On December 4, see a special screening of The Girl with the Needle (Denmark/Poland, 2024), Denmark’s selection for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards! Director Magnus von Horn will be present for a film talk and Q&A after the screening.
Karoline, a young seamstress, finds herself abandoned and pregnant while striving to climb out of poverty in post-WWI Copenhagen. With her husband missing and presumed dead in the war, she’s unable to pay rent and subsequently evicted. Destitute and soon pregnant to another man, she falls under the spell of a charismatic candy-store owner, Dagmar Overbye, who promises Karoline a home, job, and solution to her problems. But the job itself comes at a terrible cost… and soon brings her face to face with a nightmarish reality. Inspired by one of Denmark’s most infamous serial killer cases, The Girl with the Needle (Pigen med nålen) is at once chilling and timely — offering an unvarnished look at the lengths a woman will go to in order to survive a coldly patriarchal and unforgiving society.
“Builds to a devastating climax, taut as piano wire” (Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter)
“Invested with a supremely eerie folkloric edge – a bleak historical chapter made timeless” (Robbie Collin, The Telegraph)
This screening is presented in this year’s Nordic & Baltic Oscar Contenders series. See all films here.