the same name from author Mikael Niemi. Full of the comic life, slapstick humor, a friendship between to boys, and a look at life on the northern boarder of Sweden.
December 1942. Two young soldiers leave their posts at checkpoint 83 in North Värmland, Sweden and make their way through the ice cold winter night towards the Nazi-occupied Norwegian border. Sweden stands on the brink of invasion and they want to see the enemy everybody's talking about. But the adventure ends in disaster and soon thereafter Lieutenant Aron Stenström finds out that his brother Sven is one of the missing soldiers. With the odds stacked against him he is forced to go behind enemy lines on a secret rescue mission. Deep inside the Norwegian forests Aron realizes that a completely different kind of line must be crossed if they're to come out alive.
Where are we welcome? On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? The number of customers gradually increases, but the diner seems to attract only those with problems. Conversation with Sachie and the tasty food seem to resolve people's woes. We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?
The movie takes place during World War II and depicts the true story of Jan Baalsruds amazing escape from the German army from the coast of Northern Norway and across the border to the neutral country Sweden.
âCornelisâ is the unique chronicle about one of Swedenâs greatest music legends - Cornelis Vreeswijk. An honest and gripping account of an exceptionally talented, but self-destructive artistâs intense life both on and behind the stage. A man who during his whole life was searching for love and confirmation.
Arn has served his term in the Holy land and returns home to be reunited with his beloved Cecilia. When he returns home, he discovers that political forces tries to separate him and Cecilia - but thanks to queen Blanka they can finally get married. Arn knows that war is looming and with his martial knowledge he starts to build an army at his new home at Forsvik.
Kicki has after several years abroad returned to Sweden. Her 17-year old son has been brought up by his grandmother and has a very distant relationship to his mother. In an effort to get reacquainted Kicki invites her son to join her on vacation in Taiwan. But her hidden agenda is that Taipei is also the home of the Taiwanese businessman with whom she has been conducting an Internet romance.
Unscrupulous Paul Kroll, starting as a Chicago janitor, uses graft to finance a trip to Sweden where by trickery he gains control of his uncle's small match factory...
A Finnish-language ensemble crime drama, it intersects events from the lives of characters swept up in this maelstrom, whose outcomes differ radically: some succeed in going straight, and others find themselves sucked back into crime, while still others die violent deaths.
The story of a lone father's relationship with his daughter, of the destructive power of alcohol, of a child's vulnerability, but also of love, betrayal and socialist politics in 1970s Sweden. A unique and moving story freely based on Ã
sa Linderborg's best-selling novel.
Maid in Sweden tells the story of Inga, a 16-year-old Swedish girl who leaves her rural home to spend a weekend in the Swedish capital. An innocent with no experience, but with prodigious physical attributes, she has a series of romantic adventures as she throws off the frustrations of her small-town environment.
Naked Harbour is a movie about Finnish love in the year 2011. It is a story about people who seek love and acceptance at any cost. During one winter week all its characters face something irreversible.
A working-class boy struggles to find himself through a series of jobs and romances.
1924. A Commissar from Soviet Russia is trying to kill Finnish general.
Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) abdicates and travels to Rome to embrace the Catholic church.
The 1975 film by Georgi Daneliya "Afonya" was an unexpected commercial hit in USSR. The main character "Afonya" Borshev is a plumber, who spends his life partying with "buddies", many of whom he doesn't even remember after nights of heavy drinking. His wife leaves him, his boss places him on probation, his whole life is falling apart, but he doesn't realize it. Afonya met Katya at a dance club, yet didn't pay her much attention. But she is the one, who can save him... In this movie Daneliya achieves a perfect balance of satire and drama. Quotes from the movie gained a cult status in USSR.
In the year of our Lord 1678, Sweden is plagued by countless wars and a dysfunctional royal rule. One night, the young and devout Nils losing everything he holds dear and tragedy drives him on a quest for vengeance. It will be a raid, which makes him snap cock and participate in one of Scandinavia's bloodiest wars ever free!
A soldier learns how war breeds injustice in ways he didn't imagine in this drama from director Aku Louhimies. It's 1918, and Finland is caught up in a civil war as the "Reds," supporters of a Social Democratic faction led by the People's Deputation of Finland, battle for control of the nation against the more conservative allies of the Senate, known as the "Whites." Aaro (Samuli Vauramo) is a soldier fighting with the Whites who has captured an angry woman (Pihla Viitala) who was helping a Reds faction. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Two Japanese men help a Vietnam war deserter escape from Japan for Sweden. They plan to fund the escape by selling LSD pills. After word of the drug deal gets spread around they find themselves fending off rival gangs.
Imaginaerum tells the story of an elderly composer, Tom, who suffers from severe dementia. As he has had the disease for years and has regressed into childhood, he remembers practically nothing from his adult life. His music, friends, all his past including the memory of his daughter are a blur in his fragile mind. All he has left is the imagination of a ten year old boy. As he drifts away into coma, it seems impossible to get back what he has lost. Or is it?
The twin sisters Helena and Irene are born in Helsinki during World War II. A few months later their mother, Sirkka, leaves the girls in the care of their grandmother, an old communist, and runs away with a German soldier. Their life under the protection of their grandmother and the teachings of communism ends first with the death of Stalin, then with that of their grandmother. The girls are eight years old when they are put in an orphanage. Their mother shows up at the orphanage in the company of Ramon, a Spanish trapeze artist. They are on a talent search for a German circus. Ramon trains the reluctant Irene during circus tours in Central Europe. She becomes the trapeze star of the circus. The hard work soon exhausts Irene and she falls from height, as if on purpose. Helena has secretly learned the art of fire-eating. Now she is burdened with both her mother and her sister. The violent life, however, separates the three from each other. In the present-day Helsinki the middle-aged...
