Scandinavia House

FOUR OSCAR-SHORTLISTED SHORTS
2025-01-07 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On January 7, see a special screening of four Oscar-eligible short films, presented by The New Yorker! The program will feature “I’m Not a Robot,” a eligible for Best Live-Action Short, as well as the Best Documentary Short-shortlisted films “Eternal Father,” “Incident,” and “Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr.” Filmmakers will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A and reception.
I’m Not a Robot | Directed by Victoria Warmerdam
After repeatedly failing CAPTCHA tests, a music producer named Lara becomes obsessed with a disturbing question: Could she be a robot?
Eternal Father | Directed by Ömer Sami
After starting a family late in life, Nasar fears he won’t live to see his kids grow up. He decides to be cryonically frozen after death, hoping they can someday reunite. His family’s dilemma: follow suit or be left behind? As the future eclipses the present, Nasar must reassess what truly matters.
Incident | Directed by Bill Morrison
Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.
Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr | Directed by Kimberly Reed
After Zooey Zephyr’s expulsion from the Montana House of Representatives for defending transgender medical care, she claims a nearby bench as her “office.” Director Kimberly Reed’s intimate documentary turns this shocking political moment into a nuanced portrait of trans and queer joy.
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NO OTHER LAND
2025-01-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On January 6, see No Other Land, a Norwegian-produced, vérité-style documentary by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four directors.
Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community’s mass expulsion by Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta as soldiers destroy the homes of families — the largest single act of forced transfer carried out in the occupied West Bank. After he crosses paths with Yuval Abraham, a young Israeli journalist, the two spend half a decade fighting the expulsion. Their complex bond is haunted by the extreme inequality between them: Basel lives under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval is unrestricted and free. Created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region, No Other Land was filmed by Basel and Yuval alongside two fellow activists — Isareli Rachel Szor and Palestinian Hamdan Ballal. The film is an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice. (Norway & Palestine, 2024).
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BUILDING CLOSURE
2025-01-06 08:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-05 08:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-04 08:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-03 08:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-02 08:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-01 08:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Scandinavia House will be closed from Wednesday, January 1 through Monday, January 6 for a building upgrade. This includes the Galleries, the Children’s Center, Björk Café and Bistro, and the Shop at Scandinavia House.
The Offices at Scandinavia House will be closed on January 1 and will otherwise be open remotely from January 2-3 and January 6.
We will reopen with normal hours for all spaces, including the Children’s Center and Galleries, on Tuesday, January 7.
See you again in the New Year!

HOLIDAY CLOSURE
2024-12-25 08:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Scandinavia House will be closed on Wednesday, December 25 for Christmas Day. This includes Björk Café and Bistro, the Shop at Scandinavia House, the Galleries, Children’s Center and Offices at Scandinavia House.
The Children’s Center will also be closed on Thursday, December 26.
The restaurant, shop, and the Galleries will reopen with normal hours on Thursday, December 26.
See you after the holiday!

HOLIDAY JULBORD 2024 AT BJÖRK
2024-12-15 12:00 - 15:00, 2024-12-14 13:00 - 19:00 | Björk Cafe & Bistro at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us at Scandinavia House on December 14 & 15 for a Holiday Julbord (Christmas Table) presented by Björk Cafe & Bistro! A traditional Christmas in Scandinavia is not complete without the traditional julbord, a holiday variation of the quintessential Smörgåsbord buffet-style meal in the Scandinavian countries that includes multiple staples of Swedish cuisine served on the table. The actual Christmas season in Sweden usually begins with the St. Lucia ceremony, around the 13th of December, and leads all the way to Christmas day.
*Tickets will go on sale in early November. ASF Members will receive their discount code by email; please check your email for instructions on booking with the discount or contact mem@amscan.org.*
The Björk Julbord will feature a long buffet table overloaded with the Scandinavian classics such as herring, gravlax, meatballs, Jansson’s temptations and more; each lunch and dinner seating will be accompanied by a traditional St. Lucia performance. One cup of glögg is included and will be served upon arrival, with additional non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks available for purchase.
All seatings on December 14 & 15 are accompanied by Lucia performances with members of the Swedish community in New York. There will also be a Christmas Eve Julbord on December 24 and a special ASF Holiday Pre-Fixe on the day of our Annual Holiday Concert, Sunday, December 8. Learn more about the Concert here.
Space is limited, so purchase tickets to reserve your table right away!
Seating times:
Saturday, December 14
Lunch Seating: 1 PM
Early Dinner Seating: 4 PM
Dinner Seating: 7 PM
Sunday, December 15
Lunch Seating: 12 PM
Early Dinner Seating: 3 PM
Prices
For seatings with Lucia performances:
Adult: $139 ($118.15 ASF Members)
Children ages 10-14: $45 ($38.25 ASF Members)
Children >10: $25 ($21.25 ASF Members)
Pre-order your beverages at a 25 percent discount; various options at checkout.
Reservations

LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS TREE
2024-12-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on December 13 for a screening of Life and Death of a Christmas Tree! Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Arturas Jevdokimovas will be present for a discussion on how he went behind the scenes to discover the billion-dollar business of a magical holiday tradition, with producer Ringailė Leščinskienė discussion after the film screening which will be moderated by independent writer Elissaveta M. Brandon.
If you stop someone in any European town to tell them that their festive, bushy Christmas tree originated in Georgia, they will be surprised — the trees are often labeled in Danish. But in fact the seeds of the fir cones are harvested every autumn in Georgia. Only later are they sold to the Danish, who grow the seedlings and then sell the trees across Europe.
In this social drama set between two communities, Jevdokimovas explores the Christmas tree businesses in both countries, observing their sharp differences in living conditions, attitudes and mentality. Where the Danish Christmas trees growers belong to the middle class in wealthy Northern Europe, the Georgians live in a remote mountainous poor part of Georgia, exhausted by several wars and painful transfer from Soviet regime to democracy. In contrast to the relative safety of the Danish tree business, Georgian cone pickers face daily danger — scaling up to 60 meters to reach the tops of Georgian firs. As we follow this journey of ultimate winter symbol from their Georgian seeds to our homes, the film reflects on the meaning of this festive tradition, and its human cost against a backdrop of consumerism.

GALLERY TOUR | NORDIC UTOPIA?
2024-12-11 17:30 - 18:05 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On view from November 26, 2024 to March 9, 2025 at Scandinavia House, Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century looks at the significance of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden as destinations for African American cultural figures including Ronald Burns, Doug Crutchfield, Herb Gentry, Dexter Gordon, William Henry Johnson, Howard Smith and Walter Williams through a range of artifacts, artworks (music, paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles), and documentary evidence (photography, film, and journalistic writing). In this guided tour by Emily Stoddart, ASF’s Manager of Exhibitions & Community Programs, learn about the artists in this exhibition and their works.
These free, 35-minute public tours meet in the Gallery elevator lobby. Gallery tours are subject to change; please check with the Scandinavia House front desk or email info@amscan.org.
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IF ONLY BY VIGDIS HJORTH
2024-12-10 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! On December 10, we’ll be discussing award-winning Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth’s If Only, a groundbreaking yet timeless early work now out in English translation by Charlotte Barslund.
A relatively young woman, aged thirty. She married in her early twenties, had two children. It is winter. January and minus 14°C, white, frosty mist around the parked car, around the spruces, the mailbox on its post, but higher up the sky is blue, clear, the sun has come back. She has written in her diary that she is waiting for the heartbreak that will turn her into her true self. She has an impending sense of doom or possibly her own death.
So opens Vigids Hjorth’s ground-breaking novel from 2001, which melds the yearning, doomed potency of Annie Ernaux’s A Simple Passion with the scale and force of Anna Karenina. Can passion be mistaken for love? When Ida meets Arnold, also married, at a conference, she impulsively invites him to share her bed. She returns home, already half-obsessed, and the dissolution of her marriage and break-up of her family pass almost without her noticing. Arnold has a more relaxed attitude toward the affair. But neither his coolness nor the alarming talk she hears about him can dampen her desire. When she finally has Arnold for herself, their mounting jealousies and insecurities metastasize, resulting in violence and addiction.
In urgent prose, with layers of candid and vivid detail, Hjorth shows just how devastating love can be when it binds the wrong people.
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SOLD OUT: HOLIDAY CONCERT
2024-12-08 17:00 - 18:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
*This Event is now Sold Out*
This December, Scandinavia House presents a festive in-person concert featuring Scandinavian and American holiday favorites as well as a traditional Saint Lucia procession, replete with traditional gowns and glowing candles!
Learn about the history of Lucia, one of the most popular holidays in Sweden, while enjoying music from members of the Swedish Church Choir in New York. Tickets to this event must be purchased in advance online.

