Harbour of Hope International Premiere at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
After a successful release in Swedish cinemas, Harbour of Hope will now start reaching an international audience. First step is the International Premiere at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in March.
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival has chosen to highlighted Harbour of Hope by including the film among the ‘much-anticipated documentaries produced in 2011’. The International Premiere will be on Sunday, March 11th at 18:00 in the Stavros Tornes Theatre. An additional screening of Harbour of Hope is scheduled for Monday, March 12th at 20:30 at Olympion Theatre.
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival writes the following about Harbour of Hope: ’In 1945, the serene harbour town of Malmö in Sweden became a haven for 30.000 survivors of German concentration camps, rescued by the Red Cross –about 8.000 of them stayed in Sweden and rebuilt their lives there. The film recounts the stories of Irene, Joe and Ewa, who talk about the war, their release from the camps and their lives afterwards; a wealth of remarkable archival footage, mainly of the survivors’ arrival in Sweden, completes the story both historically and dramatically. As such, the film functions not only as historical evidence, but as an astonishing story of human perseverance.’
Upon the announcement of the international premiere of Harbour of Hope Director Magnus Gertten states:
Following the many good reviews and great audience responses Harbour of Hope has had in Sweden, I am looking forward to start meeting an international audience at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. It has been my privilege to have one of my previous films screened there and I look forward to having the international premiere of Harbour of Hope at this great festival.
Harbour of Hope has received a great number of very positive reviews in connection with the cinema release of the film in Sweden. Here are a few of the Harbour of Hope reviews:
‘…the film is so well mastered and captures your interest from start till end…’. Danish Film Critic Tue Steen Müller gave Harbour of Hope five out of six possible stars at Filmkommentaren.dk.
‘Magnus Gertten has managed to make a film full of warmth and human presence, even a beautiful film, if one may say so, given the subject matter.’ Robert Dahlström in Ystads Allehanda.
‘Harbour of Hope, currently screening in the cinema Spegeln in Malmo, may be one of the best Swedish documentaries ever produced. See it!’ Per T Ohlsson, Sydsvenskan (Swedish newspaper)
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival is the first stop on an international festival tour, which Harbour of Hope will have in the coming months. More festivals are already announced and more will follow soon. To stay updated on future screenings you can go to the Harbour of Hope Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HarbourOfHope