Panorama Nordic | Female and Queer Voices
10 October 2021 @Capitol 18:00
This curated section is organized around a topic or a geographic region. Each time, this opens up the possibility of discovering different places, with the aim of presenting to the public their new and most daring voices. The selection is made up of different formats, genres, styles and narrative structures to ensure a broad vision of filmmaking and celebrate its diversity. For the next edition in Mainz we present a selection of short films under the theme Female and Queer Voices.
The Tongues (Njuokcamat)
By Marja Bål Nango & Ingir Bål | Norway | 2019, 15'
During a blizzard on the tundra, a Sami woman is herding her reindeer when she is brutally raped by a man. Her sister senses that something is wrong and starts looking for her. Wrapped in fear and confusion, both women will unite in their fight for revenge.
Biofilmography
The Tongues is directed and written by the sisters Marja Bål Nango and Ingir Bål. Both are Sami indigenous, living on the tundra in arctic Norway and working as reindeer herders, which is their heritage.
Marja Bål Nango (b. 1988) is a Sami director from Galgujávri, Norway. Her education stems from Nordland Art and Film School, Film & Television studies at Lillehammer University College and Film producing at Sámi University College. Her graduate short film Før hun kom, etter han dro (2012) won the Ellen Monague Award at the imagineNATIVE in Toronto, and her last short film O.M.G – Oh máigon girl (2015) won the UR Award at Uppsala Film Festival and Skårungen Award at Tromsø International Film Festival.
Marja has participated in many international film festivals and is a member of the Sami International Film Institute. She is also a member of the board of the Northern Norway Film Center, a film funding center in Northern Norway. She worked as reindeer co-ordinator and director’s assistant on (dir. Amanda Kernell, 2016). In 2018 she was chosen for the FilmLab Norway-program – NFI’s and Talent Norges talent development program for female directors.
The Confirmation (Konfirmanden)
By Marie-Louise Damgaard | Denmark | 2019, 18'
It’s the big day of Mathias’ confirmation, where he will confirm being a Christian and enter adulthood. Mathias is transgender and just wants to be a normal teenage boy. His mother does everything to protect him, but who is this day really about?
Biofilmography
From 2010-2012, Marie-Louise Damgaard studied acting at the prestige’s Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, in New York. Upon her finishing the two-year program, she moved back to Copenhagen, to pursue her carrier there. Over the last couple of years, she’s been in several short films and feature films.
In 2016 Marie-Louise’s became interested in writing her own stories. So, when she heard about a scriptwriting course lead my Anna Emma Haudal, she decided to go for it. This course gave her the tools to bring her stories to life. In the summer of 2017 Marie-Louise had finished her first manuscript The Confirmation (Danish title: Konfirmanden). She reached out to Kim Magnusson, of M&M Productions; he saw potential in her story and decided to take a chance on a first-time writer and director. The film premiered at the 2019 “Inside Out” film festival in Torrent.
Since Marie-Louise’s debut on the other side of the camera, she has gone on to do several other projects; both as a director and 1st AD. And she’s currently working on a few other projects on her own.
I’m Listening (Kuuntelen)
By Katja Korhonen | Finnland | 2019, 12'
In the last hours of the night, Mirja, a Night Radio host, gets a call on the air of a possible end of the world. Soon this unexpected call starts bursting Mirja’s bubble in a way she never would have expected.
Biofilmography
Katja Korhonen is a screenwriter-director based in Helsinki, Finland. She has a Master’s degree in screenwriting and works in film and other media content. As a writer and director, she has been involved in a number of projects from short films and music videos to video game intros, alongside writing her first feature film at the moment. I'm Listening is Katja’s first fully financed short film, which she has both written and directed. Before that, she has directed few smaller indie short films that have been shown in local film festivals.
Grab Them
By Morgane Dziurla-Petit | Sweden | 2020, 13'
60-year-old Sally is longing for happiness and love. Lately her searching has been complicated by the fact that she resembles the newly-elected American president. Join Sally in the film Grab Them, as one man’s crazy tour around the world is a lonely woman’s heavy burden to bear.
Biofilmography
Born in France. Morgane Dziurla-Petit studied cinema at La Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and film production in Cannes. After professional experiences at the Cannes Film Festival and Roy Andersson Filmproduktion, she traveled to Tokyo, shooting the art video Memories of Another I, using self-generative editing. She moved to Sweden in 2017. Here, she keeps on creating new narratives, moving borders between fiction and documentary. Her first short film Le Jour (2018) was followed by the acclaimed short film Excess Will Save Us that toured the international film festivals and was awarded on a number of occasions. Now she is developing her first feature, Gudars Skymning.