Cinequest presents three Norwegian Films this year: "Uno", "Loop" and "Kissed by Winter": Three good reasons to visit San José between March 1 and March 12.
Loop (directed by Sjur Paulsen)
Loop is a full-length documentary film investigating modern people’s relationship with time, seen through the eyes of some of our time’s rather extreme consumers. The people we meet have each in their own way made drastic decisions concerning their life situations. A 41 year old extreme sport practitioner with ambitions to climb a spectacular mountain, then throw himself off the mountain in a base jump. Two part-time fishermen and skiing enthusiasts who are getting tired of urban life in Narvik go on an immensely long journey in their rowing boat to go skiing under ultimate conditions on one of the unique islands of Lofoten. An ambulance driver and former UN rep in Lebanon and Bosnia takes a break from his extremely hectic life to sit alone in a tower in the middle of a forest in Østfold county, where his only assignment is to scout with binoculars for four months and make sure the forest doesn’t catch fire. At the end of a long journey, the 92 year old philosopher Arne Næss Senior looks back at the decisions he made and the decisions he did not make.
Uno (directed by Aksel Hennie)
Uno is a story from inner-city Oslo about David, a twentyfive-year-old with few prospects for the future. His days are spent hanging around with petty criminals at an inner-city gym. Still, it's better than home: His father is terminally ill, his brother is mentally handicapped, and he's unable to connect with his mother. But then, as his father is on his deathbed, the gym is raided by the police. David chooses to betray his friends in the hope of reaching his father for a last farewell. But it's too late. With his father dead and his mother grief-stricken, he's also forced to take responsibility for his brother on top of fighting off his former underworld friends. The crisis makes David realize what's truly important in his life: his family. He starts assuming responsibility for both his past and his future. By losing everything, David is given a chance to start over from scratch and rebuild his life.
Kissed by Winter (directed by Sara Johnsen)
Kissed by Winter is a story about one of the efficient and successful people, Victoria, who one day is suddenly thrown out of her regular life for a period of time. The film tells the story of two deaths, one is suspicious, the other one unacceptable. Victoria starts a new life as a physician in a wintery Norwegian village. Here she absorbs herself in her job, in order to avoid her memories. Early one witner morning, a young man is found dead in the snow, and the local police sergeant presumes he may have been hit by the plow of a snow truck. As Victoria gets entangled in the fate of the dead boy, she gets close to both his parents and the suspect, Kai. In the encounter with the dead man and the village inhabitants, the maini character proves to be a greater mystery than the case under investigation. The truth about the boy in the snow, and Victoria's own past, is slowly but steadily whirled up to the surface.
When: March 1 - March 12, 2006
Where: San José, California
Info: www.cinequest.org/2006