Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces IN CASE OF NO EMERGENCY: THE FILMS OF RUBEN OSTLUND

The Film Society of LINCOLN Center announced the schedule and details for In Case of No Emergency: The Films of Ruben Östlund, January 14-22, 2015, a retrospective of the director's works from the first 10 YEARS of his feature-filmmaking career. In conjunction with the series, the Film Society will open Östlund's Involuntary and Play for one-week theatrical runs on January 14. Tickets will be available for purchase on Thursday, December 18. For more information, visit filmlinc.com.

"Of all the satirists working in cinema today, Östlund displays perhaps the slyest streak of dark humor." - Peter Debruge, Variety

A sly, trenchant observer of human behavior under duress, the Swedish director Ruben Östlund is quickly emerging as one of world cinema's most distinctive voices, equal parts satirist and sociologist. Östlund, who began his career in the 1990s directing skiing films, has for THE PAST decade been collecting prizes at major festivals, including Cannes, where his latest, the widely acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated Force Majeure, took the Grand Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard competition. Two of his four features have been chosen as the Official Swedish Oscar® entry: 2008's Involuntary and now FORCE MAJEURE this year.

This first American retrospective of Östlund's work will include all his previous features, The Guitar Mongoloid (2004), Involuntary (2008), Play (2011, NYFF), and FORCE MAJEURE (2014), as well as several ski films and shorts, among them the award-winning Incident by a Bank (2009). Östlund will be in attendance to present the retrospective, which will also travel to Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Maryland, and 11 other cities throughout North America over a three-month period. The touring retrospective is produced by Comeback Company, in partnership with the Swedish Film Institute and Plattform Produktion, with additional support from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Embassy of Sweden in the U.S. and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York. For details on the tour, visit comebackcompany.com/RubenOstlund .

Phone interviews with the filmmaker are available, please contact David Ninh for more information, dninh@filmlinc.com .

Films, Description & Schedule

Force Majeure
Ruben Östlund, Sweden/Denmark/France/Norway, 2014, DCP, 118m
Swedish and English with English subtitles
On a ski vacation in the French Alps, a young Swedish couple and their two children have a close call with an avalanche that sends the father, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke), scurrying for his life, leaving behind his panicked kids and equally terrorized wife, Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli). Though no one is harmed, the foundational beliefs and expectations holding together the edifices of marriage and family have been shattered. As Östlund plumbs the AFTERMATH of Tomas's split-second transgression, this scalpel-sharp, often squirmingly funny film examines the flimsy bonds of coupledom, the conflict between social role and survival instinct, and the impossibility of undoing that which has come before. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Golden Globe-nominated and this year's official Swedish Oscar entry.
Wednesday, January 14, 9:15pm (Introduction by Ruben Östlund)
Friday, January 16, 1:30pm
Saturday, January 17, 2:00pm
Sunday, January 18, 2:00pm
Monday, January 19, 4:15pm
Tuesday, January 20, 2:00pm
Wednesday, January 21, 4:15pm

The Guitar Mongoloid
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 2004, DCP, 89m
Swedish with English Subtitles
Östlund's feature debut is set in Jöteborg, a fictional Swedish city resembling the director's own hometown of Göteborg (Gothenburg). His focus is on outsiders and nonconformists, in particular the titular musician, a young man facing dire obstacles in life. The mostly nonprofessional cast brings a documentary quality to this loosely scripted communal portrait, wrought with compassion and touches of humor. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2005 Moscow International Film Festival, The Guitar Mongoloid is shot in typical Östlund fashion, with an observant camera capturing life from fixed positions.

Screening with:
Autobiographical Scene Number 6882
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 2005, DCP, 9m
Swedish with English Subtitles
A young man boasts to friends that he will jump from a high bridge into the river below, then begins to have second thoughts. This penetrating short presages Östlund's Involuntary for its illustration of peer pressure and FORCE MAJEURE for its critique of the fragile male psyche.

