Evi, Finland’s most experienced karaoke hostess, wants to hug her customers’ pain away. With thousands of bars and kilometres behind her, yet again she packs her equipment and travels through the northern landscapes of Finland.
Places. People. Songs sung like a liberation, fragments of happiness, memories that are sometimes funny, sometimes painful. These moments of life are captured on camera during karaoke performances throughout the Finnish landscape. Joy and melancholy merge in this film’s friendly approach, which will leave a lasting impression on its audience.
Saturday, February 25th | 1pm | $10; $5 for members | tickets
When Baldvin and Inga’s next-door neighbors complain that a tree in the couple’s backyard casts a shadow over their sun deck, what starts off as a typical spat between suburbanites soon spirals violently and unexpectedly out of control.
presented as part of the Scandinavian Library’s film series.
Saturday, January 14th | 1:30 | $10; $5 for members of the SCC and Scandinavian Library | tickets
The elk hunt has always had a sacred aura to the people in Engerdal, a small village in Norway. The hunt for the biggest animal in the forest brings the hunters closer together and creates the annual main event in the village. Sigrid is moving back home after studies in Oslo. She is hunting together with her father, but she is not sure if she wants to shoot the beautiful animal. Halvard and Nelly are seasoned hunters facing other challenges. The Elk Forest is an intimate story, exploring the need to feel belonging in a fragile, shrinking community.
The elk hunt has always had a sacred aura to the people living in Engerdal, a small village in Norway. The hunt for the biggest animal in the forest brings the hunters closer to each other, and creates the yearly main event in the village. Sigrid has hunted elk for years, but is still not sure if she actually wants to shoot the beautiful animal. She’s hunting with her father, Geir, who is faithfully doing everything he can to facilitate for his daughter’s first kill. Sigrid is moving home after studies in Oslo, hoping to be able to combine life as a professional folk-musician with the life close to nature in her home village.
Halvard has hunted for a lifetime. He is starting to feel his body ageing, but it will take a lot of him to put his rifle away for good. Giving up the hunt is a bit like letting go of a part of yourself.
Nelly was one of the first female hunters in the village. Now she has prosthesis in both of her knees, and can barely walk, but declares that “as long as the will to hunt is greater than my wits, I will continue to hunt”.
The Elk Forest is an intimate and warm story, exploring the need to feel a sense of belonging in a fragile, shrinking community.
Saturday, January 21st, 2023 | 1pm | $10; $5 for members | tickets
DIRECTOR Ane Helga Lykka
Ane (b. 1986) grew up in the small village Engerdal deep inside the forests of Eastern Norway. She has studied social antropology at Oslo University, and documentary film at European Film College in Denmark and ZeLIG school for documentary, television and new media in Italy. Since 2013 she has worked as a director and editor in TV. Her graduation film Anderswo was screened at Trento Filmfest, Bozner filmtage and RAI Südtirol.
Kris lives with her partly disabled uncle in rural Denmark and together they run a small farm. In their quirky yet loving relationship built around daily routines, words aren’t necessary. Kris is the dominant workhorse and she has taken on a motherly and overprotective role towards her uncle. When Kris saves a calf during a complicated birth, her interest in the veterinary field is reawakened. She develops a friendship with the chatty veterinarian Johannes and slowly experiences life outside the farm. As love crosses her path, a possible life-changing question emerges.
Bevin Holmberg, aka Mermaid Meadow, brings her charming artwork to our Nordic Hall for her exhibit titled Enkel Glädje: Simple Joy.
Bevin is an artist living and working in Falmouth, Maine. She is the daughter of a woodworker and a painter. She obtained a B.F.A. in Studio Art from James Madison University in Virginia, with a concentration in alternative process photography. She also holds a Master of Education in Art from the University of Minnesota, and finished the program with summer study at Säterglänten Institute for Slöjd (traditional handicrafts) in Insjön and Stockholm, Sweden. While in Minnesota, she lived and participated in the Tilsner Artist Cooperative in St. Paul, worked as a sign painter, and taught drawing lessons to elementary-age students.