The summer of '58, the year Sweden almost won the world championship in soccer over Brazil, Yngve Johansson accepts two children to live with him during the summer, as told through the eyes of a young boy. His name is MÃ¥rten, and the other child's name is Annika. She is a rough girl, with many problems. The three of them do not get along, and Yngve is a true dictator to the children's eyes. However, when the children discover that their new guardian has a crush on their teacher (Cecilia Nilsson), they do what they can to bring the two together. Soon enough, the three will discover that they have a lot more in common than they previously imagined, and together they can make their lives worth living again. This is a sweet story about life in Sweden in the mid 1900's. It is about family, love, hate, innocent friendship that we all can relate to, and much, much more...
Neo-Nazi falls in love with a woman who has a black son and finds himself fighting with conflicting feelings.
A lifeboat floats ashore at the coast of Skåne. Inside are two dead men who who've been murdered. Policeman Kurt Wallander is assigned to the case. The men are identified with the help of the police in Latvia. One of their officers travel to Sweden to to help but when he returns to his home country he is mysteriously murdered. Kurt flies to Riga to find out why and is drawn into complex conspiracy.
A 29-year-old bank robbery convict on a weekend leave from prison meets his 12-year-old daughter who he never knew to even exist. He escapes custody and together with a friend takes his daughter on a wild ride to northern Sweden, where he intends to shoot a moose in her honour. In his first feature film, Thomas Vinterberg adheres faithfully to the road movie concept of a game of flight, truth and consequences.
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mål is a small insignificant town where nothing ever happens, where the latest trends are out of date when they get there. Young Elin has a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to guys, but the fact is that she has never done *it*. Another girl in her school, Agnes, is in love with her but is too shy to do anything about it. For different reasons, Elin ends up at Agnes' birthday party as the only guest. They have a girl's night out together but after that Elin desperately avoids Agnes, refusing to even consider her own homosexuality.
Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.
An earthy, naturalistically erotic and blood-soaked tale of young Martta's ill-fated affair with Oula, a womanizing reindeer herdsman in the Finnish Lapland of the late 1940s. When the 19-year-old girl turns up pregnant, her alcoholic father is outraged and a series of tragic events follows
Based on a novel of the same name by the Finnish author, Antti Tuuri, this delicious late-80's comedy builds its dark humour on the stereotypical mentality of the northern part of Finland. While perhaps not as entertaining to a person unfamiliar with Finnish traditions, the brilliant acting, directing, plus the warm, beautiful Finnish summer more than make up for the cultural gap.The story begins with a group of brothers with their families coming up to honour the memory of their recently deceased father. Spending time together, opening old wounds and creating new ones... it all boils down to brotherhood. No matter what happens, brothers take care of their own.
23-year-old "Dino" (Bianca Kronlöf) dreams of a different life. Like an abundance of Swedes her age, she has fled the mass unemployment of her home country in search of a more worthwhile existence in a nouveau-riche Oslo. But her new life is caught in deadlock - Dino finds herself stuck in a destructive loop of temporary jobs, financial trouble and hard partying. A broken arm incidentally leads to a position as a housekeeper in a Norwegian middle-class home. Dino is thrown into a reality very far from her own. During a few sultry summer weeks she ends up the centre of an odd love triangle, an unpredictable struggle for affection as well as dominance. "Underdog" is a tender and raw story of privilege and longing, yet at the same time a humorous and unmerciful observation of the shifted power balance between Sweden and Norway - an actuality where Swedes have become the Norwegians' servants.
Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago. In Pakistan he fell in love and became the father of two daughters. Trouble starts when the girls grow up and the family decides to emigrate to Sweden. When they end up living in a caravan outside Hässleholm, all their expectations are dashed.
Alongside a tranquil road somewhere in Sweden live a number of people who are pretty much like people in general. When a highly improbable and catastrophic chain of events besets them, it leads to break up and change. A tragicomic story that feels both familiar and alien at the same time.
Simply put, this is a movie about the identity crisis of a modern man.
Four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship titles, four World Cup tour championships and forty six World Cup circuit victories.Once his career as a professional athlete ended, however, the other side of his personality emerged into public view in all of its vulgarity. An alcohol dependency, several marriages accompanied by numerous marital problems, petty crime, uncontrolled acts of violence, greedy hangers-on⦠Wherever he roams, drama and catastrophe dog his footsteps. And everything is exposed in the headlines the next dayâ¦
It's almost summer in Sweden and minor indiscretions and misbehavior abound. Leffe likes to show off for his friends and play salacious pranks, especially when he's drinking. Meanwhile, a righteous grade-school teacher doesn't know where to draw the line: she insists her fellow educators need a bit of instruction. Then there are two young teenage girls who like to pose for sexy photos and to party, but one night in a park, one of them is found passed out drunk by a complete stranger.
Juha is 38 years old and has three small children and a depressed wife. He sees himself as strong and believes a man should provide for his family. But one day Juha is fired from his job. Ashamed, he weaves a web of lies to hide the fact from his family. With the help of his friend Olli, Juha begins prostituting himself to support his wife and children. With this he makes in two hours what it took him two days to earn before. The shame and deception mushroom, but the pay from the new profession seems to offset the downside.
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