Romantic, mystical, folkloristic: Theodor Kittelsen's (1857–1914) oeuvre as a painter is not just dedicated to nature but also to legends and trolls – and has influenced artists to the present day. Natasha Nikitina for example, whose film takes up Kittelsen's twelve-part series of pictures "Soria Moria Palace" and his eponymous book: The young hero Askeladden sees the golden palace of Soria Moria in the distance and sets out to reach it; an allegory of the golden future that can be earned with a lot of hard work and dedication. In her film, however, Nikitina focuses more on the atmospheric element, letting a troll in a rock wake up and fall asleep again, letting geese and other birds take flight, letting fog and dusk turn into night and back into a glowing morning. A tribute to the artist, but also to the myth-enshrouded Norwegian landscape in general.

Marie Ketzscher

The fox and the wild boar live on a hill in the forest and discover the world together. Autumn is coming. Delighted, they observe one leaf after the other drift down from the branches. Then the wild boar lures the fox on a hike to the great “Leaf Tree” where countless leaves are still waiting to tumble through the air. An adventurous journey begins where Fox has to pass one test after the other. An adaptation of the popular Polish comic book series by Berenika Kolomycka.

Lina Dinkla