From the vaults of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish film archives come the original noirs of the North – the cinematic forerunners of today’s popular Nordic noir TV series. Rarely seen outside Scandinavia, this selection showcases the influence of the genre in melting the seemingly icy surface of life in some remarkable films, such as in Bodil Ipsen’s Danish Melody of Murder (1944) and the Norwegian Death Is a Caress (1949). Speaking of the femme fatale, in the latter movie, the “femme” was also behind the camera, as it was directed by Edith Carlmar, whose style evoked the fatalism of the best of film noir. After the war, Scandinavian countries properly caught up with the Hollywood tradition, and low-key lighting, jarringly unbalanced compositions, and tales of desire and lust ending in disaster paved the way for the formation of Nordic noir. This programme celebrates that legacy by featuring archive 35mm prints and digital restorations.

Curated by Tora Berg, Mikael Braae, Sophie Engberg Sonne and Irene Torp Halvorsen