Programmed January 2026

Nordic Noir

The dark cloud of disillusionment that spread across international screens in the wake of World War II didn’t spare the land of the midnight sun, as evidenced by this selection of stylishly shadowy, ripe-for-discovery crime dramas from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Precursors to the Scandinavian crime-fiction boom, these moody thrillers—including Edith Carlmar’s twisted melodrama Death Is a Caress , the first Norwegian film directed by a woman; and Hasse Ekman’s daring mystery Girl with Hyacinths , fascinating for its taboo-breaking queer themes—imbue noir fatalism with a stark social realism and brooding psychological depth befitting the homeland of Ibsen and Strindberg.