At the International Department we work with contemporary Swedish films of all genres. In close collaboration with Swedish producers and international sales agents, we aim to find the perfect platform for films with international potential, both commercial and artistic.
She Monkeys won the award for Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca. Photo: Atmo Produktion AB
2011: Swedish film continues its world wide success
In the past couple of years, Swedish film has become an increasingly strong international brand. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the following two parts of the Millennium trilogy proved that Swedish films can become huge box office hits in all continents, while films like Let the Right One In and Beyond have been highly acclaimed by international audiences and critics alike.
2011 started off with four Swedish films at the Sundance Film Festival. At the Berlin Film Festival more Swedish films than ever before were screened. This was largely due to the extensive Ingmar Bergman retro with sold out screenings to more than 60 films as well as an exhibition at the Deutsche Kinemathek. Eight new Swedish films were also screened, amongst them Lisa Aschan´s directorial debut She Monkeys (which went on to win Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca), and Hugo Lilja´s zombie short film The Unliving.
The Cannes festival saw the premieres of Ruben Östlund’s Play and the shorts Las Palmas by Johannes Nyholm and Killing the Chickens to Scare the Monkeys by Jens Assur.
A major Swedish section was presented at the Filmfest Munich, which also held a co-production meeting.
In Venice Stockholm East by Simon Kaijser da Silva opened the Critics week while no less than three new Swedish shorts competed in the Orizzonti section. One of the short film directors, Axel Petersén, went straight from Venice to Toronto where his debut feature Avalon won the FIPRESCI award for best debut feature in the Discovery section.
Björn Runge’s Happy End was in competition in San Sebastian and cinematographer Ulf Brantås won the award for Best Cinematography.
October will see a strong Swedish presence at festivals in both Abu Dhabi and Valladolid.