And:
Incident by a Bank
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 2009, DCP, 12m
Swedish with English Subtitles
Based on a real-life account of a bank robbery witnessed (and filmed) by two bystanders across the street, Östlund's study of surveillance earned the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale. His slow zooms and pans across vast public spaces-and his implicit question, "who watches the watchers?"-may remind some viewers of Michael Haneke's Caché.
Thursday, January 15, 6:45pm
Friday, January 16, 9:15pm
Saturday, January 17, 4:30pm
Sunday, January 18, 6:45pm
Monday, January 19, 2:00pm
Tuesday, January 20, 4:30pm
Wednesday, January 21, 2:00pm

Involuntary
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 2008, DCP, 98m
Swedish with English Subtitles
Described by Östlund as "a tragic comedy or a comic tragedy," the director's second feature examines group dynamics and the dark side of human nature in five tales of social discord. In one, A TEACHER sees a colleague carry discipline too far and mentions the act in the staff room, with startling consequences. In another, a party host, afraid of losing face, unwisely neglects an injury. Two parallel stories detail groupthink among young men and women respectively. Co-written with Östlund's long-time producer Erik Hemmendorff, and inspired by personal experiences, Involuntary situates the viewer inside each social powder keg, where recognition and uneasy laughter coalesce.
Wednesday, January 14, 4:15pm
Thursday, January 15, 4:30pm
Friday, January 16, 6:30pm (Q&A with Ruben Östlund)
Saturday, January 17, 7:00pm
Sunday, January 18, 4:30pm
Monday, January 19, 6:45pm
Tuesday, January 20, 9:15pm
Wednesday, January 21, 6:45pm
Thursday, January 22, 4:30pm & 9:15pm

Play
Ruben Östlund, Sweden/France/Denmark, 2011, DCP, 118m
Swedish with English Subtitles
"I want to make the audience active and reflective," Östlund has stated. He does just that with this controversial record, inspired by actual court cases, of five black teenagers harassing white and Asian youths through scams and role-playing. All violence is implied, but the graver implication (which inflamed critics on the home front) is that political correctness debilitates society, as "good people" stand by and do nothing for fear of being thought racist. Östlund, who won a Swedish Oscar for Best Director and a "Coup de coeur" prize at Cannes, imprisons his actors within a frame, not unlike our social mores freezing us in place. Unabashedly impolite, Play offers food for thought and fuel for fury.
Wednesday, January 14, 6:15pm (Q&A with Ruben Östlund)
Thursday, January 15, 9:15pm
Friday, January 16, 4:00pm
Saturday, January 17, 9:15pm
Sunday, January 18, 9:00pm
Monday, January 19, 9:00pm
Tuesday, January 20, 6:45pm
Wednesday, January 21, 9:00pm
Thursday, January 22, 2:00pm & 6:45pm

Screening for Free in Our Amphitheater Throughout the Series!

Free Radicals
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 1997, 30m
Östlund discovered his penchant for long takes making ski films, in which UNBROKEN shots prove the authenticity of the unbelievable feats depicted. Stunning compositions and an energetic soundtrack (featuring Swedish hip-hop, electronica, ska, and thrash metal) make this a sensory delight, even for those who aren't skiing enthusiasts.

Free Radicals 2
Ruben Östlund, Sweden, 1998, 30m
Östlund's follow-up to his highly praised Free Radicals was shot in breathtaking locales throughout Sweden, France, Switzerland, Norway, and Alaska. If FORCE MAJEURE is, as he describes it, "a ski trip to hell," the natural beauty on display here conjures a celestial vision of heaven on the slopes.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of LINCOLN Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient is Robert Redford. The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at LINCOLN Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, HBO, Stella Artois, The Kobal Collection, Variety, Trump International Hotel and Tower, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com, follow @filmlinc on Twitter, and download the FREE Film Society app, now available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices.

To post a comment, you must register and login.