It is hard for refugees to be welcomed unanimously anywhere. Norway and northern Norway is no different. In the 18-minute film, ‘The Kicksled Choir’, writer/director Torfinn Iversen and producer Julia Andersen of Fjordic Films, have dealt with this topic, among other important and interesting ones, like father-son relationships, building your own identity, and fighting for one’s beliefs.

Norway has many choirs, especially in the smaller towns. One such choir of residents in a small village in northern Norway goes door-to-door singing to collect money or clothes for the refugees living nearby. They get around on kicksleds, sleds with seats, and hence the name.

There’s not a lot of dialogue, as the tension of the silence takes its place. In the beginning, Gabriel’s father (Stig Henrik Hoff) is buying a window. When a refugee won’t get out of the way so Gabriel’s father can drive past, the two get into a fight and Gabriel’s father throws the man over a railing into the river. This shocks Gabriel. At home, while they sit through a quiet dinner, the choir comes by. Ten-year old Gabriel (played by debutante Benoni Brox Krane), who loves to sing, longs to join the choir, and so welcomes them, but his father shoos them away. At school, he overhears people saying, “the crazy farmer threw the refugee in the river,” and “don’t call them immigrants, they’re refugees.”

The film has already won awards at many film festivals around the world. It was the official selection at several other film festivals.