NLFF 2005 > Wednesday 23rd November 2005

FREE event graphic SPECIAL EVENT: NLFF FREE SCREENINGS!
SUPER SHORTS 2005 (18)

10:00am5:30pm, Tyneside Cinema

In collaboration with Talent Circle, the UK Filmmaker and Casting Network and the Super Shorts Film Festival, for four whole days during Northern Lights, the Tyneside Cinema’s Digital Lounge will be screening short films made by filmmakers from across the region and beyond…for FREE! No ticket needed, just drop by!

Super Shorts 2005 consists of the UK’s largest collection of films of no longer than five minutes in length. The festival is presented by Talent Circle - UK Filmmaker & Casting Network.

ZWÖLF EIN HALB MINUTEN
Twelve and a half minutes

The average member of German society is male, 38 years old and gets up at 8:15 am. On a quite normal day he will do quite normal things like brushing his teeth, going to work, shopping at the supermarket, mowing the lawn, watching TV and finally going to bed again. But although his world may be perfectly regulated in terms of time and space, our average member of German society might feel somewhat lost in his life. Who am I? What is my role in the world? How does the barrage of images I absorb every day relate to me and my daily routine? Using a vast array of found footage, Zwölf ein halb minuten asks these questions, in about the time it takes you to fall asleep at night.

Director: Joschua Douma / Short film / English / 14 minutes / German 2003

MEINE ELTERN
My Parents

Marie has a problem. She has met the man of her dreams. But he desperately wants to get to know her parents, which wouldn't be so bad had Marie not told him her parents were still madly in love, cool, and pretty liberal. But Marie's parents are anything but that. Lydia and Erhard, both in their early fifties, have been a couple for more than 25 years. Their marriage seems fizzled out, daily routine has long caught up with them. For some time now, they've been sleeping in separate rooms. Everything is tidy, philistinism reigns supreme. In a panic, Marie goes to see her parents to prepare them for their visitor...

Director: Neele Leana Vollmar / Short film / German with English subtitles
18 minutes / German 2003

SUPER SHORTS PREVIEW SCREENINGS

Want to get a preview of some of the short films screening at Northern Lights? Then log onto www.supershorts.org.uk/watchfilms.html, you can even review the films!

www.talentcircle.co.uk www.supershorts.org.uk

BLINDFLYERS (11+) FREE event graphic
Blindgänger

10:00am, Tyneside Cinema

Marie and Inge are two talented musicians with only one major problem that threatens their success they’re both blind. When a young Russian running from the police approaches them with a request for help to get him back to his homeland, they embark on an adventurous mission to raise the money they need to pay the drivers to take him over the border. With jazzy musical numbers and a drop of rock and roll, this family drama is a sweet story of determination and true friendship.

Director: Bernd Sahling / Feature / German with English subtitles
88 minutes / Germany 2004

INSET Session Available to accompany this film
This screening includes an advisory inSET session for KS3 teachers, led by experienced Swedish media educationalist Eva Westergren. The InSET will take place on Friday 4th November and will help teachers to use the film and other practical activities to explore themes such as immigration, living with a visual impairment and identity. For just £75.00 plus VAT schools can send two teachers on the InSET!

TOO MUCH NORWAY (12A)
Alt for Norge

11:25am, Tyneside Cinema

Norway is celebrating its 100 years of independence from Sweden this year! A kooky country by reputation, the Norwegians appear to have embraced their unusualness by endorsing this funny documentary. Using interviews and archive footage, the directors try to discover exactly why Norwegians are so unique. Why do they wear jumpers with big reindeers on? What goes on inside the heads of people who eat so much fish and go Nordic skiing? A hilarious and self-effacing look at the people that make Norway tick.

Directors: Rune Denstad Langlo and Sigve Endresen
Documentary / English and Norwegian with English subtitles
90 minutes / Norway 2005

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (15) 2-4-1 Tickets graphic
Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen

1:30pm, Tyneside Cinema

This is one of the most compelling films we saw at Cannes Film Festival this year. It’s unsettling enough to make you want to leave the cinema but there’s something about this movie that keeps you glued to your seat. Melanie Pröschle, a young teacher from the countryside, starts her first job at a city high school. She’s idealistic and committed to making as positive an impression as possible but is incredibly overbearing, needy, a walk-over, and worse still she’s got terrible fashion sense.

Desperate to be a success, she does her very best to be accepted by her colleagues, be liked by her stroppy fashionista neighbour Tina and get the kids in her class to stop throwing things at her. But it all goes horribly wrong… An incredibly impressive debut by first-time director Mauren Ade.

