James Koenig is Founder and Director of the
Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. (
SFFLA), yet his voice can be heard in various arts arenas. A graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree, he wrote poetry while there, published by the University of Chicago Press. He continued writing: song texts, theatrical pieces, journalism, articles on classical music, and even a novel — The Meter Is Running. He has been decorated as a Knight of the Order of the Finnish Lion for his musical activities and cultural work for Finland and his work with the American Scandinavian Foundation of Los Angeles. Yet there is one last talent — perhaps his foremost — Koenig is a classical singer, a baritone who has performed in opera, concerts, and recitals in the United States, Italy, and Scandinavia. He enjoys teaching and coaching vocal students, and in the summer he teaches at the Bel Canto Institute in Firenze.
Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us about this year’s Scandinavian film festival in Los Angeles?
James Koenig: First of all, it’s really hard to believe that we’re starting the second decade of Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. We celebrated our tenth anniversary last year—and we continue with our mission of bringing Nordic film to an enthusiastic film audience in the so-called “film capital of the world.” Each year we offer our audience an opportunity to see what’s going on in Nordic film, and to network with others interested in not only Scandinavian, but European, and world cinema. Our program pivots around screenings of as many as possible of the Nordic Oscar entries, in the context of additional current feature films, with some shorts and documentaries from Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. We offer the representative “best” of Nordic film making in any given year. It’s like an intensive immersion course. Or maybe it’s an opportunity to obsess. We call it an annual residency of Nordic film in Tinsel Town. Or, as one writer put it, “Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. is where Nordic film ‘winters’ in Southern California” —in residency—at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. It’s a great venue-- an industry know state-of-the art theater, with a big screen, great sound system, and all that good stuff. We’re lined up for January 9th and 10th, then the 16th and 17th— two week-ends of northern lights, camera, action!
BT: Do you have any information about which films will be screened at the festival.
JK: The program isn’t quite yet announced, but there are so many wonderful films coming up. The five Nordic films that are submitted for Oscar competition are
TERRIBLY HAPPY from Denmark,
LETTERS TO FATHER JACOB from Finland,
REYKJAVIK ROTTERDAM from Iceland,
MAX MAGNUS from Norway, and
INVOLUNTARY from Sweden. Occasionally we can’t screen a particular film because it’s on the program of a larger festival like Sundance which stipulates that they have the North American premier. But a screening in Beverly Hills is always good for a film. (Especially if it’s a good film!) And I think it’s important that we put the Oscar submitted films in the context of other current films from the five countries.
We have an eager audience—some people with a “Festival Passport” see nearly every film! Our audience consists of many industry people and film lovers as well as “homesick Nordics” from the five countries. It always makes for a great energy in the theater—and about a third of the audience is not reading the subtitles, so you get a very real response. And it’s always fun in our Nordic café out in the lobby with plenty of networking and noshing. I always enjoy hearing the lively discussions that each of the films inspires. It never fails—if someone really hates a particular film, it’s always someone else’s favorite. The important thing for us is that the people are able to see the films because we are there.
BT: The festival must be challenging because many of the festival here in Los Angeles deal with only one country, while your festival deals with five different countries. How difficult is it that?
JK: Sometimes it feels like my big love for Scandinavian film is like the HBO series Big Love—where the guy has three wives—only I have five! Multiply the challenges (and exhaustion) by five! But that’s not entirely true. Each of the Nordic countries has their own identity with their own film world, directors, on-screen talent, studios, and film institutes. But Scandinavian film in general is really cinema without borders—at least not heavily guarded ones. If you watch any of the films from the five countries and follow the credits at the end, you’ll see that the work and the talent travels freely. You might have a Norwegian film with post production done in Denmark, or a Swedish film project with partial funding from Danish Film Institute, or co-productions; or, you may have a director like Klaus Harö—who has had Oscar submitted films from both his native Finland and from Sweden. This year we’ll screen his Finnish film
LETTERS TO FATHER JACOB. It’s interesting --when I attend film festivals in Scandinavia to see new material coming
out, many people from each of the Scandinavian countries automatically morph their own language into a general Scandinavian language, not really Swedish or Danish or Norwegian, but a mixture. Finland, with a 10% linguistic minority that speaks Swedish has both Swedish and Finnish, but their films are predominantly in Finnish, which is not in the Scandinavian language grouping, but, rather the Finno-Ugric language group. The Nordic film world, while being divided by country, also represents a geographically and culturally delineated sub-group of European films—and a body of work that represents 10% of all European film production. You’ll commonly see a Swedish actor in a Danish film or a Danish actor in a Norwegian film. These actors commute from country to country for their work. The countries all have an individual identity but work together as well. The same is true in life in general in the Nordic countries. Characters in the films often reflect the fact of life that there are people living in each country who may be not only from another Scandinavian country, but from many places around the world.
