Tongue Cutters

Dir. Solveig Melkeraaen. Norway. 2017, 85 mins. DCP. In Norwegian with English subtitles. This exuberant and wildly entertaining coming-of-age film documents the journey of Ylva, a nine-year-old girl from Oslo, to her grandparents’ northern Norwegian fishing village to learn the ancient art of codfish tongue cutting—the gateway task for children being trained as fisherpeople. Over the course of her trip, Ylva pals around with her friend Tobias, snips a whole lot of tongues, and by conquering some real fears, becomes the brave heroine of her own developing story. U.S. premiere.