“I moved to the beautiful state of Maine (2010), and as an artist, was inspired by its rustic charm. I have a deep appreciation for traditional art practices, and studying in Sweden furthered my attachment to Scandinavian design. Two lessons I learned at Säterglänten were the importance of traditional handicraft, and the necessity of Fika. In my art practice, I am illustrating aspects of life that one might find interesting. I see personality in nature, and I am especially interested in pattern. For me, art does not need to be complicated if it brings someone joy.”
On display November 3rd, 2022 -December 2022 | Opening reception Thursday, November 3rd 6-8pm | register here
SWEA Boston welcomes you back to Swedish Yuletide and holiday Cheer!
This year at the beautiful Scandinavian Cultural Center in Newton. We are adjusting to the location with unique gifts indoors, and an outdoor market with foods and music. As always, the children of the Swedish School will join us for the Lucia performance – at 1 PM.
Proceeds go to SWEA Boston scholarships to New England students for study and special projects in Sweden, and local Scandinavian non-profit programs. We look forward to seeing you on December 3!
Gabi: Between ages 8 and 13 follows the remarkable Gabi over the course of five formative years as she wrestles with society’s stereotypes about boys and girls. When her family moves from Stockholm to a small rural town, and as puberty kicks in, Gabi must decide whether she wants to fit in with the crowd or chart her own path. A landmark portrait of early adolescence, GABI: Between Ages 8 and 13 is ultimately about the journey to be true to yourself.
Directed by Engeli Broberg. Produced by Anna Ljungmark and House of Real. Supported by the Sundance Film Institute
This film is presented in partnership with Gender Spectrum. Gender Spectrum is a national organization committed to the health and well-being of gender- diverse children and teens through education and support for families, and training and guidance for educators, medical and mental health providers, and other professionals.
A representative from Gender Spectrum will be in attendance for the screening to connect with attendees.
Saturday, May 6th, 2023 | 1pm | $10 suggested donation per person | tickets
In Swedish and English with English subtitles | 90 mins
*half of the proceeds will be donated with the partnering organization
A Christmas Tale (Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons julafton) (2021)
A tale of a boy from a wealthy family who during his work at the post office steals Christmas gifts from the wealthy to give to the poor people of Stockholm.
presented by the Scandinavian Library
In Swedish with English subtitles | Family, Drama, Comedy | 1h 44m
Saturday, December 17th | 1:30 | $10; $8 for SCC and Scandinavian Library Members | tickets
LOVE AGAINST ALL ODDS – A REMARKABLE STORY OF TWO WOMEN FALLING IN LOVE IN THE RAVENSBRÜCK CONCENTRATION CAMP.
On Christmas Eve, 1944 the Belgian prisoner and opera singer Nelly Mousset-Vos had been asked to sing Christmas carols in one of the French populated Ravensbrück barracks. After a couple of songs, Nadine Hwang of mixed Chinese heritage requests a song from Madame Butterfly. After Nelly sings an aria about waiting on a loved one, Nadine emerges from the darkness and kisses Nelly – at this moment Nelly and Nadine become a couple.
After the war, they reunite and start building a life together. For many years their relationship was kept a secret, even from their closest family.
Now Nelly’s grandchild, Sylvie, has decided to open Nelly and Nadine’s unseen personal archives and tell their story. A story about war sufferings, mysteries, well-kept secrets, and the complicated stories of concentration camp survivors. And most of all, a love story of all time that will move and inspire you.
92 minutes | In English, French, Spanish, Swedish with English subtitles | Director Magnus Gertten
Saturday, October 29th, 2022 | 1pm | $10; $5 for members | tickets
Magnus Gertten, Swedish director and producer, previously TV- and radio journalist, has directed a number of award-winning documentaries including ROLLING LIKE A STONE, A THOUSAND PIECES, HARBOUR OF HOPE, LONG DISTANCE LOVE. Magnus started the production company Auto Images together with Stefan Berg in 1998.
Bevin is an artist living and working in Falmouth, Maine. She is the daughter of a woodworker and a painter. She obtained a B.F.A. in Studio Art from James Madison University in Virginia, with a concentration in alternative process photography. She also holds a Master of Education in Art from the University of Minnesota, and finished the program with summer study at 