HOLIDAY CRAFTS: A FAMILY WORKSHOP
2024-12-08 15:00 - 16:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us for Holiday Crafts: A Family Workshop on December 8! In this workshop, children and their parents/caretakers can experience how Scandinavians prepare for the season with a holiday craft day. They’ll discover the secrets of making crafts like simple Scandinavian heart baskets, votive luminaries and more; and experience a brief, candlelit Saint Lucia procession.
This workshop is intended for children ages 1–5; reservations are strongly encouraged.

Photo by Carolina Romare/Imagebank Sweden
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THE LAST JOURNEY
2024-12-07 18:00 - 19:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On December 7, see The Last Journey (Sweden, 2024), Sweden’s selection for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards! Director Filip Hammar will be present for a film talk and Q&A following the screening.
When Lars Hammar retired after 40 years as a French teacher in the small town of Köping, he thought that he and his wife Tiina would enter a new phase of travels, wine, and experiences they’d never had time for. But as for many others, retirement didn’t turn out how they imagined — and over the years Lars fell into a depression, seemingly stuck at home in his Belgian leather armchair, much to the despair of the energetic Tiina.
In a desperate attempt to help his father regain his zest for life, filmmaker Filip Hammar took his dad on a surprise road trip to France, retracing the journey they made every summer during Filip’s childhood. With the help of his best friend and fellow filmmaker Fredrik Wikingsson, Filip aimed to invigorate his dad by reliving some of the best moments of his life. But over the course of their travels and film, the metamorphosis Filip hoped for becomes another — a recognition of the inevitable, and the process of aging. A film about life, death, friendship and a portrait of a humble man and his enduring legacy, The Last Journey (Den sista resan) has been Sweden’s highest-grossing documentary and acclaimed as “life-affirming…humorous and heartbreaking” (Variety).
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DECK 5B
2024-12-07 16:00 - 17:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On December 7, see a screening of the short Swedish film Deck 5B (Däck 5B), a candidate for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards! Director Malin Ingrid Johansson will be present for a film talk following the screening.

Recently divorced Mia (Alma Pöysti – Fallen Leaves) goes on the first holiday with her new love. Torn between parental responsibility and the longing to simply let go, Mia will realize she has put herself and everyone else in an impossible situation. The 2024 Winner of Best International Short FIlm at the Toronto International Film Festival, Deck 5B is a film about longing, passion, broken promises and dog hair. It is a film about the price we pay for freedom. You could also say it’s a ghost story.
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I TALK ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME | BOOK TALK
2024-12-07 13:00 - 14:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on December 7 for a book talk on Camara Lundestad Joof’s I Talk about It All the Time, out now from University of Wisconsin Press! Translator Olivia Noble Gunn (Assistant Professor and Sverre Arestad Chair in Norwegian Studies, UW Seattle) and moderator Monica L. Miller (Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Barnard College) will be present in-person for a virtual talk with Joof, to discuss the Norwegian performance artist and playwright’s biting, lyrical memoir about her experiences as a queer Black Norwegian woman. This program is co-presented with the University of Washington – Scandinavian Department.
What does it mean to be Norwegian? Born in Bodø to Norwegian and Gambian parents, Joof experiences microaggressions that belie the myth of a colorblind contemporary Scandinavia. She wrestles with the fickle palimpsest of memory, demanding communion with her readers even as she recognizes her own exhaustion in the face of constantly being asked to educate others.
“I regularly decide to quit talking to white people about racism,” writes Joof. Such discussions often feel unproductive, the occasional spark of hope coming at enormous personal cost. But not talking about it is impossible, a betrayal of self. The book is a self-examination as well as societal indictment. It is an open challenge to readers, to hear her as she talks about it, all the time.
The speakers will discuss the story behind the writing of the memoir, and how Joof developed its themes in her recent playscripts for Norway’s National Theater.
“[Joof’s] collection of fragmented anecdotes is radical, candid, and unapologetic, documenting with introspection the experience of being Black in a white society in which macro- and microaggressions are ubiquitous. . . . Sharp, complex, and lingering, the memoir I Talk about It All the Time places its masterful compilation of devastating truths in the context of Scandinavian racism” (Foreword Reviews).
“This gemlike book relentlessly dramatizes the particularities of Norwegian racism. The power of Joof’s observations increases in proportion to their understated precision. Her gentle voice is wholly deceptive. She slices through the delusions, denials, and defensiveness that distinguish the unthinkable racism of Scandinavian society” (Paul Gilroy, English sociologist and cultural studies scholar).
Thanks to University of Washington Press & NORLA.
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ARMAND
2024-12-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On December 5, see a special screening of Armand (Norway, 2024), Norway’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards!
Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve) arrives at a parent-teacher meeting called on short notice. Her six-year-old son Armand has been accused of something — but that “something” seems unclear. As the principal, the school nurse, and another pair of parents become involved, it’s revealed that a boundary has been crossed between Armand and his best friend. And as they disagree on how to handle it, the school begins to lose control. A powerful and thought-provoking drama about the complexities of alleged sexual harassment between children, Armand has been acclaimed as a “vivid, creepy, and uncomfortably funny debut” (IndieWire).
“Resonant and haunting — and should spark plenty of post-screening discussions” (Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily)

