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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.

Published: 28 October 2015 11:50 CET
Stockholm Film Festival preview: Top Swedish films

 

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 (by Anders Hazelius)

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. 

 

GhettoSwedish (by Bahar Pars)

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.

 

The Swedish Theory of Love


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.
 

Stallion (by Ninja Thyberg)

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 

READER INSIGHTS

‘Benny is always very kind’: Foreigners’ top encounters with Swedish celebrities

We asked The Local's readers to tell us of a time they met a Swedish celebrity. Here are their best stories.

Published: 16 April 2024 11:10 CEST
Updated: 16 April 2024 14:27 CEST
'Benny is always very kind': Foreigners' top encounters with Swedish celebrities

Some readers shared stories of encounters with Swedes who are also global stars, such as Abba or the King and Queen of Sweden, others spoke of meeting national celebrities who had helped them get to know their new home country.

Anne Foo from Malaysia is a fan of the Sällskapsresan movies by Lasse Åberg, who plays the kind but hapless Stig Helmer.

“It was one of the first Swedish films I watched when I first moved to Sweden that I could understand without needing to be fluent. It helped me understand the Swedish psyche and their humour and Swedish people in general,” she said.

Multi-talented artist Åberg is also known for his sketches of Mickey Mouse, as well as Trazan & Banarne, one of Sweden’s most famous children’s shows, and his band Electric Banana Band. Anne met him when she visited his museum, Åbergs Museum, outside of Stockholm.

“We were not expecting to see him there but we kind of heard he pops by the museum often to help out. We bought tickets for the guided tour and lucky us the guide fell sick (sorry guide!) and Lasse, who happened to pop by just then, took over and gave us a personal guided tour of his museum. He is just as he was as Stig Helmer. Has a down-to-earth humour, very intelligent and humble.”

Another reader, Doug, met Swedish singer Lisa Nilsson when she was performing the lead role in the musical Next to Normal at Stockholm’s Stadsteater, a performance she got rave reviews for.

“I have loved Lisa Nilsson for years, ever since Himlen runt hörnet was required listening in my Swedish class,” he wrote on The Local’s Facebook page.

“After the performance I waited by the stage door to see if I could meet her. Many people came out, but not her – until finally she exited, alone. I approached her and she was not just gracious – she seemed genuinely excited to meet an American fan. We stood (in the rain, no less) and spoke for a while. I came away feeling that my adoration was well-placed: talented, beautiful, and so down to earth. A wonderful entertainer and an extraordinary human being.”

Some readers also shared pictures of themselves running into a Swedish celebrity.

Benjamin Dyke met football coach Sven-Göran Eriksson in Torsby, where Eriksson grew up, at the opening ceremony of the Svennis Cup, a youth football competition held every year in his honour.

Eriksson, more known by his nickname Svennis in Sweden, during his long career coached teams such as Lazio in Italy and brought England, as coach, to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Earlier this year he disclosed he had been diagnosed with fatal pancreatic cancer.

Dyke’s encounter with Eriksson happened a few years ago, and he walked up to the Swede to thank him for his time as England manager and the two chatted for a while about that.

“He asked where I came from in England and I answered that all my family come from Liverpool. His eyes lit up (I now know he supported Liverpool all his life, as did his dad) but when I explained that I was an Everton fan (the other Liverpool team…) he quickly shut down the conversation and walked away,” said Dyke.

Sven-Göran Eriksson, left, and Benjamin Dyke in 2018. Photo: Private

Readers also shared their stories on The Local’s Facebook page. Lindelwa posted a picture of her chance meeting with Swedish Melodifestivalen winner John Lundvik at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, although she revealed they did not share a flight.

Lundvik represented Sweden in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Too Late for Love (and co-wrote the UK’s entry, Bigger than Us, the same year), with which he came in fifth.

Lindelwa and John Lundvik. Photo: Private

Gerard met Abba legend Benny Andersson outside his studio in Stockholm.

“I had never seen Benny’s studio so I went to take a look with the ferry from Djurgården to Skeppsholmen. I was told that Benny was in so I waited for a little while and he came out to meet a few fans,” he said, revealing that it was in fact not the first time he ran into Andersson, a composer also known for co-writing hit musicals such as Chess and Kristina from Duvemåla.

“He’s always very kind and patient. I had met him before, last time in 2010 in London for the concert of Kristina at the Royal Albert Hall. Next stop will be May 27th, the second anniversary of Abba Voyage in London where Benny and Björn will do a Q&A before the show.”

Gerard and Benny Andersson back in 2010. Photo: Private

Several other readers also said they had met members of Abba.

“I was a child visiting my relatives in Sweden the year Voulez-Vous was released. My aunt took me to NK [Stockholm mall] to buy the LP. On our way back to her apartment, she spotted Frida on Hamngatan. My aunt was amazing at celeb-spotting, and she was usually very discreet, but in this case she insisted I go up and say hello! Frida was happy to autograph the album for a young fan; it’s still one of my prized possessions today,” said Sue Trowbridge.

Of course, it’s not always easy to recognise celebrities. You might spot a familiar face but not be able to place it, as happened to Linda on two separate occasions when she ran into a Swedish acting star and a member of the Nobel Prize-awarding Swedish Academy.

“I accidentally stared at Pernilla August in a local food shop. She looked familiar but I couldn’t recognise her. She stared back and I suddenly came to my senses and looked another way. Embarrassed. I’ve also stared at Horace Engdahl,” she said.

In The Local’s original survey call-out, we also included a story from Australian reader Jake Farrugia, who was on his lunch break in NK when he spotted a familiar face, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. He walked up to her to ask for a selfie.

“She was very nice and we shared some small talk which truly made me feel like we were on the same level and that she had a strong sense of humanity, as I stood there, butchering her native language with my ‘work in progress’ level of Swedish. I can see why the Swedish people have a deep love and respect for her,” Farrugia said.

“It’s a very un-Swedish thing to do, that’s why I think it’s so fun! All of my encounters with celebrities in Sweden have been very positive so far. It’s all in the approach, you have to be respectful and be OK with others not wanting to give you their time of day, since we all have days where we are feeling less social and those can easily be interpreted as a part of our character, but they rarely are a fair representation.

“If I were to be a celebrity, Sweden would be the place to best blend in. It seems like celebrities can live a somewhat normal life as the construct of ‘celebrity’ isn’t viewed as a thing people go hysteric for as is the case in many other countries.”

The Local’s reader Jake Farrugia snapped this selfie with Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. Photo: Private
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