'Thale'

• SXSW Film

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• The Dissolution of the First Family of Football

  BY MARK FAGAN

• Fab Four Restored

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

• Killin' It

  BY MARC SAVLOV

• What's Yours Is Mine

  BY MARC SAVLOV

• 'Beware of Mr. Baker'

  BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

• 'Charles Bradley: Soul of America'

  BY AMY SMITH

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  BY MELANIE HAUPT

• 'Keyhole'

  BY ANDY CAMPBELL

• 'God Bless America'

  BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

• 'Dollhouse'

  BY MARC SAVLOV

• 'Compliance'

  BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

• 'Black Pond'

  BY MONICA RIESE

• 'Dreams of a Life'

  BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

• 'The Comedy'

  BY ASHLEY MORENO

• 'Beast'

  BY JOE O'CONNELL

• Music Video Competition

  BY KATE X MESSER

• 'Thale'

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

Thale

As crime scene cleanup professionals, anxious Elvis (Nervold) and laconic Leo (Skard) specialize in odd discoveries in abandoned houses. Even by their standards, a cellar containing a naked woman (Reinåmo), old electronics, and a heavily locked fridge are an oddity – unless you know the legend of the Huldra. Writer/director Aleksander L. Nordaas joins the new wave of Scandinavian filmmakers tapping into the region's icy mythology. But unlike Rare Exports' Santa or Trollhunter's bridge-dwelling stars, these tailed denizens of the Norwegian forests may be a mystery to everyone except the most learned cultural anthropologists. While the story steers superficially close to the supernihilist Dead Girl, its Scandinavian conviction – that the otherworldly is as magical as it is terrifying – gives it unexpected heart. There is a wild joy beneath its eeriness and malice, like a hint of sunlight through frost-covered trees.

Saturday, March 17, 11:45pm, Alamo Lamar