Alfredson's 'Tinker' to spread out Stockholm

STOCKHOLM -- "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy" will open the 22nd Stockholm Intl. Film Festival, marking a homecoming celebration because of its Swedish helmer Tomas Alfredson. The fest, which screens 173 game titles from November. 9-20, will close with Pedro Almodovar's "Your Skin My Home Is.Inch Your competition includes a more powerful Scandinavian flavor than normal, with four Nordic films one of the 22 game titles -- Joachim Trier's "Oslo, 31 August" and Jannicke Systad Jacobsen's "Turn Me On, Dammit" from Norwegian, and Ruben Ostlund's "Play" and Levan Akin's "OthersInch from Sweden. Whit Stillman will chair the jury, together with his film "Damsels in Distress" screening from competition among 16 game titles within the American Independents section. French actress Isabelle Huppert is going to be honored using the fest's Lifetime Achievement Award. Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will get the Visionary Award, and can provide a masterclass. The U.S. is symbolized within the primary competition by Miranda July's "The Near Future,Inch Sean Durkin's "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and Andrew Okpeaha MacLean's "Around the Ice." A powerful selection of British challengers includes "Shame" by Steve McQueen, Paddy Considine's "Tyrannosaur," "Coriolanus" by Rob Fiennes and Andrea Arnold's "Wuthering Levels," which is the fest's focal point gala screening. "OthersInch is just one of three Swedish films getting world premieres in the fest, together with Staffan Lindberg's "Not so long ago in Phuket" and Kjell-Ake Andersson's "Elsewhere." You'll also have a Nordic premiere for that lavish Swedish period drama "Simon and also the Trees," directed by Lisa Ohlin. Danish helmer Nicolas Winding Refn's L.A. thriller "Drive" is screening from competition on view Zone section, that also includes David Cronenberg's "A Harmful Method," Paolo Sorrentino's "This Should Be the areaInch and Gus van Sant's "Restless." "Our 22nd program is fully packed with strong game titles and fresh beginners, which year we're pleased to present more female company directors than ever before,Inch stated festival director Git Scheynius. "The festival will offer you the crowd our most extensive gala program up to now, composed of local world premieres and Nordic premieres of worldwide high-profile game titles," added program manager George Ivanov. You'll also have masterclasses by cinematographer Christopher Doyle and Danish producer Peter Aalbeck Jensen. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com