…insightful, affecting… SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

Special Jury Award SUNDANCE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005

Director: Mauren Ade / Feature / German with English subtitles
81 minutes / Germany 2005

THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR (15) 2-4-1 Tickets graphic

3:30pm, Tyneside Cinema

A fantastic example of low-budget but high quality feature filmmaking as the cast improvise their way through a simple script to deliver a true comedy of errors. The film tells the story of Kath, a desperate thirty-something who spontaneously invites Jamie, a man she quite fancies at a party, and a couple of her married friends, Natasha and pretentious psychologist Greg, to a house she’s borrowed in the seaside resort of West Wittering. The subsequent events lead to the naïve Jamie getting lucky, twice, a lot of therapy and a VERY creative take on revenge, involving vegetables...

Funny, truthful and touching... THE OBSERVER

Director: David Scheinmann / Feature / English / 90 minutes / UK 2004

QUEEN CHRISTINA (PG)
PLUS SHORT FILM

5:35pm, Tyneside Cinema

Garbo plays the young queen who transformed Sweden into one of Europe’s leading powers and then risked it all for her love of Catholic Spanish emissary Antonio (played by Garbo’s real-life lover John Gilbert). Rather than settling with the inevitable pressure of the politically correct non-Catholic marriage to the ‘right choice’ Magnus, she fights for her right to love the man of her dreams. Garbo and Gilbert are electric in this moving drama. Watch out for the scene stolen for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic!

Director: Rouben Mamoulian / Feature / English / 97 minutes / USA 1933

PETTER THE TRAMP (PG)
Luffarpetter

The last remaining 8 minutes of a full length that was tragically lost. Petter the Tramp is a comedy starring Garbo as a bathing beauty. Encouraged by her own performance in this film, she successfully applied to the prestigious Royal Drama School in Stockholm and the rest is history!

Director: Erik A. Petschler / Short Film / Silent with intertitle / 8 minutes / Sweden 1922

THE 3 ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA (18)
Melancholian 3 Houenetta

7:30pm, Kino

This film left us speechless when we first saw it. The 3 Rooms of Melancholia takes a look at the effects of the Chechen War on both Russian and Chechen children. Divided into three episodes (the ‘rooms’) ‘Longing’, ‘Breathing’ and ‘Remembering’ it chronicles the stories of lives corrupted by hatred and the evils of war. From the story of the young boys of a military academy outside St Petersburg, to the devastated streets of Grozny, where a dying mother gives up her children to the care of a makeshift orphanage. This is not easy viewing, but it is nothing short of a masterpiece. Don’t miss it.

Walloping... Harrowing... Rapturous... One of those rare films that deserves to be called 'poetic. VARIETY

Quietly Devastating! Mesmerising! Undeniably Powerful! TIME OUT

Director: Pirjo Honkasalo / Documentary / Russian with English subtitles
104 minutes / Finland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark 2004

HARU, THE ISLAND OF THE SOLITARY (15)
Haru, yksinäisten saari
PLUS SHORT FILM

8:00pm, Side Cinema

Tove Jansson, creator of The Moomin books, and her graphic artist girlfriend Tuulikki Pietilä spent twenty-five summers on the small island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland. This poetic, lyrical documentary has been created by veteran Finnish film-maker Kanerva Cederstrom from 20 hours of Super 8 footage shot by Tuulikki. The candid and revealing commentary, written by Tove, invites us into their intimate summer world of small rituals and a real love of the land.

Directors: Kanerva Cederström and Riikka Tanner / Documentary
Finnish and English with English subtitles / 43 minutes / Finland 1998

THE CRAWL (15)
Krooli

This is an absolute stunning visual delight created by a Finnish production team who has developed groundbreaking technology especially designed for filming underwater. Telling the story of a competitive swimmer called Sirja Luomaniemi who dreams of racing the world’s fastest female swimmer, it’s a fascinating look into the relationship between the swimmer and the water.

Director: PV Lehtainen / Drama / Finnish with English subtitles
26 minutes / Finland 2004

MIKA TAANILA: SPECIAL EVENT
FUTURO A NEW STANCE FOR TOMORROW (15)
PLUS DISCUSSION
Futuro - tulevaisuuden olotila

8:30pm, Tyneside Cinema

In 1968 a school friend of architect Matti Suuronen asked him to design a ski cabin for him to stay in when he went on trips to the Finnish Mountains. The result of the request was a design for tomorrow, a new type of home that was a round, plastic, UFO-like structure and one that couldn’t house cats (they need corners to live in a building apparently). Futuro traces the rise and fall of this truly futuristic housing project from its launch as a new Finnish export product to the 1974 oil crisis that resulted in its demise. Far out.

Director: Mika Taanila / Artist Film
English and Finnish with English subtitles / 29 minutes / Finland 1999

After the screening
The screening will follow a talk by architect and architectural historian Rutter Carroll who will discuss the architecture Ryder and Yates and their impact on European social hosing from the 1960s to the present.

