Sci-fi, queer and WW2

The Egghead Republic is Kågerman and Lilja’s upcoming film following their earlier success with Aniara. A satirical coming-of-age sci-fi movie about a young club kid, who is asked to report from inside the forbidden zone for one of the world’s coolest magazines. The cast includes Arvin Kananian (Triangle of Sadness, Opponent) and the film is edited by Martin Hunter (Full Metal Jacket). The film is partly based on Kågerman’s experience as a reporter for VICE Magazine.

Kevlar Soul (Kevlarsjäl) is the long-awaited first feature by Maria Eriksson Hecht, following earlier success with shorts such as Schoolyard Blues. The film is produced by Ronny Fritsche and Lizette Jonjic for the internationally successful Zentropa.

Labor by Tove Pils screened at CPH:DOX earlier this year. It follows Hanna, who wants to explore who she is and her sexuality, which takes her to San Francisco and its queer community. There she meets sex workers who help her get started on her inward journey.

Danish-Swedish co-production Kingmaker (Mørkeland) by Mikkel Serup is the sequel to the successful political thriller King’s Game (Kongekabale, 2004). In Stormskerry Maja (Stormskärs Maja) by Tiina Lymi, Maja and her family live on the stark, remote island of Stormskär in the 1800s. An awareness awakens in Maja that a woman can be more than just an observer. The film is a Finnish-Swedish co-production based on the novels by Anni Blomqvist, which have already achieved great success as a Finnish TV series.

Klaus Härö directs Ville Virtanen in the Finnish-Swedish Nie Allein, with screenplay by Härö and Jimmy Karlsson. The film follows the Jewish community in Helsinki during the Second World War, when Finland was allied with Nazi Germany – a story never before told.

Sigrid Johnson, awarded for her appearance in Comedy Queen, stars in the short film Liv by Hillevi Gustafsson. It’s the night before starting high school, and 16-year-old Liv wants to make a good first impression. In the morning, she realises she has to face the new world as herself – and that there’s something good in that.

The short documentary Leila is the portrait of a 64-year-old transgender teacher in Herat, Afghanistan. Director Fariba Haidari trained in Iran, and the film world premièred at the LGBTQIA+ Flare Film Festival in London.

Features

Beast
Director Max Kestner
Screenplay Max Kestner
Producers Maximilien Van Aertryck, Axel Danielson
Funding recipient Plattform Produktion AB*
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Cecilia Lidin
Funding granted 550 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation A film that combines a scientifoic vantage point with existential thoughts, based on one of Denmark's most turbulent scandals – the blatant killing of a healthy giraffe in a zoo. It's a film about humanity's place in the world. What's our relation to other species?

*Swedish coproducer. Main producer: Bullitt Film ApS, Vibeke Vogel, Denmark

En film om Sverige idag - efter Sagolandet. Photo: Robert Nordstrom, Peter Östlund

En film om Sverige idag - efter Sagolandet (English title tba)
Director Kirsi Nevanti
Screenplay Kirsi Nevanti
Producer Kirsi Nevanti
Funding recipient Nevanti Film AB
Film type Documentary
Målgrupp Adult
Teknik Live action
Film commissioner Juan Pablo Libossart
Funding granted 2 900 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation In an era of democratic crisis, climate crisis, pandemic and war in Europe, En film om Sverige idag – Efter Sagolandet captures encounters, moments and events in Sweden today. What do people talk about and get involved in? What occupies their thoughts, and how do they see life today? What are the influences from the outside?

Kevlar Soul (Kevlarsjäl)
Director Maria Eriksson-Hecht
Screenplay Pelle Rådström, Maria Eriksson-Hecht
Producers Ronny Fritsche, Lizette Jonjic
Funding recipient Zentropa Sweden AB
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Hanna Lejonqvist
Funding granted 9 500 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation When love comes into the lives of teenage brothers Alex and Robin, their protective symbiosis comes tumbling down. For one of them it’s the start of a healing process, for the other it’s the first step towards total disaster. When love comes into the lives of teenage brothers Alex and Robin, their protective symbiosis comes tumbling down. For one of them it’s the start of a healing process, for the other it’s the first step towards total disaster.

Labor
Director Tove Pils
Screenplay Tove Pils
Producers Melissa Lindgren, Mia Engberg
Funding recipient Story AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Cecilia Lidin
Funding granted 1 800 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Hanna leaves her family and girlfriend to set off for the city of her dreams, San Francisco. There, she meets professional dominatrix Chloe and escort Cyd. A new world opens up for Hanna, one that takes her further and further away from life in Sweden.

