Erik Poppe’s commanding take on the true events that turned a brave man into the people’s king. The King’s Choice is based on the events that took place over three dramatic days in April of 1940, when the King of Norway was presented with a monstrous ultimatum from the Germans: surrender or die. With German Air Force and soldiers hunting them down, the royal family was forced to flee from the capital, and decided to go their separate ways without knowing if they would ever see each other again.
While Crown Princess Maertha leaves Norway with their children to seek refuge in Sweden, King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav stay on to fight the Germans. After three days of desperately trying to evade capture, King Haakon refuses to capitulate, even if it may cost him, his family and many Norwegians their lives. Directed by Erik Poppe (Norway, 2016).
About the Director
Erik Poppe is a Norwegian film director and the co-owner of Paradox Film and the Paradox Group, entities that produce feature films. He helmed the acclaimed Oslo Trilogy, which began with his directorial debut Bunch of Five (1998), followed by Hawaii, Oslo (2004) and Troubled Water (2008). The trilogy screened at a number of major festivals and won awards such as the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama Award, the Vesuvio Prize at the Napoli International Film Festival, Portugal’s Festroia Award for Best Directing, the Nordic Ministerie Council Award for Best Nordic Feature, and several others. 1,000 Times Good Night, Poppe’s first English-language film, opened in Norway in October 2013 and won the Special Grand Prix at the Montreal Film Festival, where it was sold to more than 50 territories worldwide. Poppe is a threetime winner of the Norwegian Film Critics’ Award Since 2011 Poppe has been a research fellow at the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme as well as an associate professor at Lillehammer University College and the Norwegian Film School.
About the Series
See some top picks of recent Scandinavian award-winning cinema. Each film will be screened twice—Wednesday at 7 PM and Friday at 6:30 PM. Tickets for individual films are $12 ($7 ASF Members) or you can purchase a Series Pass for all five films for $45 ($30 ASF Members).
To purchase a Series Pass, click here.
Films in the series include:
The King’s Choice /Kongens nei—WED—FEB 7 & FRI—FEB 9
Land of mine /Under sandet—WED—FEB 14 & FRI—FEB 16
The Nile Hilton Incident—WED—FEB 21 & FRI–FEB 23
Heartstone /Hjartasteinn—WED—FEB 28 & FRI—MAR 2
The Other Side of Hope /Toivan tuolla puolen—WED—MAR 7 & FRI—MAR 9
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Image courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films
FRI—FEBRUARY 9—6:30 PM
$12 ($7 ASF Members)
Series pass $45 ($30 ASF Members)
130 min. In Norwegian, Danish, and German with English subtitles.