Akam is a young teacher who instructs kids from many cultures in the finer points of reading and writing in Norwegian, but who rarely gives a thought to his own Kurdish heritage. Until that night his the doorbell of his Oslo flat rings, and an uncle from the Old Country — Iran — stands outside in the rain until he lets him in “My Uncle Jens” a lightly charming, semi-serious Norwegian comedy about family, immigration and an immigrant’s guilt over the world they no longer know and those they left behind in it.

Uncle Khdr (Hamza Agooshi) is mysterious about his unannounced arrival. Teacher Akam (Peiman Azizpour) checks with his mother, who lives in Bergen, and she sounds downright insulted that the Iranian brother-in-law just showed up without letting anybody know he was coming.

And that name? “Too hard” for Norwegians to pronounce. He’ll go by “Uncle Jens” just to fit in.

But as he asserts his right to hospitality — “It’s our culture!” (in Kurdish and/or Norwegian with subtitles) — Uncle Jens starts to intimidate Akam, and make him wonder what the cagey, pushy and 60ish “stranger” is up to.

Writer/director Brwa Vahabpour’s debut feature touches on classic fish-out-of-water immigrant comedy tropes. Uncle Jens has a DVD, and his way of haggling with the locals to get a good price on a player preys on those famous Scandivanian manners. He stubbornly guilts a “yellow haired” guy into accepting a much lower price, and Akam is appalled.

Norwegian tolerance is tested further as Akam shares this three bedroom flat with Stian (Magnus B. Bjørlo Lysbakken) and yoga-obsessed Pernille (Theresa Frostad Eggesbø), who are young enough to bend over backwards about “How long is he staying?” and other inconveniences “Jens” presents to their routine and practices.

“Cultural differences” is all it takes to make them back down at every fresh violation of their roommate agreement.

Challenged by all he doesn’t know about his culture and heritage, dragged into meals at an Iranian restaurant, where politics and duty to his fellow countrymen — Kurdish or not — is hotly debated, Akam comes to resent Khdr and suspect him of getting into the country by means that could get him into undeserved trouble.

He questions an immigration services official (Sarah Francesca Brænne), allegedly for a “short story I’m writing,” learning about protocols, penalties and the like. But she’s a cute redhead and he finds himself drifting off task. “Love” could get in the way of his duty to family or her duty to her job.

Vahabpour’s picture has a hint of “cultural differences” about it in other ways. It unfolds slowly, almost leadenly in the middle acts. He takes little pains to explain/remind the viewer who the Kurds are and the role of the Peshmerga in Iranian life.

But his film stoically wrestles with how easily or uneasily “they” fit into Norwegian life and in the conflict between those who “got out” and came to this icy but welcoming country, and what might be faced by those left behind. And Vahabpour finds just enough fun in the culture clash and in Scandinavians’ struggle to reconcile their tolerant liberalism to “cultural traditions” that have nothing to do with skiing and Lutefisk for Christmas.

Rating: Unrated

Cast: Peiman Azizpour, Hamza Agooshi, Sarah Francesca Brænne, Theresa Frostad Eggesbø and Magnus B. Bjørlo Lysbakken

Credits: Scripted and directed by Brwa Vahabpour. A True Content/Tangaj production reviewed at SXSW.

Running time: 1:38