Swedish films at festivals

Swedish film is here: Visions du Réel, CPH:DOX and Hot Docs

Visions du Réel, April 15 - April 25

^{©Momento Film}

International Competition - Bellum – The Daemon of War

It’s often said that war is inhumane. In Bellum - The Daemon of War this assumption is flipped around, because maybe there is nothing more humane than war. Humanity has always been at war, and it seems that going to warover abstract ideas such as borders, religion or freedom is something that distinguishes us from all animals on the planet.

Directed by David Herdies, Georg Götmark
Produced by Momento Film/David Herdies, Michael
Krotkiewski, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Klara Grunning
Sales Deckert Distribution

CPH:DOX - April 21-May 12

^{© Rena Effendi}

Dox:Award - Children of the Enemy 

Children of the Enemy is the story of bohemian musician Patricio whose daughter married one of Europe’s most notorious ISIS terrorists. They left for Syria in 2014 and, as the Caliphate crumbles five years later, both get killed. Their seven small children survive and are placed in the monstrous refugee camp Al-Hol. When the Swedish authorities neglect to act on behalf on the children, grandpa Patricio is forced to take it upon himself to try to get them out.

Directed by Gorki Glaser-Müller
Produced by Cinenic Film/Kristofer Henell, Erika Malmgren, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Klara Grunning
Sales Cinephil


^{© House of Real}

Dox: Award - Gabi, Between Ages 8 and 13 

Five years in the life of a child in a unique film about not recognising oneself in either of the two genders we can choose from – with an unforgettable Gabi at its core.

Directed by Engeli Broberg
Produced by House of Real / Anna J. Ljungmark, Jacob Eklund

^{© Mantaray Film}

Dox: Award - Passion 

A film about longing, healing, and belonging.Adopting rituals and play from queer BDSM practice and their own Christian heritage, filmmaker Maja Borg seeks to reclaim intimacy and re-establish boundaries in the wake of a destructive relationship. Through stories of queer BDSM communities, Borg
portrays the humanity at the heart of the practise, illuminating its similarities with Christianity.

Directed by Maja Borg
Produced by Mantaray Film/Stina Gardell, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Klara Grunning
Sales TBC

^{© Lolav Media}

F:act Award - Sabaya 

With just a mobile phone and a gun Mahmud, Ziyad and their group risk their lives trying to save as many Yazidi women and girls as possible being held by ISIS as Sabaya (sex slaves) in the most dangerous camp in the Middle East, Al-Hol in Syria. Meanwhile at home, Mahmud’s wife, Siham, and his mother, Zahra, help the traumatized girls with loving care to shed off the black
garments of an ideology that tolerates nothing but itself.

Directed by Hogir Hirori
Produced by Lolav Media/Hogir Hirori, Ginestra Film/Antonio Russo Merenda, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Juan Pablo Libossart
Sales Dogwoof

^{© Nina Hobert}

Nordic:Dox Award - Julia & I

Julia & I is a personal story about a friendship. When Nina looks at her friend Julia, she suddenly sees what she is missing in herself. When Julia seeks her way out of an addiction, Nina begins to look for answers to why she no longer wants to exist. Nothing goes as planned. The film that was supposed to become Nina's film will instead be its own.

Directed by Nina Hobert
Produced by Nina Hobert

^{© Final Cut for Real}

Nordic:Dox Award - Raising a School Shooter

Three parents of American teenagers who committed school shootings speak their minds in a film that puts an unimaginable trauma into words.

Directed by Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors (svensk minor)
Produced by Final Cut for Real / Anne Köhncke, Frida Barkfors
Sales DR Sales

^{© Lejoni Produktion AB}

Special Premieres - Prince of Dreams

Ten years in the life of a young man. Born as a girl and growing up as a boy, he now embarks on his life’s great journey to find himself

Directed by Jessica Nettelbladt
Produced by Jessica Nettelbladt, Vibeke Vogel, Pär Anders Bevmo

^{© Mario Tursi}

Highlights - The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

In 1971, due to the world premiere of Death in Venice, Italian director Luchino Visconti proclaimed his Tadzio as the world’s most beautiful boy. A shadow that today, 50 years later, weighs Björn Andrésen’s life. A film about a dark family history and the price of beauty. A drama that takes us to Japan, Italy, France and Denmark.

