THE SUMMER BOOK Special Screenings

North American Premiere

Screening to be followed by a conversation with AFI Alumnus, director and producer Charlie McDowell, and actors Glenn Close and Anders Danielsen Lie.

Snatching her crown as the reigning queen of sweater vests, Glenn Close is both hardened and endearing as a grandmother and seasoned Finnish artist in Charlie McDowell’s adaptation of Tove Jansson’s beloved Nordic novel of the same name. After her mother’s death, Sophia (played by the scene-stealing Emily Matthews in her feature debut) and her father (Anders Danielsen Lie, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD) take refuge for the summer at her grandmother’s estate, nestled on the shores of a remote Finnish island. As her father withdraws further into his solitude and grief, Sophia and her grandmother spend precious time together exploring the island and growing closer. McDowell breathes new life into Jansson’s profound, heartfelt classic with this keen observation that explores the intertwining complexities of family, generational loss and life-altering grief. –Julia Kipnis