Swedish #1 2012 • A magazine from the Swedish Film Institute Film BLONDE Berlin AMBITION Fasad bridges the gap between indie aesthetics and mainstream in Avalon and Blondie FEATURED FILMS DRAGONFLIES WITH Bill BIRDS AND SNAKE Shooting Star HEROES Bill Skarsgård shines THE ICE DRAGON in The Crown Jewels JUST A LITTLE LOOKING OUT O.G.B.I.P THE QUIET ONE UNRULY www.sfi.se THE LASERMAN STIEG LARSSON Based on a true story Documentary Starring David Dencik The Man behind Millennium INSPECTOR WINTER WALLANDER Based on books Based on books Starring Magnus Krepper Starring Rolf Lassgård www.svtsales.com [email protected] 4 WELCOME Director, International Department Pia Lundberg Phone +46 70 692 79 80 Berlin in a new light [email protected] I'VE BEEN TO Berlin four times in my life. Who? (Wer wenn nicht wir, 2011), a study of The first was in April 1990. The wall had struggle in post-war German society. And Festivals, features come down a few months previously, but suddenly I saw Berlin in a new light. Gunnar Almér only in parts. We drove through a Check- The last time I was in Berlin was during Phone +46 70 640 46 56 point Charlie still manned by American the European Film Awards in December [email protected] soldiers. For a Swede, shielded from the 2011. This time I had no need to visit effects of war in Europe, it was a very odd museums or monuments to feel the power Festivals, documentaries experience. We stood looking from the west of history. It lives on everywhere in Berlin, Sara Rüster into what was still the east, and rejoiced in all Berliners and, of course, in German Phone +46 76 117 26 78 with Germany at the victory of democracy films. [email protected] over dictatorship. My second time was winter 1996. I FEW CITIES HAVE undergone a history like walked along Unter den Linden looking in Berlin's, and everyone living there has their Festivals, short films Andreas Fock the luxury car showrooms. All that own story to tell. Film is a fantastic medium Phone +46 70 519 59 66 remained of the wall was a few red lines in for conveying those stories. [email protected] the asphalt. I remember wondering how Now we have gathered here for a film they'd managed to eradicate such an festival that brings in stories from around important part of history, and how a street the world. I'm proud that Sweden once Special projects in the poor former East Germany could have again has managed to create so many films Petter Mattsson Phone +46 70 607 11 34 become a showcase for luxury cars. Then I which merit inclusion in the festival. [email protected] returned to Berlin in May 2011. It was 25 Through them, perhaps, we can take part in degrees Celsius and the streets were the democratisation process of others. And bustling with life. I visited the now commer- by taking in films from other cultures and Special projects cialised Checkpoint Charlie, light years societies, we in Sweden can enrich our own Josefina Mothander away from the inhospitable spot I'd democracy. The challenge we now share is Phone +46 70 972 93 52 [email protected] encountered back in 1990, and far removed to allow stories to emanate from a wider from all memories of war and division. I group of citizens. Films tend to get made by thought to myself that in Berlin people are men, mostly white men. In a true democra- Head of Communications keen to forget. cy everyone should have a voice, irrespec- & Public Relations But then I went to the newly opened tive of gender or ethnicity. Let's work on Åsa Garnert Topography of Terror Museum, then on to that, everyone from our corner of the world. Phone +46 70 615 12 41 [email protected] the Holocaust Memorial. I was moved by all the stories, both those of the perpetrators Press Officer and their victims. Moved by the size, by the Jan Göransson power of the stones in their long rows. In Phone +46 70 603 03 62 the Jewish Museum my eyes filled with [email protected] tears. I realised that Berlin doesn't forget at all, but deals with its history and democratic processes by moving forward. Back home in Anna Serner Swedish Film Institute International Department Sweden I saw the German film If Not Us, CEO, Swedish Film Institute P.O. Box 27126 SE-102 52 Stockholm, Sweden Phone +46 8 665 11 00 Fax +46 8 661 18 20 www.sfi.se Issued by The Swedish Film Institute Publisher Pia Lundberg www.twitter.com/swedishfilm Editors Mattias Dahlström, Bo Madestrand Art Direction Markus Edin Download the Swedish Film Contributing Editor Josefina Mothander app for iPad and Android for free. Contributors Jenny Damberg, Henrik Emilson, Gunilla Kinn, Per Nyström, Ulf Roosvald, Po Tidholm, Johan Wirfält, Nanushka Yeaman, Per Zetterfalk Photography Johan Bergmark, Minka Jakerson, Nadja Hallström, Evelina Hultqvist