Students' films at Toronto Nordic Night

The Nordic Nights screening on January 28 features a selection of experimental works, video art, and animated and live-action shorts. Nordic Nights is a series hosted by the Icelandic Club of Toronto and the Consulate of Finland in Toronto showcasing contemporary Nordic cinema with six alternating screenings a year. Professor Pierre Tremblay from the School of Image Arts at the Toronto Metropolitan University has lent his expertise in the selection of the programme. Please join us in conversation with professor Tremblay after the hybrid screening. On the Playbill:

Earworm by Matti Luukko, Markus Lehtokumpu, Aatos Salkosalo, and Michal Tomala of Turku Arts Academy 2024 2 min 44 sec, stop motion animation
Dr. Doc from the University of Doctoring creatively deals with a case of earworm with interesting results.

Hope by Juhani Koivumäki, 2023 16 min 34 sec
A man in the park meets a bouquet of flowers.

The Moon of Toledo / Toledon kuu by Juuso Honkamäki of Turku Arts Academy 2024 6 min 47 sec
A man who has run out of gas while driving in on country roads walks with his canister to find a gas station in the quiet of the landscape.  The film was inspired by a traditional Finnish tango from the 1960’s, Toledon kuu, a song of longing for a past romance in Spain.

Mousetrap by Anna Rohesalu and Jenni Koljonen of Turku Arts Academy 2024 4 min 32 sec, animation
An imaginary world takes over from its creator.

An evening of short films from Finland at Nordic Nights : Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto

An evening of short films from Finland at Nordic Nights – Finland abroad: Canada

”The small but mighty Nordic Nights screening program has been around since 2004. Its aim introduce contemporary cinema from Finland and Iceland to Canadians. Over the years, it has developed its own loyal fan base and the post-screening conversations are an essential part of the program. It has transitioned through a few venues and currently screening at a lovely intimate theatre in the building that also houses the headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival with an online screening included allowing audience to join from all corners of North America.

Communicating about your country through cinema makes perfect sense in a city like Toronto, even if you are always competing for attention, as there are over 60 festivals in a year on offer as well as screenings offered by multitude of organizations. Toronto film fans are a discerning bunch, and of course spoiled for choice with variety of cinema on offer. What we have over the big players like TIFF and Hot Docs is an informal community built over the years and relatively easy access to films you might not otherwise easily find even on streaming platforms.

Nordic Nights is a rewarding project and the whole team that helps keep it running is a dedicated bunch, and it would not happen without contributions from many including Pierre, whose help in programming the Finnish shorts programme is invaluable. We have been privileged to have Turku Arts Academy films in our series since 2019, which is much appreciated!”