Polar peoples

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: November 7, 2012 (Issue # 1734)

WWW.TRUSTNORDISK.COM The award-winning ‘Stockholm East’ will be shown Nov. 12, 14 and 15.

The films being shown in the city this week as part of the Northern Lights international film festival have one thing in common: The Arctic.

In addition to developing a cultural exchange among Arctic countries and showcasing movies made by filmmakers from that region, the festival’s stated aims include promoting movies about small ethnic groups of the Arctic region.

Hence, movies about lesser-known Arctic peoples will be shown in addition to full-length films from Russia, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the U.S.

The documentary films will be shown at Dom Kino on Nov. 14. The program features “Son of the Priazovsky Steppe — Hero of the Arctic” (Ukraine), “My Reindeer Are Running” (Russia) and “Sami. Russian Lapland” (Russia).

The same day will see a screening of controversial Russian director Valeriya Gai-Germanika’s film “Everybody Dies But Me” (2008) at the Khudozhestvenny movie theater as part of an event featuring the director, who is a member of the festival’s jury.

Russia’s contributions to the competition part of the festival include “Siberia, Monamour” (2011), a dark tale of life in a deserted village, to be shown at Dom Kino on Nov. 12 and 14, while Scandinavian movies due to be featured include “Julie” (Denmark), about a young tennis star who falls in love with her trainer, and the award-winning “Stockholm East” (Sweden), which opened Critics’ Week at the Venice International Film Festival and depicts the love story between two strangers bound together by a tragedy.

The festival will end on Nov. 16 at Dom Kino with a screening of the thriller “An Enemy to Die For” (Sweden, Norway, Germany and Poland).

The Northern Lights film festival runs from Nov. 11 through Nov. 16 at movie theaters around the city. For a full festival program, see www.arcticfilmfest.ru