THE NORDIC & BALTIC OSCAR CONTENDERS Returns This Winter At Scandinavia House

The Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders returns this fall/winter at Scandinavia House with screenings and director talks of films selected for Best International Feature Film and other prizes at the 97th Academy Awards!

The series kicked off with Latvian contender Flow and Estonian contender 8 Views of Lake Biwa in the NY Baltic Film Festival in early November, and continued on Monday, November 11 with a screening and film talk of The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a contender for Best Feature Documentary about the vibrant online world of Norwegian gamer Mats Steen, with a film talk by director Benjamin Ree.

The series continues on Tuesday, November 19 with the Icelandic Contender for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, Baltasar Kormákur's Touch. A thrilling story spanning decades and continents, Touch follows a widower's journey to find his first love before time runs out; based on the bestselling novel of Ólafur J. Ólafsson, it has been hailed as "pure and simple and unashamedly emotional" (The Guardian), and will be presented with a virtual film talk with the director. On Thursday, November 21, the Finnish Oscar Contender for Best International Feature, Family Time, will be accompanied by a film talk and Q&A with director Tia Kouvo. A family comes together for the holidays - and immediately starts falling apart - in this bitingly humorous, poignant drama about changing old patterns.

The Danish Oscar Contender The Girl with the Needle, screening on December 4 with a film talk by director Magnus von Horn. Inspired by one of Denmark's most infamous serial killer cases, Dagmar Overbye, the film follows a young seamstress striving to climb out of poverty in post-WWI Copenhagen, where a solution to her problems may come at a terrible cost... Chilling and timely, and "invested with a supremely eerie folkloric edge" (The Telegraph). On Thursday, December 5, the Norwegian Oscar Contender Armand explores a tense situation that develops at an elementary school after boundaries have been crossed between two six-year-olds; starring The Worst Person in the World actress Renate Reinsve, it has been acclaimed as "resonant and haunting," and screens with a film talk with Director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel.

And on Saturday, December 7, see Sweden's Oscar Contender - and its highest-grossing documentary so far - The Last Journey. In an attempt to help his retired father regain his zest for life, filmmaker Filip Hammar and close friend Fredrik Wikingsson take him on a surprise road trip to France, retracing steps they made in the summer during Flip's childhood. Over the course of their travels, a different metamorphosis takes place - one that brings Filip to terms with the inevitability of aging, in a film described as "life affirming...humorous and heartbreaking" (Variety). Filip Hammar will be present for a film talk and Q&A, followed by a reception in Björk Cafe & Bistro.

Other screenings of award-nominated films will be added to the lineup, including a screening of selected Short Films in early December; see all upcoming screenings here.