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THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
2024-12-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On December 4, see a special screening of The Girl with the Needle (Denmark/Poland, 2024), Denmark’s selection for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards! Director Magnus von Horn will be present for a film talk and Q&A after the screening.
Karoline, a young seamstress, finds herself abandoned and pregnant while striving to climb out of poverty in post-WWI Copenhagen. With her husband missing and presumed dead in the war, she’s unable to pay rent and subsequently evicted. Destitute and soon pregnant to another man, she falls under the spell of a charismatic candy-store owner, Dagmar Overbye, who promises Karoline a home, job, and solution to her problems. But the job itself comes at a terrible cost… and soon brings her face to face with a nightmarish reality. Inspired by one of Denmark’s most infamous serial killer cases, The Girl with the Needle (Pigen med nålen) is at once chilling and timely — offering an unvarnished look at the lengths a woman will go to in order to survive a coldly patriarchal and unforgiving society.
“Builds to a devastating climax, taut as piano wire” (Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter)
“Invested with a supremely eerie folkloric edge – a bleak historical chapter made timeless” (Robbie Collin, The Telegraph)
This screening is presented in this year’s Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders series. See all films here.
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JULEBORD: THE HOLIDAY PARTY
2024-12-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On December 3rd, join us for a conversation on David Øybo’s novel Julebord: The Holiday Party, with the author and panelists Dr. Alexander Lasareff-Mironoff and Hana Mironoff! The panel will explore Øybo’s page-turning literary whodunnit about a holiday murder in the far north of Norway. In addition to discussing rural hospitals, surfing, and how to survive a Julebord in Scandinavia, they’ll also the medical topics explored in the book, specifically FGM and PAS, and how shortcuts in thinking can sometimes fool us.
On December 23, 2019, a body washes up on the shores of Godshus, where a fjord meets the North Sea. Should chief investigator James Wiley Redding of the Norwegian Police suspect that any of the doctors employed at the area’s small rural hospital? Inspired in part by Julio Cortázar’s Rayuela (Hopscotch), the book’s experimental approach allows readers to choose their own reading path through correlated events — as experienced by the six doctors who have wound up at this remote location, across timelines spanning from 1960 through Julebord. And as the race is on for Investigator Redding to solve the crime, it becomes clear that in today’s small global village we are all linked in some way — whether we want to be or not. The first book in Øybo’s Correlations Trilogy, Julebord has been a finalist of the Canadian Book Club Awards and has been acclaimed as a “gleefully unorthodox and absorbing crime story” (Kirkus Reviews).
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THANKSGIVING FEAST AT BJÖRK CAFE & BISTRO
2024-11-28 16:00 - 20:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Celebrate Thanksgiving at Scandinavia House with a special prix-fix menu from Björk Cafe & Bistro! The restaurant will be open November 28 for special dining from 4-8 PM with meals including an appetizer, entrée and dessert, featuring classic entrées such as Herb-Stuffed turkey, Swedish Meatballs, Baked Arctic Char with Sandefjord sauce, and Stuffed Baked Pepper; appetizers of Beluga Lentil Soup, a Small Herring Plate, Färö Island Salmon; and a Nordic Grand Dessert with plates of Scandinavian treats. ASF Members receive a 15 percent discount.
*Please note that Scandinavia House will otherwise be closed for the holiday.*
Björk Cafe & Bistro will also be open for a Black Friday Brunch Special on Friday, November 29, from 11 AM – 4 PM. The Galleries and Children’s Center will be open that day with normal hours.
Space is limited, so reserve your table right away!
Reservations

