Murder Scandinavian Style: A Film Screening Series
Tue, Apr 14
|Nordia House
Explore the dark side of Scandinavia through a guided film and discussion series examining classic Nordic crime stories that reveal the corruption, social tensions, and human complexity hidden beneath the region’s seemingly ideal societies.
Time & Location
Apr 14, 2026, 7:10 PM – 9:40 PM
Nordia House, 8800 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR 97223, USA
About
Nordic crime novels and films have attained an extraordinary international presence over the past three decades. Frequently addressing social issues, these allied genres investigate the troubling shadows lurking in what may at first glance be a perfect set of Scandinavian social welfare states, where nothing can go wrong. Through examinations of corruption, crooked politics and inequity, the reader/viewer is treated to superb studies of human character.
Our course will be conducted as a series of workshop sessions in which we view, learn about and discuss the films below:
April 14 A Woman’s Face (1938); Gustaf Molander, director. Swedish.
April 21 Death Is a Caress (1949); Edith Carlmar, director. Norwegian.
April 28 The Man on the Roof (1976); Bo Widerberg, director. Swedish.
May 3 Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997); Bille August, director. Danish/British.
May 12 Lights in the Dusk (2006); Aki Kaurismäki, director. Finnish.
May 19 Jar City (2006); Baltasar Kormákur, director. Icelandic.
May 26 Headhunters (2011); Morten Tyldum, director. Norwegian.
An excellent guide to accompany our viewings is Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, by Barry Forshaw. You may find this book on Amazon.com and at Portland’s own hotbed of crime fiction, Powell’s Books.
About the Teacher
Thomas Birnie holds a Ph.D. in German Literature, with a minor in Scandinavian Studies, from the University of Washington. He has taught a wide variety of courses in Scandinavian and German subjects at Portland State University since 1990.
Cost
General Admission Full Series Bundle: $160
Member Admission Full Series Bundle: $128
Please note: full series bundles can be found when viewing tickets for the first three films in the series)
General Admission Individual Film: $25
Member Admission Individual Film: $20
Arts for All Individual Film(Requires valid Oregon Trail EBT Card): $5
(Please note: All sales are final)