BT: I also noticed that a lot of people that immigrated have found work in Scandinavian countries.
JK:This is really fascinating to me-- maybe because when you see it happening in another country it changes how you observe life and attitudes in your own country. We take for granted in America that we have great foreign filmmakers whom we consider American filmmakers because they have worked here and made American films. Harald Svart is a Norwegian who makes both American and Norwegian films. Renny Harlen is a Finn, but he’s really an American filmmaker. We’re used to a pluralistic film society. There are filmmakers in the Nordic countries who are immigrants as well—like Sweden’s Josef Farres from Lebanon, or Norway’s Hisham Zaman—a Kurdish Norwegian. Right now the economy in Norway is oil rich, so there’s work there. And in Sweden, the economy is difficult, so prices are down, and in Denmark, things are more expensive so people cross the Oresund Bridge and do their grocery shopping for about 30-40% less. We have Iranian filmmakers, Spanish filmmakers, filmmakers from all over the world who make films in America. More of the same is becoming true in Scandinavian. And immigrant filmmakers have a very interesting dual-identity—shaped both by their country (we should say “culture”) of origin and the identity of their new homeland. I like to think of markers of identity more than borders-- Cinema has many identities, but, at its best, it crosses or even erases borders, while preserving identity.
BT: Do you expect to have guests?
JK: Of course! One guest that I know about for sure is Finnish Film Director Klaus Harö. Klaus has made films in both Sweden and Finland. He has actually had both Swedish and Finnish films submitted for Oscar consideration, so he is one of those that has crossed borders and made films in two countries. There are others as well. And there will be other guests—both on and off-screen talent.
BT: It seems that Scandinavian films have made a comeback in festivals in terms of winning awards, of course they have always been present; Is this because the film system that
exists in Scandinavian countries allows filmmakers the freedom in order to make the films that they want, without concern to commercial success?
JK: That’s certainly true—at least in part. Film is art AND business-- even in the Nordic countries. But, that’s one thing that initially impressed me as I was getting to know the process of getting a film funded in Scandinavia. Decisions are not made solely from a commercial standpoint. They actually look at scripts and talk about how a project contributes to the culture and language, and about artistic merits. It is a much different formula than ours in America. Ours can be a very anti-artistic formula; I call it “art by committee” or “art by calculator.” But our Cineplex’s need “film product.” Sometimes that equals “cheese-whiz.” But we also have good films. With films in general, I happen to get excited about films that play a societal or political role, or tell untold stories about people’s lives. Certainly film does just that in any setting, in any country. Outside of my film activities, I’m involved in the music world as a classical singer and teacher. A hundred years ago social issues that could not be discussed publicly were boldly presented on the operatic stage. When Verdi wrote about Hebrews and Babylonians in his opera Nabucco, everybody knew he was talking about Lombardy and Austrian oppression. Verdi later became a member of the first Italian parliament, just like playwright Vaclav Havel became the first president of the Czech Republic. Today, it’s movies that talk about issues that are maybe more difficult to get addressed in a direct fashion. It’s movies that tell untold personal stories, and bring unwritten or suppressed history to light. I like film that has a purpose; I like films that give a voice to the voiceless. Even in countries where censorship is very strong, film still gets the message across. When one mentions Scandinavian film, many think of Bergman images and an old “golden age” of Scandinavian film. But I believe the new wave of Scandinavian film—built on the foundations of that golden age-- is strong, and may even surpass it—and that’s how it should be.
BT: How can people buy tickets for the festival?
JK:The best thing to do is to sign up on our website which is www.scandinavianfilmfestivalla.com where you’ll find links to all of our schedules from previous years and soon to the new 2010 schedule with links for information on all the films. Ticket ordering information and advance ticket sales are available online. We also sell tickets at the door, but the more popular films can sell out. And we’re always, always looking for donors to help make the festival possible. There’s a donor form on the web-site too.
I can't list all of our wonderful donors here, but, I would like to express special thanks to Scandinavian Film Festival L.A.’s parent organization—the American Scandinavian Foundation of Los Angeles, to Pascal and Paulina Ladreyt of ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America) organization,
www.ELMA.org ,and for the continued support of all the Nordic film institutes and consulates, and the outstanding contribution of Chef David Larson and Taste is everything...custom catering and event planning
www.tasteis.com .
BT: Thank you for your time and best of luck.
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