Wondering who is behind the Nordic Lights Film Festival- Twin Cities?
Thought you'd never ask.  Read more about us here:

Board

Director, Kari Lie
Kari is an Assistant Professor of Norwegian at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. While Kari lived in Austin, she helped organize their Scandinavian Film Fest and wanted to get the Twin Cities to join in on the fun.  Growing up in the Twin Cities native, Kari was an active Norwegian choir, Danish folk dancer and Skogfjorden villager from the age of 5.  As an adult, she was determined to find a way to give back to the community that fostered her interest in Norway.  Kari has co-authored the curriculum  Sett i gang and currently teaches courses in Norwegian, Nordic Film, the Sami people, and Linguisitcs.  To read more about her, visit her site.

Assistant Director, Karin Krull
Karin is the Adult Programs Coordinator at The American Swedish Institute - basically, she plans events, activities and classes for adults. Daughter to both a Swedish mother and an American (Minnesota-born) father, she grew up bilingual and with a strong interest in the Nordic culture. Karin majored Scandinavian Studies (and German) at the University of WI - Madison and has both attended and taught at the Concordia Language Villages' Swedish village, Sjölunden. She is excited to be a part of the board for the Nordic Lights Film Festival - Twin Cities, and looks forward to another fantastic year!

Fundraising chair, Krista Schweppe
Krista is the Program Administrator for Mindekirken’s Norwegian Language and Culture Program In Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here she coordinates learning experiences related to traditional and contemporary Norwegian life, language, and society for a variety of learners. Although Krista’s interest in Norwegian was kindled while spending a year at a folkehøgskole, her connections to norsk and Norge have been nurtured during the thirteen summers she has spent at Skogfjorden, Concordia’s Norwegian Language Village. Krista received her BA in Culture and Society from the University of Oslo and is currently working on her MA ESL at Hamline University. Beyond her roles in the Norwegian-American community, Krista is an English as a Second Language teacher who has the privilege of working with immigrants and refugees in the Twin Cities area.

Helena Karlsson
Helena Karlsson is an Assistant Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College where she teaches courses in Swedish and Scandinavian literature, film and culture. Her research focuses on multicultural Scandinavia and cultural productions by immigrants. In her spare time, she likes to run, hike, and ski and she enjoys to travel to new places and learn about other cultures than her own.

Planning Committee:

Webmaster extraordinaire, Ove Lilja
Ove is a native bilingual Finn, who has recently moved to the United States. He is happy to be part in advocating Nordic cultural awareness through this film festival. Ove has taught both Finnish and Swedish to high school students at Concordia Language Villages up in Bemidji. Ove has a degree in international business and is currently working as a software trainer. In the meantime he is updating this website and would gladly get feedback on it at webmaster at nordiclightsfilmfestival dot org
One day Ove hopes to have his own sauna in the U.S.

Susan Harstad
Sue is an artsy-craftsy Norwegian and Finnish-American art historian who happens to be really into Finnish culture.  This interest began from attending the Concordia Language Villages' Finnish village, Salolampi. She started attending Salolampi in 1987 and has enjoyed teaching there for over 20 summers in a row! Susan has visited Finland four times and has visited Stockholm, Sweden twice by ruotsinlaiva (the party ferry from Finland). She has been a presenter at Scandinavian conferences, Finnish festivals, a Sons of Norway chapter, and cultural clubs on the topics of Nordic paintings and Finnish design. And now, bring on the Nordic films!!

Leah Bliss Lilja

Todd Vandecar

Kjerstin Moody
Kjerstin Moody is an assistant professor in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College where she teaches courses on Scandinavian culture (literature, film, politics, and society) and in the department's three-year Swedish language curriculum. She grew up in Minnesota and has spent time working and researching in Sweden and Finland. She completed her Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies with a minor in Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010. This is Kjerstin's first year on the board, and she is looking forward to helping bring greater visibility to the festival, working in unison with the Film Society of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Ty Robinson
Ty recently graduated from St. Olaf College, with a degree in Social Studies Education, where he found his love of all things Nordic. He studied Norwegian language and culture and has taken courses on Nordic film. This is his first year with the festival. Ty enjoys watching Nordic film as a way to learn more about the Nordic countries. Ty is hoping to engage the community through film and show everyone how amazing the Nordic countries (and their films) can be.