I'm participating in the Tromsø International Film Festival this year as a volunteer. It's an awesome opportunity to see a lot of free films that are hopefully interesting, as well as help out a cool local event... And also learn more Norwegian.

I'm feeling much more comfortable speaking it now than even 3 days ago. Apparently even just thinking about and being consciously aware that I need to use it is enough to help improve. I've noticed my processing and response time is drastically improved, and I think I've been able to improve with that because I'm no longer really worried about pronunciation. The rest is just minor touch-up work that will come with more speaking.

... Anyway, things I've liked so far:

• Hipsters Official site currently down...
• It Might Get Loud
• White Material
• Home from Home
• Pranzo di Ferragosto

• Disko ja tuumasõda - Disco and Atomic War

  Disko ja tuumasõda uses dramatized scenes to tell a true story of the effects of the authoritarian Soviet Union as it tries (and fails) to control what the Estonian people are able to watch on TV. A young girl living in southern Estonia relates the stories of the television drama Dallas to her village that she receives in letters from her cousin in the north, who is able to watch it from Finnish TV. Dallas and Finnish TV, as it turns out, were actually an integral part of the Cold War in the Baltic region, with the struggle culminating in a broadcasted sex scene sneaking into the country by ally-enhanced television transmissions.

• Helsinki, Forever

  A documentary about Helsinki, Finland, which uses primarily archive movies and photographs, old movie clips and literature to tell the story of the history of the municipality over the past two hundred years.

• Optical Illusion

  A quirky comedy about some people and their connections and relationships. It follows a man as he receives a demotion at work, and falls in love with his new boss who is getting breast enhancement surgery because the company gives free plastic surgery as a bonus. She feels the need to get plastic surgery, because she is afraid she is losing her boyfriend who is himself getting a new job as a security guard at a mall, where he find a woman with the security cameras and begins an affair with her while she contemplates divorcing her husband. There are a few more connections that the movie explores. Overall entertaining.

• Forbidden Fruit (Official site is down)

  Growing up is already a struggle for some, but a particularly pungent brand of northern Finnish Laestadianism has its say in Kielletty hedelmä. One girl escapes from her hometown to the freedom of the capitol city in the south, where she explores alcohol, sexuality and her own connection to her religion. Her friend is sent to keep an eye on her and to bring her home should she stray too far from the flock, but she too has her own struggle with her religion. The story is a powerful commentary on fundamentalist societies and how their constraints are too close for some.

• House of Branching Love

  A hilarious comedy of errors as a Finnish family struggles with marital troubles and their own possible divorce. In the end, the Finnish mafia saves the day...

• Vår mann i Kirkenes

  The story of a man working at the Finnmark newspaper (Finnmarken) and his search for another job, and experience with his current one. A quirky sort of humor that one might come from the pen of Garrison Keillor. Suitable for Minnesotans.

• The Woman with 5 Elephants

  The biography of a Ukrainian-born and Russian-speaking woman who moves to Germany during the second World War. The documentary picks up when she is concluding her work on translating Tolstoy's work, and we follow her first trip to her hometown in Ukraine since she left. The story is a beautifully put together story that may be of particular interest to translators and language geeks...

... Also, must remember to track down the soundtracks and add some links to this once the festival is over. More this evening and more tomorrow, so the list will be growing! :)

Posted by:

Ryan