Short film package: Nearest and Dearest

Capturing bona-fide intimacy, emotion and tenderness is no easy feat, but these shorts all succeed where many a filmmaker has tried and failed. The documentaries Haunted and 27 First Years both see the filmmakers turn the camera onto family members, with a portrait of a mother whose story is complex and moving, and the relationship between a parent and severely disabled son which is life-affirming in every sense. And Apple tells the poetic tale of life in limbo, the pendulum swinging between happiness and pain. Expressive filmmaking that touches the heart.

Haunted

Christian Einshøj / 2018 / Denmark / 30 min

Weight of Spring

Erika Calmeyer / 2017 / Norway / 7 min

27 First Years

Jussi Sandhu / 2018 / Finland / 29 min

Apple

Yngvild Sve Flikke / 2018 / Norway / 20 min

The films are nominated for Best Nordic Short 2018

Nearest and Dearest

title
|
year
|
country
|
genre
|
director
|
min

27 First Years

27 Ensimmäistä Vuotta

Jussi Sandhu

How does a mother react when her disabled son leaves home at the age of 27? And how does her role change when she moves an adult child into assisted living? Her children now grown and her husband >

Jussi Sandhu

How does a mother react when her disabled son leaves home at the age of 27? And how does her role change when she moves an adult child into assisted living? Her children now grown and her husband >

Documentary

Finland

2018

29'

Apple

Eple

Yngvild Sve Flikke

A young woman invites her literature teacher to discuss a story he has written. She suggests that he is writing to disguise his own inner desires. They fall in love. A poetic story of life in limbo >

Yngvild Sve Flikke

A young woman invites her literature teacher to discuss a story he has written. She suggests that he is writing to disguise his own inner desires. They fall in love. A poetic story of life in limbo >

Fiction

Norway

2018

20'

Haunted

Hjemsøgelsen

Christian Einshøj

The ageing mother of the filmmaker sees a ghost outside of her son's childhood bedroom. A pleasant enough experience apparently, in the void left by her four grown-up sons. But what is behind this >

Christian Einshøj

The ageing mother of the filmmaker sees a ghost outside of her son's childhood bedroom. A pleasant enough experience apparently, in the void left by her four grown-up sons. But what is behind this >

Documentary, Children/Youth

Denmark

2018

30'

Weight of Spring

Erika Calmeyer

Twelve different relationships told through twelve stories. Each story consists of a single, carefully composed picture showing a situation involving a couple. The film looks for the complex and grey >

Erika Calmeyer

Fiction, Experimental

Norway

2017