Three Asian films will be screened at the Norwegian International Film Festival which will take place from August 19 – 25, 2023 in Haugesund, Norway.

Nora and Hae Sung were best friends and deeply connected to each other, until Nora’s family emigrated from South Korea to the United States. Around 20 years later, they reunite for a week in New York, where they confront questions of fate, regret, love and all the choices that make up our lives. This is a painful and beautiful work of art that can be compared to Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. While Linklater’s trilogy is characterized by seizing opportunities, Past Lives explores what happens when we don’t. This film had its world premiere at the Sundance festival and was later nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin film festival. Celine Song’s directorial debut is a personal and emotional masterpiece that will touch the hearts of many. (NIFFH 2023)

Trailer:

This film takes us to Japan in the near future where the government tackled the difficulties of overpopulation and loneliness by setting up a program called Plan 75. The goal is to recruit those 75 or older to participate in a program to be voluntarily euthanized, to prevent an over-aged society. The program even chooses to support people financially under this plan. The film therefore follows an elderly woman whose means of survival are disappearing, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman and a young Filipino laborer who works with the dead bodies. It is an eerie and thought-provoking film that poses many societal questions and confronts how an alternative Japan copes with an aging population. (NIFFH 2023)

Trailer:

25-year-old Freddie grew up in France, but is returning for the first time to the country she was born in. It will be a demanding journey in her own identity and rootlessness. Freddie is a young independent woman born in South Korea, but who grew up with French adoptive parents in Paris. She is tough, almost a little cynical in her dealings with others, and does not say no to a good party. When, almost on a whim, she decides to change a trip from Tokyo to Seoul, it also triggers the desire to find out more about her origins. Return to Seoul takes us on a beautiful journey to wonderful Seoul in South Korea, and is an intense and painful portrait of exploring one’s own identity, for better or for worse. (NIFFH 2023)

Trailer:

More information: https://www.filmfestivalen.no/