Concrete Playground

The Vikings didn't make it as far as Australia but the Nordic Film Festival is venturing to our shores for the first time this October. Films from the far northern lands of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark will be stopping at the Dendy Opera Quays for your cinematic pleasure.

The festival kicks off with Sauna, a rather gruesome-looking twist on Finnish bathing culture by Jade Warrior director AJ Annila. Also screening is Finland’s 2009 entry to the Academy Awards, The Home of Dark Butterflies, an adaptation of a best-selling novel about one boy’s troubled upbringing in a secluded boys’ home.

Sweden dishes up the Golden Globe nominated Everlasting Moments, about an early 20th Century woman transformed by the burgeoning art of photography. While Susanne Bier’s Once in a Lifetime looks at an entirely different cultural adventure: the Eurovision Song Contest.

Two big budget blockbusters represent the Nordic resistance fighters of WWII: Norway’s Max Manus is hot off the press from the Toronto International Film Festival and Flame and Citron is Denmark’s take.

Denmark is also previewing its 2010 entry for the Oscars, Terribly Happy. A black comedy in the vein of David Lynch and the Coen Brothers, Terribly Happy has already been slated for an English remake, so be sure to check out the original.

For the full line up of the Nordic Film Festival, head to the Dendy website.