For the seventh time, the University of Gdańsk has the opportunity to invite the inhabitants of the Tri-city to the Nordic Focus Festival (NFF) - the Festival of Nordic Culture, which will take place from November 25-27, 2022 on the academic campus. It is a major cultural and media event created within the UG Academic Cultural Centre to promote, but also to better introduce Nordic culture. 

Participants in the NFF will have the opportunity to get to know the Scandinavian region, a land of grim crime stories, intriguing cuisine and music that transports us to another dimension of reality. This world is very close to the city of Gdańsk, where, thanks to its openness and broader horizons, it is perhaps best to feel the inspiring wind from the North.

The guide on this year's journey through the Arctic regions is Adam Jarniewski, who has been living in Greenland for over a decade, the protagonist of the documentary film Zwykłe życie (2022) [TN: Ordinary Life] directed by Kuba Witek. Meanwhile, writer Ilona Wiśniewska will introduce the world of the protagonists of her latest reportage Migot. Z krańca Grenlandii (2022) [TN: Flicker. From the Edge of Greenland].

Artists inspired by Greenlandic culture and guests from the Arctic island will be discussed by Agata Lubowicka, who specialises in the subject.  

In addition, viewers will have the incredible opportunity to learn the basics of the Greenlandic language, and the youngest viewers will take part in an Arctic literary workshop around the book Listy z Grenlandii [TN: Letters from Greenland]. On the Arctic Trail by Adam Jarniewski.

In the literary block, we will meet reporters on contemporary Scandinavian society in the context of the themes of civil rights and moral freedom. The first guest of the festival will be Urszula Chylaszek, whose reportage Kanska. Miłość na Wyspach Owczych [TN: Kanska. Love in the Faroe Islands] touches on the issue of moral changes in Faroese society in the context of LGBTQ+ rights. The theme will be continued with a meeting with a Polish writer living in Sweden for many years, Katarzyna Tubylewicz, whose latest collection of reportages, Swedish Art of Lovemaking, describes the broad spectrum of Scandinavian society through the prism of the theme of love and sex. The meetings will be an ideal opportunity to gain an in-depth insight into the customs of our northern neighbours while confronting the topic with Polish standards of social life. 

An annual regular feature of the programme are travel presentations, where the audience has the opportunity to meet renowned travellers. This year, they will talk about their extreme expeditions, among others: Rafał Król or Zbigniew Szwoch. In addition, any willing resident of the Tricity will be able to appear in the My Scandinavia block, presenting their individual travel exploits from the Scandinavian routes.

The festival's music stage will feature Łukasz Szatt Palkowski with a unique live act composed of sounds collected in Greenland (dog sleds, ice, wind, etc.), enriched with visuals from the far North. Meanwhile, Anita Horowska will guide the audience through the author's exhibition Jej Wysokość Północ [TN: Her Majesty the North].  

As every year, the audience will have the opportunity to take part in activities and workshop lectures. Among other things, we will learn the basics of Swedish or Finnish, and young viewers will be able to take part in ecological and artistic activities inspired by Nordic culture. Meanwhile, traveller and filmmaker Kuba Witek will reveal the secrets of successful planning and implementation of travel and cultural projects.

This is just a slice of this year's Nordic Focus Festival, through which we meet new people and new perspectives, learn unusual stories and learn about our neighbours from the North. It is a very valuable experience.

Free entry to all events

Info: www.nff.ug.edu.pl // www.facebook.com/nordicfocusfestival 

Honorary patronage: JM Rector prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski and Mayor of Gdańsk Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark, Embassy of the Republic of Finland, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway and Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden

Organisers: Alternator Academic Cultural Centre UG, Institute of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies UG, Film Discussion Club UG Miłość Blondynki, National Museum in Gdańsk, Main Library UG

Partners: Czarne Publishing House, Poznan Publishing House, Wielka Litera Publishing House, Pascal Publishing House, Expeditions.pl, Poznaj Grenlandię, Pofikasz? O Szwecji po polsku, Sztokholmianka, Utulę THULE, the author's agency "Opowieści", the Academic Psychological Support Centre UG, the Smak Słowo Bookshop, the UG Book and Coffee Café,

Polish-Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Association of Literary Translators and Interpreters.

Media patronage: Portal Trojmiasto.pl, Prestiż Magazyn Trójmiejski, Magazyn Skandynawski Zew Północy, Moods of Scandinavia, Portal Moja Norwegia, Marchewkowa Skandynawia, Szwecjoblog

The project is realised as part of the statutory activities of Alternator UG Academic Cultural Centre.

The organiser reserves the right to change the programme.