The 17th Athens International Film Festival is on in Athens from September 14th to 25th, showing roughly 50 000 film-goers the latest movie trends from all over the world. Five contemporary Norwegian movies will be presented in various cinemas. Among these is the dark fantasy movie "Troll Hunter".
Photo: www.aiff.grThe goal of the
The Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights Conn-x is to show a handpicked selection of independent productions from all over the world, and give the audience a possibility to see the most successful productions of the season before anyone else. Like every year, its line-up will include more than a hundred subversive films, original gems of the independent cinema, big
premieres of upcoming releases as well as
musical documentaries from all over the world.
The festival will be opened with the Hollywood hommage movie “
the Artist”
Norwegian movies
At a press conference on September 6th, Artistic Director Orestis Andreadakis stressed the festivals interest in contemporary Norwegian films, which resulted in a tribute (part of the festival) titled "Focus on Norway". The following films will be shown: “Headhunters”, “The Troll Hunter”, “Mountain”, “Happy Happy” and “Oslo 31. August”. The films can be seen in various cinemas around Athens, and three of them will be shown two times during the festival.
Below you find more information on the five selected movies, as well as when and where they can be seen.
The Troll Hunter
Directed by André Øvredal, this movie is about a group of students investigating a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter. See the movie on Friday 16 September, 00:15 at Apollon and Monday 19 September , 23.00 at Danaos 2.
Headhunters
This movie tells the story of an accomplished headhunter that risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary. “Headhunters” is based on a Jo Nesbø novel and directed by Morten Tyldum. See the movie on Monday 19 September, 22.00 am at Danaos 1.
Mountain
Nora and Solveig are back in the mountains where they had a traumatic experience two years ago. Solveig has taken the initiative for this trip, so they can get to the bottom of what happened and face the future together. Directed by Ole Giæver. See the movie on Tuesday 20 September, 18:00 at Attikon and Wednesday 21 September, 20.15 at Danaos 2.
Happy Happy
For Kaja, the family is the most important thing in the world. She is always positive despite the fact that she lives with a man who would rather hunt with the guys, and who refuse to have sex with her because she "is not particularly attractive" anymore. Well, well, that’s just the way it is. Directed by Anne Sewitsky. See the movie on Sunday 18 September, 22:30 at Attikon and on Tuesday 20 September, 20.00 at Danaos 2.
Oslo, 31. august
Directed by Joachim Trier, this movie is a portrait of Oslo today, inspired by the cult novel "Le feu Follet". A visual and emotional drama about a man driven to his existential zero. See the movie on Friday 16 September, 20:00 at Danaos 1.
See the entire program here.
About the festival
One of the venus, Danaos Cinema. Photo: www.danaoscinema.gr
The Athens International Film Festival Opening Nights Conn-x, was founded by the Athens Film Society (A Non-Profit Organisation) with the intention of highlighting lesser-known aspects/genres of independent cinema, introducing audiences to some of the best productions of the year and establishing itself as the ideal opening of the upcoming movie season.
During the festival there are several awards given out, for instants will the “gold dipped statue of the goddess Athena” be given to the winner of Golden Athena Best Film Award. Read more about the different competitions here.
General information on the Athens International film festival is to be found at the festival’s webpage.
Author: Linn Blekkerud, lcb@mfa.no