Bucharest festival explores culture of Nordic countries

The first edition of Nordic Festival, a multidisciplinary festival that explores the culture of the Nordic countries, is scheduled to take place in Bucharest between February 13 and February 16.

Under the motto Enchanting Aurora – A Nordic Cultural Expedition, the festival "aims to connect the local environment to the lifestyle, artistic creations, and recent innovations of the five participating countries and to facilitate dialogue and exchange of experience between the Nordic countries and Romania."

The festival, organized by the Embassy of Denmark, the Embassy of Finland, the Consulate of Iceland, the Embassy of Norway, and the Embassy of Sweden in Romania, will continue in March with two days of cultural events in Chisinau.

The program includes a selection of award-winning films, debates with special guests, literary events, concerts, and more. Over the course of four days, the Bucharest audience will have the opportunity to meet and discuss with invited international artists and experts, who will address topics such as education, green transition, or artificial intelligence.

The section dedicated to Nordic cinema covers a selection of eight of the most acclaimed recent Nordic feature films, awarded at major festivals, a documentary about Roy Andersson, Nicolas Winding Refn's cult film Pusher, recently restored, and two screenings for children, among others. The movies are screened at Elvire Popesco Cinema.

"The program reflects the extraordinary stylistic and thematic richness of Nordic cinema, which is among the most exciting in Europe. Despite their diversity, the chosen films are united by a mix of drama and humor, often dark and uncomfortable, and a lucid, sometimes incisive, look at the complicated relationships between people. In line with the progress of Nordic societies in terms of gender parity, the selection includes an equal number of films made by male and female directors," film critic Ionuţ Mareş, the curator of the cinema section, explains.

The festival will open on Thursday, February 13, with Finland's Oscar submission: Family Time by director Tia Kouvo. The film had its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival. Another Finish film screened is Miia Tervo's The Missile.

Norway is represented by Armand (2024), the debut of director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel. It won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI at the European Film Academy gala. Another hit of Norwegian cinema to be screened is