“Bright Nights” film festival: Feb 6-14

Aska (Ash) dir. Herbert Sveinbjörnsson
Iceland, 2013

Winter! Except for bad roads, it’s an ideal time to cocoon indoors and catch up on movies. Maybe even movies set in wintery places?

If armchair travel is your thing check out “Bright Nights: The 5th Baltic-Nordic Film Festival”

In collaboration with the Embassies of the Baltic and Nordic nations, the Canadian Film Institute presents this annual festival of films from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Norway.

Offerings range from intense inter-personal dramas, to real events, like “Aska (Ash)” a 2013 film from Iceland, showing the festival’s final night, Feb 14th.

On April 14th 2010 the earth opened up for the second time in less than a month at Eyjafjallajökull in Southern Iceland. The volcanic eruption melted the ice cap, flooded the nearby farms, spewed 70 tons of ash into the stratosphere per second and disrupted air traffic throughout Northern Europe. It forced many flight cancellations and stranded thousands of passengers, capturing the world’s attention. When the airlines resumed their normal routes and headlines started to fade, the farmers under the volcano were fighting for their livestock and livelihood, as they still are today. ASH follows three farming families over the course of a year to see the effect of the ash on their lives. It is a startling, visually arresting, utterly engaging portrait of the aftermath of one of the world’s most spectacular, and devastating, volcanic eruptions.

ASH Official teaser trailer from Edisons Lifandi Ljosmyndir on Vimeo.

All the films are being shown at Carleton University’s River Building Theatre in Ottawa, with English sub-titles.

Tags: Baltic-Nordic film festival, canada, culture, film, Ontario, tourism, travel