Directed by Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
Produced by Mantaray Film/Stina Gardell, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Juan Pablo Libossart
Sales Films Boutique

Hot Docs - April 29 - May 9 

^{© AVB Production}

World Showcase - Imad’s Childhood

After more than two years in captivity with Isis, Yazidi Ghazala and her two small boys are released and return to Iraqi Kurdistan. Four year old Imad is explosively aggressive and his favorite pursuits are stoning rabbits and beheading dogs. With patience and respect, Zahavi Sanjavi has closely followed Imad and his traumatized family for several years. With the help of a teacher, Imad begins to take small steps to find his way back to a normal childhood.

Directed by Zahavi Sanjavi
Produced by Zahavi Sanjavi

^{© Audun Fjeldheim}

Persister - Fly So Far

Fly So Far follows Teodora Vásquez, the spokesperson of the women accused of aggravated homicide and imprisoned in El Salvador for having had a miscarriage. Teodora’s case has become a symbol of the extremism in the criminalization of abortion and the cruelty against women within the Salvadoran system. But also, of sorority, resilience and solidarity.

Directed by Celina Escher
Produced by Mónica Hernández Rejón, Maria Åkesson, Saúl Callejas
Sales CAT&Docs

^{© Mario Tursi}

Artscapes - The Most Beautiful Boy in the World 

In 1971, due to the world premiere of Death in Venice, Italian director Luchino Visconti proclaimed his Tadzio as the world’s most beautiful boy. A shadow that today, 50 years later, weighs Björn Andrésen’s life. A film about a dark family history and the price of beauty. A drama that takes us to Japan, Italy, France and Denmark

Directed by Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
Produced by Mantaray Film/Stina Gardell, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Juan Pablo Libossart
Sales Films Boutique

^{© House of Real} 
Artscapes  - You are the Days to come

Rapid economic and social change in China, following Mao Zedong's death, sparked an artist-led cultural revolution that would help radicalize a generation to demand freedoms they had never known. Remembered for their fierce political bravery in the late '70s and early '80s, the Stars were the first contemporary art group in China who were unafraid to openly challenge the government in the name of liberation. Amassing an incredible collection of archival footage, director Ronja Yu returns to Beijing to seek out the artists whose rebellion inspired her and so many others in the years leading up to the Tiananmen Square protests. Now, over 30 years later, Yu hopes that a reminder of rebellious days past will awaken and inspire a new generation. Revisit a time in Chinese history when imagination and creativity were boundless, and the exciting promise of future freedoms was palpable.

Directed by Ronja Ju
Produced by House of Real / Anna J Ljungmark



^{© SVT}
Shorts  - Jobs for All! 

Utilizing a plethora of archival material, Ravel's "Boléro" and pointed visual commentary, the filmmakers take us on a darkly humorous journey through the modern history of human labour, from industrialization to globalization. In the process of seeing how work "works," we learn that it actually doesn't for most of the world.

Directed by Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Produced by SVT / Helena Ingelsten

^{© Jonelle Twum}

Shorts - A Mother’s Body

A daughter gives voice to the aching physical and psychological toll experienced by two hotel cleaners who work in silence, track time and wear exhaustion in ways that are rarely seen or heard. Their bodies communicate the conditions of their labour, reflecting the rhythm, precision, strength and beauty of everyone who must work to survive.

Directed by Jonelle Twum
Produced by Hawa Sanneh

^{© Ballad Film}

Shorts - Svonni vs the Swedish tax Agency

A Sámi woman tries to convince the Swedish Tax Agency that she has the right to make a tax deduction for the purchase of a dog. Why doesn’t the Swedish authority understand that Rikke is a herding tool and not a pet? A humorous short doc about cultural clashes and the struggle to practice Sámi culture in today’s Sweden.

Directed by Maria Fredriksson
Produced by Ballad Film/Ina Holmqvist, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Klara Grunning


^{© Ballad Film}

Shorts - The Voice Break Choir

As the members of the Stockholm Boys' Choir's voices begin to crack, they are placed in a quarantine choir. As they inhabit this liminal space between boyhood and manhood, these young men share with us their most intimate hopes, fears, desires—and, of course, the music that is so central to their lives. 

Directed by Ina Holmqvist, Martina Carlstedt
Produced by Ina Holmqvist, Martina Carlstedt