Stockholm Film Festival preview: Top Swedish films
The 26th Stockholm International Film Festival takes place from November 11 to 22, but it’s not too early to start planning your film schedule. Here are the top Swedish films - long and short - not to miss this year.
Beneath the Spaceship (by Caroline Ingvarsson)
This unique 15-minute drama traces the events of one sweltering Swedish summer, when the bond between an adolescent girl and her older neighbour frays as their relationship comes under the scrutiny of those who can't understand what they share.
Dear Director (by Marcus Lindeen)
In 1980 American jazz pianist Kazzrie Jaxen watches Ingmar Bergman’s From the Life of the Marionettes. Afterwards she writes him a sixteen-page letter explaining how the film changed her life.
It had started a dramatic inner journey which made her understand that she is not alone in her own body: hidden inside a small lump of fat under her skin rest the remains of her unborn twin. Dear Director is based on a real fan letter written to Bergman that Swedish director Marcus Lindeen found while doing research on unfinished Bergman scripts for a play.
Detained (by Anna Persson and Shaon Chakraborty)
Definitely a highlight for those interested in the current refugee crisis, 'Detained' is a documentary from within the Swedish Migration Board's locked repository where people are in custody awaiting forced deportation.
Prisoner and guard are in close proximity around the clock. Converses during sleepless nights and playing football during hot summer days. We follow Sophie, 29, who loves her job at the repository, Sami, 20, the young rebel who is locked up but free inside, and Aina, 47, who were separated from her children and kept locked up while the police are stepping up efforts to enforce their expulsion order.
Gerilla is about the never-ending hunt for approval in daily life. It's about a revolution which starts on Youtube. It's about fulfilling yourself through changing the world. It's about young Adam, who wants to win back his ex and starts to hang out with the feminist artist Lena. It's about the struggle against the patriarchy and the struggle to love someone more than you love yourself. Gerilla is the first full-length feature film by director Anders Hazelius, and it promises to be amazing.
Aisatou is an actress who comes to a recording studio to read some lines. Once she gets started, though, the two directors are displeased about something - they want the stereotypical dialect from the "ghetto", Rinkeby. Aisatou must chose between keeping her integrity, or sacrificing it in order to please her employer's stereotype. With striking authenticity, the film exposes prejudice and racism within the hip world of culture.
The Here After (by Magnus Von Horn)
After serving a prison sentence at a juvenile detention John (Ulrik Munther) returns to his home village to start a new life. But as it turns out his old crimes are neither forgotten nor forgiven. In his debut feature film "The Here After" director Magnus von Horn explores emotionally disconnected people in a remote Swedish community.
I Turn To You (Victor Lindgren)
"I Turn To You" is a story of a family in decay, a divorce from the child's perspective. Two strong sisters give each other strength when their parents fail to continue with their marriage. Elin is 11 and Jennie is 8, and they take the bus between their parents' houses and live separate lives. It's a tale of divorce and decay - from a child's perspective.
She's Wild Again Tonight (by Fia-Stina Sandlund)
In Fia-Stina Sandlund’s debut film we see the actress Shima Niavarani and singer Gustaf Norén in a bruising power struggle during a film shoot of a modern "Miss Julie" play. While waiting for the director they expose themselves completely and turn gender roles inside out. It is a fun and daring film that puts Strindberg's original play on the autopsy table.
Internationally Sweden is seen as a perfect society, a raw model and a symbol of the highest achievements of human progress. The Swedish Theory of Love digs into the true nature of Swedish life style, explores the existential black holes of a society that has created the most autonomous people in the world.
Last year’s 1 km film scholarship recipient Ninja Thyberg is back with the short film "Stallion". A coming of age story in which 16-year-old Adena learn that her good-looking high school teacher David, who is twice as old as her, will spend the summer vacation at the same resort as her. She goes after David, who is anything but comfortable with her advances.
See the entire programme and get tickets for the Stockholm Film Festival here
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Beneath the Spaceship (by Caroline Ingvarsson)
This unique 15-minute drama traces the events of one sweltering Swedish summer, when the bond between an adolescent girl and her older neighbour frays as their relationship comes under the scrutiny of those who can't understand what they share.
Dear Director (by Marcus Lindeen)
In 1980 American jazz pianist Kazzrie Jaxen watches Ingmar Bergman’s From the Life of the Marionettes. Afterwards she writes him a sixteen-page letter explaining how the film changed her life.
It had started a dramatic inner journey which made her understand that she is not alone in her own body: hidden inside a small lump of fat under her skin rest the remains of her unborn twin. Dear Director is based on a real fan letter written to Bergman that Swedish director Marcus Lindeen found while doing research on unfinished Bergman scripts for a play.
Detained (by Anna Persson and Shaon Chakraborty)
Definitely a highlight for those interested in the current refugee crisis, 'Detained' is a documentary from within the Swedish Migration Board's locked repository where people are in custody awaiting forced deportation.
Prisoner and guard are in close proximity around the clock. Converses during sleepless nights and playing football during hot summer days. We follow Sophie, 29, who loves her job at the repository, Sami, 20, the young rebel who is locked up but free inside, and Aina, 47, who were separated from her children and kept locked up while the police are stepping up efforts to enforce their expulsion order.
Gerilla is about the never-ending hunt for approval in daily life. It's about a revolution which starts on Youtube. It's about fulfilling yourself through changing the world. It's about young Adam, who wants to win back his ex and starts to hang out with the feminist artist Lena. It's about the struggle against the patriarchy and the struggle to love someone more than you love yourself. Gerilla is the first full-length feature film by director Anders Hazelius, and it promises to be amazing.
Aisatou is an actress who comes to a recording studio to read some lines. Once she gets started, though, the two directors are displeased about something - they want the stereotypical dialect from the "ghetto", Rinkeby. Aisatou must chose between keeping her integrity, or sacrificing it in order to please her employer's stereotype. With striking authenticity, the film exposes prejudice and racism within the hip world of culture.
The Here After (by Magnus Von Horn)
After serving a prison sentence at a juvenile detention John (Ulrik Munther) returns to his home village to start a new life. But as it turns out his old crimes are neither forgotten nor forgiven. In his debut feature film "The Here After" director Magnus von Horn explores emotionally disconnected people in a remote Swedish community.
I Turn To You (Victor Lindgren)
"I Turn To You" is a story of a family in decay, a divorce from the child's perspective. Two strong sisters give each other strength when their parents fail to continue with their marriage. Elin is 11 and Jennie is 8, and they take the bus between their parents' houses and live separate lives. It's a tale of divorce and decay - from a child's perspective.
She's Wild Again Tonight (by Fia-Stina Sandlund)
In Fia-Stina Sandlund’s debut film we see the actress Shima Niavarani and singer Gustaf Norén in a bruising power struggle during a film shoot of a modern "Miss Julie" play. While waiting for the director they expose themselves completely and turn gender roles inside out. It is a fun and daring film that puts Strindberg's original play on the autopsy table.
Internationally Sweden is seen as a perfect society, a raw model and a symbol of the highest achievements of human progress. The Swedish Theory of Love digs into the true nature of Swedish life style, explores the existential black holes of a society that has created the most autonomous people in the world.
Last year’s 1 km film scholarship recipient Ninja Thyberg is back with the short film "Stallion". A coming of age story in which 16-year-old Adena learn that her good-looking high school teacher David, who is twice as old as her, will spend the summer vacation at the same resort as her. She goes after David, who is anything but comfortable with her advances.
See the entire programme and get tickets for the Stockholm Film Festival here
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