Love You Bye (Puss hej då)
Director Annika Fredriksson
Screenplay Annika Fredriksson
Producer Melissa Lindgren
Funding recipient Story AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Jannik Splidsboel
Funding granted 1 600 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Through two sisters, an unfiltered insight is provided into the shock of being a new mother, and being left for another woman. One sisters’ nightmare plays out in real time, while the other sister is recently engaged but starts to question both her own partner, and why the family project was the beginning of the end.

Meril. Photo: Victoria Verseau, Petra Koppla Dahlberg

Meril
Director Victoria Verseau
Screenplay Victoria Verseau
Producer Malin Hüber
Funding recipient HER Film AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Juan Pablo Libossart
Funding granted 2 150 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Victoria tries to reconnect with the memory of her friend Meril, but things do not go as planned - Meril is a story about inbetweenness, belonging and the possibility to b/ who you really are.

Kingmaker (Mørkeland)
Director Mikkel Serup
Screenplay Marie Østerbye
Producers Maria Dahlin, Veronica Öhnedahl, Mistre Tesfaye
Funding recipient Meta Film Stockholm AB*
Film type Fiction
Genre Thriller
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Hanna Lejonqvist
Funding granted 1 500 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Ulrik Torp, once a fearless investigative journalist who is now tackling unemployment and a midlife crisis. He finds himself in the middle of a new political conspiracy.
*Swedish coproducer. Main producer: Meta Film Rights, Sara Namer, Denmark

Nie Allein. Photo: Hobab

Nie Allein
Director Klaus Härö
Screenplay Jimmy Karlsson, Klaus Härö
Producer Peter Krupenin
Funding recipient HOB AB*
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Helen Ahlsson
Funding granted 1 200 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Never Alone tells the silenced story of the Jewish community in Finland allied with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. A good mensch discovers that doing good at his convenience causes more misery than doing nothing.
*Swedish coproduction. Main producer: MRP Productions, Ilkka Matila, Finland

Passing Dreams. Photo: DCIP / Ahmad Al-Bazz

Passing Dreams
Director Rashid Masharawi
Screenplay Rashid Masharawi
Producer Basel Mawlawi
Funding recipient Kinana Films AB*
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Helen Ahlsson
Funding granted 1 000 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Samy, 12 years old, takes us on a journey to find his missing bird, which has supposedly returned to its original home. Through the journey, we discover the tricky daily life of Palestinians and its influence on their characters and relationships with others.
* Swedish coproduction. Main producer: Rashid Masharawi, Cinema Production Center, Palestine

School Under Siege. Photo: Nils Petter Löfstedt

School Under Siege (På Hvitfeldtska bodde vi)
Director Nils Petter Löfstedt
Screenplay Nils Petter Löfstedt, Johan Löfstedt
Producer Johan Löfstedt
Funding recipient Stavro Filmproduktion AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Jannik Splidsboel
Funding granted 850 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation The EU Summit in Gothenburg, 2001. Nils Petter Löfstedt has his camera with him and dreams of becoming a photographer. He is staying with his friend at Hvitfeldtska high school, which is being used to accommodate visitors, but in the morning the police cordon off the school. Ten hours later, the drama is over and 459 people have been arrested. Hidden in a saucepan in the school playground are 15 rolls of undeveloped black and white film. Now, 20 years later, Nils Petter seeks out some of the people captured in his photos. What came to be known as The Gothenburg Riots have left some deep wounds, and several of them have never talked about what happened. Until now.

Stormskerry Maja. Photo: Solar Films, Antti Rastivo

Stormskerry Maja (Stormskärs Maja)
Director Tiina Lymi
Screenplay Tiina Lymi
Producer Gustav Oldén
Funding recipient Nordisk Film Production Sverige AB*
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Hanna Lejonqvist
Funding granted 1 580 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation The film tells a lifespan story of Maja, her husband Janne and their family. They move together to a barren and remote island of Myrskyluoto (Stormskerry). Their everyday life on Myrskyluoto is relentless hard work for survival. Maja, grown up in a world of old values, awakens an awareness of the advent of a new era: a woman can be an equal operator instead of a mere bystander.
*Swedish coproducer. Main producer: Solar Films Inc Oy, Jukka Helle, Hanna Virolainen, Finland

The Egghead Republic
Directors Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja
Screenplay Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja
Producers Nina Lund, Pella Kågerman
Funding recipient Yousavedme AB
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Hanna Sohlberg
Funding granted 3 000 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation The Egghead Republic is a satirical coming-of-age sci-fi movie – partly based on Kågerman’s experience as a reporter for VICE Magazine – in which the Cold War never ended, and the Soviet Kazakhstan is hit by an atomic bomb. A young Swedish club kid is asked to report from inside the cordoned-off zone for one of the world’s coolest publications.

