Feast of foreign films at SUBTITLE

There’s a feast of foreign-language films at the Town Hall Theatre next weekend, January 29-31. Eight comedies, thrillers and dramas, all hits in their own countries, are being presented by SUBTITLE European Film Festival in conjunction with the Town Hall Theatre.

Heart of a Lion, (2013) is a Finnish-Swedish co-production about a Finnish white supremacist who finds his prejudices challenged when he falls in love with a woman who has a bi-racial child. Love and humour offer a balance in this complex, sometimes dark story. Two of its actors were cast in the hugely popular series Vikings after being seen in this film at SUBTITLE in Kilkenny.

From Germany comes Victoria, a 2015 thriller-romance. A casual flirtation between Victoria and Sonne gives little indication of danger, but as the relationship develops, a sinister world begins to unfold. Shot in real time in one take, it features great performances and brilliant camerawork.

Long Story Short from Denmark is a bitter-sweet drama about a group of friends all either in love, out of love or looking for love. It’s told over three years and through eight different chapters, each of them set around a party.

Love Is All You Need is a 2012 Scandi rom-com from Oscar-winning Susanne Bier. Philip, an Englishman living in Denmark, is a lonely widower and estranged single father. Ida is a Danish hairdresser, recovering from chemotherapy, who has learned that her husband is leaving her for a woman half his age. Their fates are about to intertwine in a film about the simple yet profound pains and joys of moving on with life.

In Order of Disappearance is a crime comedy from Norway and Sweden, made in 2014. A gentle snow-plougher Nils is awarded Citizen of the Year in what seems to be the pinnacle of his career. However, the mistaken murder of his son pulls him into a circle of ever-escalating violence in this brilliant dark comedy.

Aanmodderfakker from Denmark is a comedy drama in which Gijs Naber shines as a slacker in his mid-20s, unsure about what to do with his life. Against the odds, he finds a spark in an unexpected relationship, but just when it looks like this might give him a purpose, he slips into trouble again.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.