KISSED BY WINTER (VINTERKKYSS) International Feature Competition

Norway’s official Oscar submission, in this stunning debut, writer/director Sara Johnsen tells the story of Victoria (Annika Hallin), a doctor who is called to the scene when a young refugee boy is found dead in a snow bank.

Victoria is a successful doctor who has abandoned her hectic life in Stockholm for the solitude of the Norwegian countryside. But even as she treks through snow banks to make house calls, Victoria is haunted by images of her ailing son back home and phone calls to Stockholm that are never returned. Still, it is not until Victoria sets out to prove the innocence of her new lover, Kai (Kristoffer Joner), a snow plow driver accused of murder, that her own secrets begin to unravel.

Johnsen paints a portrait of a Norwegian small town where snowflakes tumble to the ground gently against ink black skies and blinding headlights. The snow covers everything, easing the burden of unbearable loss.