Untitled
Funding recipient FLX Feature AB
Film type Fiction
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Jenny Gilbertsson
Funding granted 9 000 000 SEK
 

Vintersaga. Photo: Ita Zbroniec-Zajt

Vintersaga
Director Carl Olsson
Screenplay Carl Olsson
Producer Antonio Russo Merenda
Funding recipient Ginestra Film AB
Film type Documentary
Target grou Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Cecilia Lidin
Funding granted 2 200 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Vintersaga is a song-based mosaic of 24 meticulously framed situations in which a rich blend of souls juggle doubts, memories, textures, and dreams. Ultimately, the bitter cold winds shape a nation towards a bittersweet melancholy.

Short film

Leila. Photo: Ginestra Film

Leila
Director Fariba Haidari
Screenplay Fariba Haidari
Producer Antonio Russo Merenda
Funding recipient Ginestra Film AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Cecilia Lidin
Funding granted 600 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation A portrait of an unforgettable transgender schoolteacher in Herat, Afghanistan, who shines even with the prospect of the Taliban’s return.

Liv
Director Hillevi Gustafson
Screenplay Hillevi Gustafson
Producers Amanda Romare, Adina Romare
Funding recipient Bloody Brilliant Productions AB
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Youth, age 13-18
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Jan Vierth
Funding granted 150 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation Liv is about the night before the day that will change the rest of your life. The day that’s one of the most critical moments in everyone’s life: the day you start high school. Olivia, 15, spends this night in her room and prepares herself for the next day. Through increasingly desperate actions, she reinvents herself into a better ‘me’. But when tomorrow finally arrives, she has to leave her room and face the world outside.

Night Games. Photo: Gabriel Gumico

Night Games (Nattlekar)
Director Emil T. Jonsson
Screenplay Björn Boström
Producers Emil T. Jonsson, Björn Boström
Funding recipient Slate Film AB
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Children, age 7-12
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Jan Vierth
Funding granted 300 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation While his mother cries at night because the alcoholic father never comes home from his constant partying and gambling, a young boy escapes into fantasies where he saves the father from his drunken peers and helps him get home.

Nina Hedenius - Moment to Moment. Photo: Maria Hedenius

Nina Hedenius - Moment to Moment (Nina Hedenius - ett ögonblick i sänder)
Director Fredrik Wenzel
Screenplay Fredrik Wenzel
Producer Hedvig Lundgren
Funding recipient Fasad Production AB
Film type Documentary
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Cecilia Lidin
Funding granted 855 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation A documentary about filmmaker Nina Hedenius. At 1962 she began her studies at Christer Strömholms school of photography. After six months she dropped out, took her camera and started to make films completely on her own. Thus began 60 years of assiduous filmmaking about the meekness, enchantment and fascination of daily life. Today filmmaker Fredrik Wenzel visits her in her home in Bergslagen.

Ingvar Sigurdsson i O. Photo: Sophia Olsson

O
Director Rúnar Rúnarsson
Screenplay Rúnar Rúnarsson
Producers Siri Hjorton Wagner, Heather Millard
Funding recipient sic film AB*
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Adult
Technique Live action
Film commissioner Ami Ekström
Funding granted 150 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation With "O" Rúnar Rúnarsson returns to the short film format with a poetic and humanistic story of a fragile man who tries to accomplish a simple task, but for whom the main obstacle is within himself.
*Swedish coproducer. Main producer: Compass Films, Heather Millard, Iceland

På det fjärde ska det ske
Director Gisela Nadasy
Screenplay Gisela Nadasy
Producer Gisela Nadasy
Funding recipient Gisela Nadasy
Film type Fiction
Genre Drama
Target group Children, age 7-12
Technnique Live action
Film commissioner Jan Vierth
Funding granted 200 000 SEK
Production company’s presentation A ten-year-old girl dreams of taking revenge on the man who ran over and killed her mother. When her dad announces they are moving out of town she knows it’s now or never.