Focus Baltic Sea

Once again, the life of young people in the Baltic Sea region are a major topic of the films. The fantastic Swedish film SAMI BLOOD is about an indigenous girl in the 1930s. As a 14-year-old, she is forced to undergo a racial biology examination yet manages, at a high cost, to gain her place in Swedish society. In the moving Polish film OBCE NIEBO (STRANGE HEAVEN), a Polish couple that has emigrated to Sweden fights for the return of their daughter Ula who has been taken away by the Swedish authorities and placed in a foster family. In the comedy MOTHER from Estonia, a young teacher in coma is nursed by his mother with unerring devotion. But how did he get into this unfortunate situation? In the multi-award winning masterpiece PАЙ (PARADISE), by the legendary Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, the two protagonists find themselves on opposing sides in a concentration camp. The only documentary film in our section, the Norwegian and Latvian co-production LIBERATION DAY, takes us to North Korea. What sounds like a joke at first turns into reality: On the occasion of the 70th "Anniversary of Liberation" the controversial avant-garde rock band Laibach is the first ever western band to perform there. Five various short and animated films,all from the neighbouring countries of the Baltic Sea, will complete programme. The incredibly funny shortfilm THE COMMITTEE is worth a special mention here: it brings to light the cultural differences between the various Scandinavian nations, using a piece of art.

The film expert Ernst Schreckenberg is devoted to the image portrayed by the Baltic Sea in the film and,in his lecture entitled "Strandpartien" ("Trips to the beach"), he invites us on a cinematic journey along thecoast of the Baltic Sea. Author Lutz Seiler, a member of this year's film jury, also associates with the Baltic Sea, since his award-winning novel "Kruso" takes place on the island of Hiddensee - a paradise for drop-outsand dissidents during the East German era. As part of a reading, Seiler will present his novel, which won the German Book Prize in 2014, to the guests of the FILMKUNSTFEST MV.

• LIFE WITH HERMAN H. ROTT
  (ELU HERMAN H.ROTT‘IGA) 
  DIRECTOR: CHINTIS LUNDGREN EST/KRO/DK 2015, 11‘ | OmeU
• MY GRANDFATHER WAS A CHERRY TREE 
  DIRECTOR: OLGA POLIEKTOVA, TATIANA POLIEKTOVA R 2015, 12‘ | OmeU
• PUSSY (CIPKA) 
  DIRECTOR: RENATA GASIOROWSKA PL 2016, 9‘ | OHNE DIALOG
• THE COMMITTEE (KOMMITTÉN) 
  DIRECTOR: GUNHILD ENGER, JENNI TOIVONIEMI S/N/FIN 2016, 14‘ | OmeU
• THE UNHAPPY ONE (NELAIMĪGAIS) 
  DIRECTOR: KARLIS VITOLS LETT 2016, 15‘ | OmeU | DEUTSCHLANDPREMIERE