The Swedish Film Institute’s aims include the promotion, support and development of Swedish films, the allocation of Cover photo Nadja Hallström Image editing Kuba Rose grants, and the promotion of Swedish cinema internationally. Translation Derek Jones Print Norra Skåne Offset, Hässleholm Advertising Philip Otter [email protected] ISSN 1654-0050 5 CONTENTS 1/2012 14 20 DAN LAUSTEN ARK M 26 24 OHAN BERG OHAN J 34 ÅNSSON M ÅNS ÅNS M TQVIST L KIBA S INA HU INA 32 L TEPHAN TEPHAN MINKA JAKERSON S EVE 7 News 20 Bill Skarsgård 33 O.G.B.I.P [Our Swedish films at Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand. This year’s Shooting Star in Berlin has been in a quartet Global Behaviour Is International spy Carl Hamilton, Sweden’s answer to of Swedish films over the last two years. Now he’s Psychopathic II] James Bond, is back in a new film. Documentary looking abroad. filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man Virlani Hallberg and Jennifer Rainsford discuss their uncovers the forgotten American singer-songwriter 24 Unruly latest video installation. Sixto Rodriguez, who discovers that he’s a superstar in In her latest short, Fanni Metelius looks at social South Africa. 34 She Male Snails structures among teenagers. Director Ester Martin Bergsmark tells a fairytale about a 14 New talents 26 Fasad person caught between two sexes, and the need to Zombies and football hooligans in Hugo Lilja and Pella create a third in order to survive. Production company Fasad makes indie films. Without Kågerman’s two upcoming films. A power struggle compromises. between horse-loving girls in Carolina Hellsgård’s 37 Looking Out Heroes. And Sascha Fülscher’s new documentary Next 30 Ice Dragon Documentary filmmakers Marcus Harrling and Moa Door Letters in which a fake love letter starts a stream of Geistrand have met one of only very few Swedish Director Martin Högdahl tells a story about a boy who correspondence. women behind bars. never gets the chance to settle down. 18 What’s next? 32 Dragonflies With 38 Flicker Dirty Diaries-director Mia Engberg, much fêted TV-series Patrik Eklund’s short films have triumphed in Cannes and creator Mikael Marcimain and Berlin favorite Babak Birds And Snake been Oscar-nominated. Now he’s back with his first feature. Najafi on their upcoming projects. Wolfgang Lehmann explores the speed of the moving image and the slowness of the eye. 40 New films All the new Swedish films. 6 NEWS Searching for Sugar Man opened the World ­Cinema ­Documentary section at Sundance and is screened at EFM in Berlin. N É is V ke -Å ven S Malik Bendjelloul. wilson hal The one who got away Sixto Rodriguez was hipper than The Rolling Stones. Then he disappeared. All manner of speculation used to surround unknown in the rest of the world, is counted Work on the film took up over three years, Sixto Rodriguez, who released two albums in among the five greatest-ever stars by the most of it using his own savings. Bendjelloul the early 70s before completely disappearing South African white middle classes. Bigger, in himself did the music, animation and editing in off the map. He set fire to himself on stage, fact, than the Rolling Stones. In the cultural his home. The biggest problem seemed to be perhaps, went underground or maybe he just backwater that was the result of the govern- knowing when to stop. killed himself with drugs. For years, nobody ment’s policy of apartheid, Rodriguez’ music “I think that 80 percent was ready after six knew who he really was or where he had gone. acquired the status of political inspiration, months. All the interviews were basically in Malik Bendjelloul’s film Searching for Sugar redolent with a message of social change and place by then. After that I tinkered with it for Man (2012) opened the World Cinema equal rights for all. He was of major signifi- three more years.” Documentary section at the Sundance Film cance in the music scene that grew up in Cape Having initially been knocked back by the Festival in January, a big enough coup for Town during the 80s. Rodriguez was an icon, a Swedish Film Institute (who did provide him anyone, but a truly major achievement for a shining beacon – until two journalists decided with funding at a later stage) Malik Bendjelloul relatively unknown television producer from to investigate his true story. Their quest, which turned to international producers Simon Chinn Sweden. When he felt ready to tell a story on spans from South Africa in the 80s via London (Man on Wire, Project Nim) and John Battsek his own terms, Bendjelloul travelled the world to present day Detroit, is the subject of Malik (Restrepo, Stones in Exile) and managed to to find a story worthy of a feature-length Bendjelloul’s film.