17th Tromso International Film Festival

This Norwegian International Film Festival takes place when the sun returns to the horizon, when it’s still possible to experience the Northern Lights — in Tromsö, the gateway to the Arctic. It was established in 1991 and specialized in quality films without Norwegian distribution. It’s the world’s northernmost film event and presents a cutting edge international program — contemporary art films, documentaries and feature-length films from all continents, including an overview on new Norwegian productions. It has gradually become the Norwegian festival with the largest audience and functions as a showcase for non-commercial cinema.

The critics’ jury selected Jia Zhang-ke’s film Still Life as best film of the competition. The film, which had won Venice’ Golden Lion a few months ago, tells the story of a village, Fengjie, which has been flooded in the course of a project called “The Three Gorges Dam” situated on the Yangtse river — project which forced the population around to leave there homes, to be relocated in other places.

Tromso International Film Festival: www.tiff.no