Oslo Pix is live
Today, the festival is kickstarted by a comprehensive digital program with 36 films, as well as digital conversations and events.
We hereby welcome you to this year's Oslo Pix – a festival edition that marks the start of the reopening of the culture scene in Oslo after a long period of lockdown. For months, we have been working on different scenarios for this year's festival: Will it be all-digital, or live? Will there be an audience capacity of 200? 100? 50? Will there be a vaccine certificate?
We have planned for a digital platform for this year's festival for a long time, and at this moment, we have published 36 exciting films that can be streamed at home in your living room with friends and family. The past two weeks, we have created a hybrid festival with cinema screenings complementing the digital program. We are very pleased that some of you will enjoy the darkness of the cinemas in Oslo, and that audiences all over Norway can enjoy much of the program at home.
Welcome to Oslo Pix 2021!
Digital program
The digital festival is already underway! If you need help orienting yourself in the digital program, our film bundles can be a good place to start. Whether you are in the mood for an exciting drama or three, want to immerse yourself in some interesting documentaries, or just want to make sure you catch some of the best films that this year's Oslo Pix has to offer – check out the bundles here!
Vitalina Varela (dir: Pedro Costa)
One of the films you should catch today is the festival favourite Vitalina Varela by Portuguese master director Pedro Costa, who is one of our international guests at this year's festival. Costa participates in a conversation available on the digital platform. Here, you will also find the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, about the media circus surrounding Swedish Björn Andrésen who at the age of 15 was casted in Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice. We strongly recommend setting aside an evening for the 4 1/2 hour documentary City Hall by 91-year-old master Frederick Wiseman, known for his highly entertaining and humanistic documentary portraits of American institutions.
City Hall (dir: Frederick Wiseman)
On the digital platform you will also find five films and conversations under the vignette Pix Politics, which focuses on current social issues – from ambitions in climate policy to online grooming and a lack of trust in the government.
If you're an art buff, take a look at Pix on Art, the festival's section for films about other art forms – from literary giants to electronic music and horror films. In connection with the documentary Max Richter's Sleep, we invite the audiences and film industry to participate in a free masterclass with Richter himself, live on Friday,June 4.
Exclusive Cinema Screenings
On Wednesday, June 2, the festival opens for real, with some particularly exclusive cinema screenings at Vika Cinema and Vega Scene. With 20 seats per screening, these screenings will fill up. But, if you're quick, you can catch this year's opening film, the danish action comedy Riders of Justice starring Mads Mikkelsen, the Oscar nominated Quo Vadis, Aida? with a digital director's talk, and the two indie gems Kajillionaire and Never Rarely Sometimes Always.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (dir: Eliza Hittman)
The cinema program includes a number of new, Norwegian films that will finally be available to the Oslo audiences. We are particularly pleased to be screening the ‘Oslo films’ Gritt by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen and HIM by Guro Brusgaard, which we know many have been looking forward to seeing. There will also be the Norwegian premieres of the two documentaries Trust Me and Hello World, and Oslo premieres of the documentaries Kids Cup and Villagers and Vagabonds.
All the Norwegian films come with the opportunity to meet the filmmakers – both digitally, via pre-recorded conversations available on the digital platform, as well as at some of the cinema screenings of the films. See the events page for a full overview of all events and conversations.
Kids Cup (dir: Line Hatland)
We see an end to the pandemic far ahead, and we see light at the end of the long, dark tunnel we have been in together for far too long. Hang in there, take care of each other and enjoy some great films together at Oslo Pix!