Babak Najafis första långfilm Sebbe tävlar i Berlin i sektionen Generation 14plus.
Sebbe by Babak Najafi. Photo: Hanna Rydström
15 year-old Sebbe lives with his mother in a cramped apartment. Sebbe tries his best. He never hits back. But when his mother lets him down, everything crumbles.
Starring Sebastian Hiort af Ornäs in the title role, Sebbe was written and directed by Babak Najafi and produced by Rebecka Lafrenz and Mimmi Spång at Garagefilm. Sebbe also took part in the Nordic section of the Göteborg Film Festival and is set for general release in Sweden on March 12th.
Babak Najafi previous work includes the critically acclaimed short films Gösta and Lennart (2001) Elixir (2004).
Three Swedish shorts in competition
Three Swedish short films are competing for the Golden Bear in the festival’s short films section. Of the 2,600 films submitted, 25 were selected, and Sweden is the only Nordic country left in the competition.
Tussilago by Golden Bear-Winning Jonas Odell
Two-times Guldbagge winner Jonas Odell scooped the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlinale with Never Like the First Time!. Tussilago is the final part of his trilogy, which also includes Lies (2008).
Synopsis: West German terrorist Norbert Kröcher, the leader of a group which planned to kidnap the Swedish politician Anna-Greta Leijon, was arrested in Stockholm in March 1977. A number of other suspects were arrested in the days that followed. One of them was Kröcher’s former girlfriend “A”. Tussilago is her story.
Händelse vid bank by Ruben Östlund
The film is a reconstruction of a failed robbery attempt witnessed by Ruben Östlund and one of the film’s producers, Erik Hemmendorff, in central Stockholm in June 2006. 96 extras act out the entire event in one single take.
Unplay by Joanna Rytel
Joanna Rytel’s 13-minute Flasher Girl on Tour was one of the films in last year’s hotly debated Dirty Diaries. Her theme this time is similar.
Synopsis: A girl does the rounds. I am that girl. She sleeps around. Until she finds two guys who are close friends. Two cocks in her tiny feminist hands, what a fucking luxury. Unplay defies conventions and norms, going against the patriarchal rules about how a girl should behave. It confronts gender-specific rules, taboos and honour between male friends.
Other Swedish contributions
The festival’s main competition includes the Romanian-Swedish co-production If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle by Florian Serban.
The Film Institute was involved in the film via the former feature films commissioner, Peter “Piodor” Gustafsson.
The Danish-animated short Whistleless by Siri Melchior – made with production funding from the Film Institute’s children’s films commissioner Johan Bogaeus – is competing in the Generation Kplus section.
The Culinary Cinema section includes Fredrik Gertten’s controversial documentary Bananas!*.
The Berlinale celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and will be screening a number of the most notable films from its proud history. Among these is Alf Sjöberg’s 1951 Swedish masterpiece Miss Julie starring Anita Björk in the title role.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact
Pia Lundberg, Head of the International Department,
pia.lundberg@sfi.se +46 8-665 11 39
Andreas Fock, the Head of Short Films,
andreas.fock@sfi.se +46 8-665 11 36
Jan Göransson, Press Officer,
jan.goransson@sfi.se, Direct: +46 8 665 11 61, Mobile: +46 706 03 03 62