The Optimists Play Volleyball

Many wonderful films last week at Seattle's Nordic Lights film festival, but the clear winner for most delightful (and inspiring) was The Optimists, about a team of strong, funny, endearing Norwegian women, aged 66-98, who play volleyball and are about to embark on their first match with a Swedish men's team. The director is the talented Gunhild Westhagen Magnor.

Here's a great clip of the trailer:

Nordic Lights Film Festival in Seattle

8 Seasons, a Sami Short Film

 
January lights up next week with films from the Nordic countries at the annual festival held at Seattle Center and sponsored by the Nordic Heritage Museum and the Seattle Film Festival. This year I'll be seeing the always amazing Sami Shorts, on Sunday Jan 18 at noon.

I'm also looking forward to the Norwegian documentary, The Optimists, "a moving, humorous and absorbing documentary film about an extraordinary volleyball team in Hamar town, consisting of ladies between 66 and 98 years of age."

I worked in Hamar once for a few months, living with a wonderful family. I can't wait to see this one.

 

The Reindeer of St. Matthew Island

St Matthew Island is a comic strip by the Australian cartoonist Stuart McMillen. Based on a true story, it describes what happened when 29 reindeer were introduced to the eponymous island in the Bering Sea in 1944. With an absence of predators and plenty of food, life was good for the animals and they bred rapidly. Until 1966, that is, when their population fell from around 6,000 to just 42.

This story comes by way of most recent issue of the e-journal, The Island Review
which always has something interesting, remarkable, or unexpected.