A LETTER FROM HELGA | SCREENING & FILM TALK
2024-11-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
This November, see A Letter from Helga (Svar við bréfi Helgu, Iceland, 2022), a passionate love story set within the towering beauty of Iceland’s western fjords, at Scandinavia House! Director Ása Hjörleifsdóttir (an ASF Fellow) will be present for a film talk and Q&A following the screening. *Please note that this event was originally scheduled for October 23; it has now been rescheduled to November 22.*
In 1940s Iceland, the lives of two neighboring families are torn apart by a romance that develops between young farmer Bjarni (Thor Kristjansson) and aspiring poet Helga (Hera Hilmar). To their local community, both appear happily married: Bjarni to the beautiful Unnur (Anita Briem), tilling land that has been in his family for nine generations, and Helga to her husband Hallgrímur (Björn Thors), raising two children on a plot nearby. But when the two meet at a literary reading, they are immediately drawn together, and soon realize that they are haunted by shared feelings of disappointment and emptiness. As their affair intensifies, they both yearn to escape — but do they dare to leave everything behind? Based on a novella by Bergsveinn Birgisson, A Letter from Helga is a lyrical, sweeping story of forbidden love.
“Hjörleifsdóttir’s poignant adaptation churns with ardor, guilt, and regret about choices made and paths left unexplored” (The Seattle Times)
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FAMILY TIME — SCREENING & DIRECTOR TALK
2024-11-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
See Finland’s contender for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, Family Time, in the Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders series! The screening will be followed by a film talk and Q&A with director Tia Kouvo.

A family comes together for the holidays — and immediately starts falling apart. Just like every year, middle-aged sisters Susanna and Helena are visiting their parents’ house with their families. And just like every year, Grandpa Lasse drinks too much; Grandma Ella has to take care of everyone; the kids are fed up, and the sisters are arguing about the most pointless things. Tia Kouvo’s bitingly humorous, poignant debut digs into a universal question: Are we destined to remain stuck in the same patterns, or can we ever change — and at last become a happy family?

Winner of the Best Film Award at Riga IFF, Lübeck Nordic Film Days, and International Women’s FF Seoul, as well as three Jussi Awards for Screenplay, Directing, and Film of the Year, Family Time is “a tender film with relatable ideas or emotions at its core” (International Cinephile Society).