Futuro is presented to you in association with Northern Architecture.

SPECIAL EVENT: NLFF FREE SCREENINGS! SUPER SHORTS 2005 (18) 10:00am5:30pm, Tyneside Cinema In collaboration with Talent Circle, the UK Filmmaker and Casting Network and the Super Shorts Film Festival, for four whole days during Northern Lights, the Tyneside Cinema’s Digital Lounge will be screening short films made by filmmakers from across the region and beyond…for FREE! No ticket needed, just drop by! Super Shorts 2005 consists of the UK’s largest collection of films of no longer than five minutes in length. The festival is presented by Talent Circle - UK Filmmaker & Casting Network. ZWÖLF EIN HALB MINUTEN Twelve and a half minutes The average member of German society is male, 38 years old and gets up at 8:15 am. On a quite normal day he will do quite normal things like brushing his teeth, going to work, shopping at the supermarket, mowing the lawn, watching TV and finally going to bed again. But although his world may be perfectly regulated in terms of time and space, our average member of German society might feel somewhat lost in his life. Who am I? What is my role in the world? How does the barrage of images I absorb every day relate to me and my daily routine? Using a vast array of found footage, Zwölf ein halb minuten asks these questions, in about the time it takes you to fall asleep at night. Director: Joschua Douma / Short film / English / 14 minutes / German 2003 MEINE ELTERN My Parents Marie has a problem. She has met the man of her dreams. But he desperately wants to get to know her parents, which wouldn't be so bad had Marie not told him her parents were still madly in love, cool, and pretty liberal. But Marie's parents are anything but that. Lydia and Erhard, both in their early fifties, have been a couple for more than 25 years. Their marriage seems fizzled out, daily routine has long caught up with them. For some time now, they've been sleeping in separate rooms. Everything is tidy, philistinism reigns supreme. In a panic, Marie goes to see her parents to prepare them for their visitor... Director: Neele Leana Vollmar / Short film / German with English subtitles 18 minutes / German 2003 SUPER SHORTS PREVIEW SCREENINGS Want to get a preview of some of the short films screening at Northern Lights? Then log onto www.supershorts.org.uk/watchfilms.html, you can even review the films! www.talentcircle.co.uk www.supershorts.org.uk

BLINDFLYERS (11+) Blindgänger 10:00am, Tyneside Cinema Marie and Inge are two talented musicians with only one major problem that threatens their success they’re both blind. When a young Russian running from the police approaches them with a request for help to get him back to his homeland, they embark on an adventurous mission to raise the money they need to pay the drivers to take him over the border. With jazzy musical numbers and a drop of rock and roll, this family drama is a sweet story of determination and true friendship. Director: Bernd Sahling / Feature / German with English subtitles 88 minutes / Germany 2004 INSET Session Available to accompany this film This screening includes an advisory inSET session for KS3 teachers, led by experienced Swedish media educationalist Eva Westergren. The InSET will take place on Friday 4th November and will help teachers to use the film and other practical activities to explore themes such as immigration, living with a visual impairment and identity. For just £75.00 plus VAT schools can send two teachers on the InSET!

TOO MUCH NORWAY (12A) Alt for Norge 11:25am, Tyneside Cinema Norway is celebrating its 100 years of independence from Sweden this year! A kooky country by reputation, the Norwegians appear to have embraced their unusualness by endorsing this funny documentary. Using interviews and archive footage, the directors try to discover exactly why Norwegians are so unique. Why do they wear jumpers with big reindeers on? What goes on inside the heads of people who eat so much fish and go Nordic skiing? A hilarious and self-effacing look at the people that make Norway tick. Directors: Rune Denstad Langlo and Sigve Endresen Documentary / English and Norwegian with English subtitles 90 minutes / Norway 2005

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (15) Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen 1:30pm, Tyneside Cinema This is one of the most compelling films we saw at Cannes Film Festival this year. It’s unsettling enough to make you want to leave the cinema but there’s something about this movie that keeps you glued to your seat. Melanie Pröschle, a young teacher from the countryside, starts her first job at a city high school. She’s idealistic and committed to making as positive an impression as possible but is incredibly overbearing, needy, a walk-over, and worse still she’s got terrible fashion sense. Desperate to be a success, she does her very best to be accepted by her colleagues, be liked by her stroppy fashionista neighbour Tina and get the kids in her class to stop throwing things at her. But it all goes horribly wrong… An incredibly impressive debut by first-time director Mauren Ade. …insightful, affecting… SCREEN INTERNATIONAL Special Jury Award SUNDANCE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 Director: Mauren Ade / Feature / German with English subtitles 81 minutes / Germany 2005

THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR (15) 3:30pm, Tyneside Cinema A fantastic example of low-budget but high quality feature filmmaking as the cast improvise their way through a simple script to deliver a true comedy of errors. The film tells the story of Kath, a desperate thirty-something who spontaneously invites Jamie, a man she quite fancies at a party, and a couple of her married friends, Natasha and pretentious psychologist Greg, to a house she’s borrowed in the seaside resort of West Wittering. The subsequent events lead to the naïve Jamie getting lucky, twice, a lot of therapy and a VERY creative take on revenge, involving vegetables... Funny, truthful and touching... THE OBSERVER Director: David Scheinmann / Feature / English / 90 minutes / UK 2004

QUEEN CHRISTINA (PG) PLUS SHORT FILM 5:35pm, Tyneside Cinema Garbo plays the young queen who transformed Sweden into one of Europe’s leading powers and then risked it all for her love of Catholic Spanish emissary Antonio (played by Garbo’s real-life lover John Gilbert). Rather than settling with the inevitable pressure of the politically correct non-Catholic marriage to the ‘right choice’ Magnus, she fights for her right to love the man of her dreams. Garbo and Gilbert are electric in this moving drama. Watch out for the scene stolen for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic! Director: Rouben Mamoulian / Feature / English / 97 minutes / USA 1933 PETTER THE TRAMP (PG) Luffarpetter The last remaining 8 minutes of a full length that was tragically lost. Petter the Tramp is a comedy starring Garbo as a bathing beauty. Encouraged by her own performance in this film, she successfully applied to the prestigious Royal Drama School in Stockholm and the rest is history! Director: Erik A. Petschler / Short Film / Silent with intertitle / 8 minutes / Sweden 1922

THE 3 ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA (18) Melancholian 3 Houenetta 7:30pm, Kino This film left us speechless when we first saw it. The 3 Rooms of Melancholia takes a look at the effects of the Chechen War on both Russian and Chechen children. Divided into three episodes (the ‘rooms’) ‘Longing’, ‘Breathing’ and ‘Remembering’ it chronicles the stories of lives corrupted by hatred and the evils of war. From the story of the young boys of a military academy outside St Petersburg, to the devastated streets of Grozny, where a dying mother gives up her children to the care of a makeshift orphanage. This is not easy viewing, but it is nothing short of a masterpiece. Don’t miss it. Walloping... Harrowing... Rapturous... One of those rare films that deserves to be called 'poetic. VARIETY Quietly Devastating! Mesmerising! Undeniably Powerful! TIME OUT Director: Pirjo Honkasalo / Documentary / Russian with English subtitles 104 minutes / Finland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark 2004

HARU, THE ISLAND OF THE SOLITARY (15) Haru, yksinäisten saari PLUS SHORT FILM 8:00pm, Side Cinema Tove Jansson, creator of The Moomin books, and her graphic artist girlfriend Tuulikki Pietilä spent twenty-five summers on the small island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland. This poetic, lyrical documentary has been created by veteran Finnish film-maker Kanerva Cederstrom from 20 hours of Super 8 footage shot by Tuulikki. The candid and revealing commentary, written by Tove, invites us into their intimate summer world of small rituals and a real love of the land. Directors: Kanerva Cederström and Riikka Tanner / Documentary Finnish and English with English subtitles / 43 minutes / Finland 1998 THE CRAWL (15) Krooli This is an absolute stunning visual delight created by a Finnish production team who has developed groundbreaking technology especially designed for filming underwater. Telling the story of a competitive swimmer called Sirja Luomaniemi who dreams of racing the world’s fastest female swimmer, it’s a fascinating look into the relationship between the swimmer and the water. Director: PV Lehtainen / Drama / Finnish with English subtitles 26 minutes / Finland 2004

MIKA TAANILA: SPECIAL EVENT FUTURO A NEW STANCE FOR TOMORROW (15) PLUS DISCUSSION Futuro - tulevaisuuden olotila 8:30pm, Tyneside Cinema In 1968 a school friend of architect Matti Suuronen asked him to design a ski cabin for him to stay in when he went on trips to the Finnish Mountains. The result of the request was a design for tomorrow, a new type of home that was a round, plastic, UFO-like structure and one that couldn’t house cats (they need corners to live in a building apparently). Futuro traces the rise and fall of this truly futuristic housing project from its launch as a new Finnish export product to the 1974 oil crisis that resulted in its demise. Far out. Director: Mika Taanila / Artist Film English and Finnish with English subtitles / 29 minutes / Finland 1999 After the screening The screening will follow a talk by architect and architectural historian Rutter Carroll who will discuss the architecture Ryder and Yates and their impact on European social hosing from the 1960s to the present. Futuro is presented to you in association with Northern Architecture.