For a decade now, Scandi has been the first Czech and Slovak film festival of the year. It brings distinctive films from all five countries of Northern Europe. This year, we will see 10 film premieres in dozens of Czech and Slovak cinemas – movies which will be widely distributed afterwards, traditionally supported by the concept of related films from previous years available on the VOD platform Edisonline and on the paid Film Europe TV Channel. Last year, more than 20,000 viewers visited our showcase. Tens to hundreds of thousands more viewers watched Scandi films on VOD and TV. Scandi regularly highlights national Oscar nominees and the vitality of the Northerners, to match great festival potential with the art of reaching a wide audience and aspirations to create movie hits, not only with domestic, but also foreign audiences.

Journalists regularly ask us what the dramaturgical theme of the showcase is. And for ten years now, we have been patiently explaining that it is a combination of festival quality and audience-oriented cinema – this is what we look for when selecting the films. We don't force-fit films with artificial themes. Scandi is about our mission to find, buy, and distribute well-crafted films with substantial social themes and audience appeal. It's for this elite yet communicatively accessible mix that Nordic movies win top prizes at category A film festivals. So let me introduce them to you.

The Scandi 2024 winter express is pulled by an exceptionally powerful locomotive. The Promised Land is a historical Danish western and a national Oscar nominee. And it stars the utterly convincing Mads Mikkelsen, who has already won the European Best Actor Award for this film. He and director Nicolaj Arcel met a decade ago in the similarly historical Royal Affair. The film was among shortlisted nominees for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. The Promised Land opened in the main competition at Venice and features an elite cast of Nordic actors in addition to Mads. I'll just mention Norway's Kristine Kujath Thorp who is among them. She blew us away at last year’s Scandi with Sick of Myself – be sure to check it out on Edisonline. The Promised Land is one of our favourites for its impeccable screenwriting, characterisation, and vibrant energy - all the typical attributes of the classic western, with a strong, physically and ethically solid protagonist, an insufferable villain, a perfectly constructed story, twists and turns, love, and the Danish moorlands. Regardless of the western frame, perhaps only the conclusion is politically relevant. I’m not giving any spoilers. I’ll just say that the world really isn't fair and that we needn't be ashamed of our honest tears as an audience during the closing credits.

Songs of Earth, directed by Margreth Olin is an ode to life and a Norwegian Oscar nominee. Beautiful images of the fjords and their four seasons. We follow the life of an elderly couple. And it's all about peace and reconciliation. In the course of the world we have limited time - we come, we live, we go. The film is about the director's parents. A meaning shines from their lives – for many, eternally sought and often not found. This film is in Scandi for peace, meaning, breathtaking music, robust sounds, and images.

Birthday Girl starring Trine Dyrholm and directed by Michael Noer. A mother buys a cruise for her daughter, her friend, and for herself. This alone is a recipe for trouble. The ship is in international waters and the daughter is turning eighteen. Fun is expected and when something happens that needs to be investigated by the police, it’s revealed that they are out of territorial jurisdiction. This Danish film is in Scandi because of its topic which hasn't been talked about until recently, and also for actress Trine Dyrholm and her thrilling portrait of maternal instinct and defence.

For us, Iceland is a mythical land with 370 thousand inhabitants, music, literature, and films to see and envy. The black-and-white tragicomedy /what else/ Driving Mum, directed by Hilmar Oddsson won two awards at Tallinn's Black Nights festival, an event which brought it two awards - best film and best music. It's an absurd road-movie about both mother–son relationships and male Icelandic idiosyncrasies. This film is in Scandi for the script and for its ability to make the audience love a total outsider. In the end, he surprises and makes an unexpectedly cool gesture. The film is a fine contribution to the popular Nordic peculiarities section. We play it for the story's grand and poignant metaphor and for the characters, who give a testimony about the essence of the Icelandic concept of life, and survival.

The strange "weird" movie character is fulfilled by the Gallery of God. The debut of the Gothenburg-based KonstAB collective and filmmakers Filip Aladdin and Ossian Melin. Gallery of God is in Scandi for student courage, relevant and timely questions about the value of art, instantly graspable "fresh" film language, and cheekiness that doesn't stop even at the gates of Zentropa production house, nor the school, media, teachers, or the system. Gallery of God is serious fun. Gothenburg-based, yet covers some serious ground. The film is a discovery for Scandi and a demonstration of the quality and courage of Nordic students.

Together 99, directed by Lukas Moodysson – a Swedish-Danish post hippie comedy about how hard it is to keep the style and beliefs of your youth when you are about to retire. This film is here for its harshly accurate reminder that the good things of the past should only be remembered and not recreated. And also for the great dialogues and characters. We will all find ourselves in them sooner or later.

The Kiss, directed by Bille August – a robust, grand, classical, historical and romantic film by one of the most prominent Danish directors. If all goes well, he will be our in-person guest. A touching story set against the backdrop of the grace of the Danish cavalry, noble but militarily insignificant, and the aristocracy, still dignified but fading politically. These two settings frame the complicated love story of a lieutenant from poor circumstances and a baron's daughter who cannot dance. The situation is lost from the beginning. Still, we keep our fingers crossed for them. This film is here for the gorgeous sets and the story filled to the brim with love. It’s larger than life.

Darkland: The Retur, directed by Fenar Ahmad – a Danish action thriller. Interestingly, the director was born to Iraqi immigrants in Brno in 1981. He moved to Denmark with his family in 1986 and here he graduated from film school and became a wonderful genre filmmaker focusing on crime thrillers. We played his first Darklandin the last Scandi and you can still see it on Edisonline. This film is here for its high tension and hard-hitting rhythm.

One Day All This Will Be Yours, directed by Andreas Öhman - a Swedish romantic comedy which belongs to the group of films like Sick of Myself or The Worst Person in the World. A clever young draughtswoman-editor returns to the land of her childhood. There she finds a forest, a crazy family, frozen ambition, love, and the stereotypical question for all thirty-years-olds: how do I move on? This film is here for its female anti-heroine and its vivid rendition of the typical first identity crisis we all thought would also be the last.

Four Little Adults, directed by Selma Vilhunen - a Finnish relationship film about two married couples and their "polyamory" experiment. This film is here for a humorous contribution to the endless line of stories with the "neither together, nor apart" framework.

Scandi is also offering the Legends category again. In previous years, we showed the complete Bergman collection and the first Swedish silent films. This year, we are jumping on the popular bandwagon of restored premieres. We're bringing back one of the most audience-oriented Nordic films of the last decade, the Swedish film, A Man Called Ove, directed by Hannes Holm, as well as Sweden's established legend – director Bo Widerberg. We feature him in Scandi because he is an overlooked co-founder of New Swedish Cinema and perhaps the only serious opponent of Bergman's poetics. Widerberg's films are not drowning in torturous internal psychodrama. They bring timely social, political, and even activist themes to the foreground. And the films present them through broad and audience-appealing cinematic imagery and genre dynamics. We see this clearly in two iconic films whi h we will play as a Bo Widerberg Double Feature. Man on the Roof (1976) is an action crime drama with modern editing, extreme detail, and emotions, with a precise genre stroke that I myself remember from Czechoslovak cinemas in the late seventies. And then, from the other end of the spectrum, is Elvira Madigan (1967) – a biographical, historical and romantic drama which can also be seen as a non-conformist contemporary revolt. With a bad ending, of course.

For ten years, Scandi has been a showcase of Nordic film excellence and a wide audience and distribution reach. And it makes us, and I believe you as well, very happy.

Welcome to Scandi 10.

Ivan Hronec