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TOUCH — SCREENING & VIRTUAL FILM TALK
2024-11-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
“One of the most beautiful films that you will see this year”— on November 19, see Baltasar Kormákur’s Touch, a thrilling love story spanning decades and continents, selected as Iceland’s contender for Best International Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards! The program will feature a virtual talk with the director, screening after the film.
Based on the bestselling novel of Ólafur J. Ólafsson, Touch follows a widower’s emotional journey to find his first love before his time runs out. When Icelandic restaurateur Kristófer receives startling news, he sets out to track down a woman he knew long ago — Miko, who abruptly disappeared from London 50 years ago. The journey that unfolds reveals what may have been and may be yet to come.
“Pure and simple and unashamedly emotional” (The Guardian).
“An absorbing, touching and simply lovely drama” (Decider).
This screening is presented in this year’s Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders series. See all films here.
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FOUND FINERY APT FOR ARTISTRY | ADULT ART WORKSHOP WITH MELKORKA HELGADOTTIR
2024-11-14 18:00 - 20:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us at Scandinavia House for a beginner friendly adult art workshop. Inspired by the work Inspired by the work of Scandinavian artists, such as The Icelandic Love Corporation and Ýr Jóhannsdóttir, participants will create a textile collage. Guided by teaching artist Korka, participants will use thrifted second-hand clothing and found fabrics to create a collage in a relaxed atmosphere. All materials are provided.
ABOUT MELKORKA HELGADOTTIR
Melkorka Helgadottir, A.K.A. Korka, is an Icelandic visual artist and teaching artist living in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA in Sculpture from San Francisco Art Institute and has taught for Brooklyn Arts Council, LEAP, and Studio in a School. As a teaching artist, Korka believes in nurturing the creative spark that each of her students possesses. She is currently working on an autobiographical comic.
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THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN | SCREENING & FILM TALK
2024-11-11 18:30 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
See the Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders this fall at Scandinavia House! On November 11, we’ll be screening The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (dir. Benjamin Ree, Norway, 2024), a contender for Best Feature Documentary at the 97th Academy Awards, following a screening of the short film Makayla’s Voice. *Director Benjamin Ree will be present for a film talk and Q&A following the screening.*
When Norwegian gamer Mats Steen died at age 25, his parents mourned what they thought was an isolated life. It was only once they had access to his blog that they discovered the deep friendships he created virtually before passing away from a degenerative muscular disease. Unbeknownst to them, Mats had in fact been long leading a vibrant digital life that had left a profound impact on a community of fellow gamers.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin takes us on a journey through the breadth of Mats Steen’s adventurous online life, introducing us to Ibelin, his charismatic World of Warcraft persona. Through reconstructed animated moments from Mats’ gameplay, narrated entries from his blog and interviews with people who knew him as Ibelin, a picture of a remarkable young man emerges, one that underscores how community and soulful relationships can transcend the boundaries of the physical world. A winner of awards including World Cinema – Audience Award & Best Director at Sundance and Best Film at Tromsø International, the film has been acclaimed as “a heartfelt digital eulogy” (Empire Magazine) and “a rare and beautiful thing: a moving documentary that excavates the question of the ‘real’ in a profoundly humanistic and unconventional way” (NYTimes).
Preceding the feature film, Maykayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World (dir. Julio Palacio, 2024, U.S.) introduces us to a remarkable teenage girl whose spirit and determination defy expectations. Makayla has spent her life grappling with a rare form of autism that has rendered her essentially nonverbal, until her parents — filled with unwavering belief in their daughter’s potential — embark on a transformative journey to discover the true depth of Makayla’s inner world. (Directed by Julio Palacio, produced by Sasha Levinson and executive produced by Roger Ross Williams; 23 min. In English with English subtitles.)
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FLOW | NYBFF
2024-11-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
The 7th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns this November with the best new films from the Baltic region! The festival’s grand final take place on Sunday, November 10, with the New York City premiere of Flow (dir. Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia/France/Belgium, 2024).

A wondrous journey through natural and mystical realms, the animated feature Flow (dir. Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia/France/Belgium, 2024) follows a courageous cat and a capybara, lemur, bird and dog after their homes are devastated by a great flood. Teaming up to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the animals must rely on trust, courage and wits to survive the perils of their newly aquatic planet. The Latvian contender for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, Flow is a thrilling animated spectacle and a profound meditation on environmental fragility, as well as the spirit of friendship and community. Through charming, expressive, and visually enrapturing 3D animation, director Gints Zilbalodis stunned audiences at Cannes with this heartwarming tale of friendship, teamwork, and adventure.
“Brimming with sentiment but not sentimentality, one of the most moving animated films in recent memory, and groundbreaking too” (IndieWire).
“A joy to experience but also a deeply affecting story, the work of a unique talent who deserves to be ranked among the world’s great animation artists” (The Hollywood Reporter).

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KELLY — SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM | NYBFF
2024-11-10 16:15 - 18:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
The 7th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns this November with the best new films from the Baltic region! On Sunday, November 10 see the Estonian documentary Kelly — Someone Else’s Dream (dir. Helen Lõhmus, Estonia, 2024). Freestyle skier Kelly Sildaru shot to international fame in 2016 when, at the age of 13, she became the youngest Winter X-Games gold medalist of all time in slopestyle, the most dangerous discipline of freestyle skiing. Coached by her father, she became a media sensation, breaking countless records. She also became the sweetheart of a nation harboring hopes for the next Winter Olympics. No one could have predicted the injury that would derail Kelly’s first Olympic run, or the even more devastating secret she was about to reveal: her father had allegedly been abusing her for years. Delving into the dark side of competitive sports, the documentary explores the immense pressure young athletes face and the toll it takes on their mental well-being. A story of resilience and courage, Kelly — Someone Else’s Dream celebrates a young athlete as she looks back on her life — and charts a new path forward.
“A fast-paced documentary that keeps viewers hooked… an uplifting message of hope and empowerment” (Cineuropa)
“A tough but courageous film [that] explores the dark side of professional sports (POV Magazine)
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