Arctic Film Festival 2023 (EN)

13 May 2023 at Longyearbyen Kulturhus

The Arctic Film Festival 2023 is returning on the 13th of May at our beloved Longyearbyen Kulturhus. Returning back a few months after last year’s edition, AFF23 wears its spring clothes marking the beginning of the Festival’s new era. 

AFF is taking place in the heart of Svalbard’s Sunny Winter season when days become brighter and locals celebrate the return of the sun aiming to serve as a connecting platform for locals and visitors, international cinephiles and filmmakers. 

“The Arctic Film Festival is aimed to represent change and at the same time act as a meeting point where films will spark conversations and give birth to new ideas. We hope you’ll share the same vision with us and we are looking forward to seeing you all at the Longyearbyen Kulturhus to celebrate the independent cinema together.” Apostolia Katsiantridou, Head of Programming. 

Excited and honoured to have received more than 1,000 submissions from over 80 countries, we created a multifaceted programme that spans a wide range of themes. Feature and short narratives, documentaries, animations and shorts under the Adventure and SDG Films categories will be screened over one evening in the cosy cinema at Kulturhuset. 

The Festival’s three screening slots are divided into two different thematics interweaving the local with the global while addressing political, environmental and gender issues, among others.

Living up to its title “Short Films from Around the World”,  Screening Slot 1 travels us around the globe narrating everyday stories of humans next door. Six indie shorts including the award-winning “August Sky” by the Brazilian filmmaker Jasmin Tenucci and the animated short “Dating Internet Strangers” will open the Festival day. 

Screening Slots 2 & 3, with the theme “Exploring the Arctic”, feature an impressive film selection that unravels the mysteries of the Arctic. Shorts and feature films such as “Saving Glaciers” and “The call of the Arctic” will fill the big screen with the otherworldly landscapes of the earth’s northernmost part. 

From Switzerland and Slovenia to Taiwan and Brazil, the selected screened films come from all four corners of the earth. Our mission is to highlight international filmmakers of all backgrounds and to bring the art of cinema even to the most remote places. 

Press Office 

07/04/2023 

Communications and Press Office: Aliki Seferou, [email protected]