	An initiative of the EU MEDIA Programme with the support of the Italian Government Since 1992 MEDIA Salles has been promoting the European cinema and its circulation at theatrical level
	EURO KIDS - SCREENINGS 2003/2004

Elina: as if I wasn't there
Original Title	Elina – Som om jag inte fanns
Director	Klaus Härö
Genre	Drama / Family
Country of origin	Sweden / Finland
Language spoken	Swedish / Finnish
Year of production	2002
Admissions	51,158 (in Sweden, as at March 2003)
Box Office	SEK 990,913 (in Sweden, as at March 2003)
Production	FILMLANCE INTERNATIONAL AB Box 27156 SE-102 52 Stockholm Phone +46 84597380 Fax +46 84597389 E-mail: hq@filmlance.se Website: www.filmlance.se KINOPRODUCTION OY (co-production) Katajanokankatu 6, FIN-00160 Helsinki Phone +358-9-663217 Fax +358-9-662048 E-mail: kino@kinoproduction.fi Website : www.kinoproduction.fi Filmpool Nord AB (S) Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (S)
Domestic distribution/World Sales	FINNKINO OY (Finland) Phone: +358 9131191 Nordisk Film Biografdistribution (DK) (world sales) Sonet Film (S)
Domestic release	31 January 2003 (Sweden) 7 March 2003 (Finland)
Official website
Awards	Berlin International Film Festival 2003 (Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk - Special Mention Best Feature Film and Glass Bear - Best Feature Film) Buster Intenrational Children’s Film Festival 2003 (Special Mention) Chicago International Children’s Film Festival 2003 (Adult’s Jury Award – Certificate of Merit – Live-Action Feature Film or Video) Cinekid 2003 (Cinekid Film Award – Honorable Mention) Guldbagge Awards 2004 (Guldbagge – Best Supporting Acctress) Isfahan International Festival of Films for Children & Young Adults (C.I.F.E.J. Award and Golden Butterfly) Montréal International Children’s Film Festival 2003 (Grand Prix de Montréal – Feature Film)
Suggested by	Giancarlo Zappoli, Artistic Director of the Castellinaria Festival (Bellinzona – CH) Tonje Hardersen, Children’s Film Adviser with FILM&KINO Selected for Zlín Film Festival – 2004 edition in the section Panorama

List of Distributors

Release date	Country
28 November 2003	Denmark

SYNOPSIS

In rural northern Sweden of the early 1950s, little Elina goes to school again after recovering from tuberculosis, the same illness that has killed her father a few years earlier. Elina's family belongs to a Finnish-speaking minority frowned upon by a staunch schoolmistress who starts hounding Elina for speaking Finnish in class and questioning her authority. Elina's mother, sister, and a liberal young male teacher all try to mediate the ensuing battle of wills between Elina and Miss Holm. Elina finds consolation in wandering out on the dangerous marshlands to have imaginary conversations with her dead father.