New Docs. Fall 2016/ Winter 2017 A Bastard Child After Inez Belonging The Borneo Case Citizen Schein I Called Him Morgan The Inertia Variations Kiki Letters to a Serial Killer Loving Lorna Ouaga Girls The Pearl of Africa Prison Sisters Reflections The Return Stronger than a Bullet This special edition of Swedish Film presents Welcome to new and upcoming documentaries ready to hit international festivals and markets. Please visit our website sfi.se for updated information on Swedish the world of features, documentaries and shorts. Swedish docs! Swedish Film Institute Publisher Pia Lundberg Festival Manager, International Department ISSN 1654-0050 documentaries P.O. Box 27126 Contributing Editor Josefina Mothander Sara Rüster SE-102 52 Stockholm, Sweden Art Director Markus Edin Phone +46 8 665 11 00 Cover photo I Called Him Morgan, Ben van Acting Festival Manager, Fax +46 8 661 18 20 Meerendonk International Institute for Social documentaries sfi.se History Courtesy of Kasper Collin Produktion Josefina Mothander twitter.com/swedishfilm Print Ineko, Stockholm Phone +46 70 972 93 52 instagram.com/swedishfilm [email protected] A Bastard Child IDFA In 1909, in an undemocratic Sweden, a bastard child is born and given the name Hervor. Her mother is unmarried and driven away from home. Hervor grows up at orphanages, unwanted by society. As an adult she spends her life struggling for social justice. Through hand-painted animated images we get to witness someone being rejected in order to unite others. Original title Horungen Knutte Wester (b. 1977) is educated at the Academy of Director/screenwriter Knutte Wester Fine Arts in Umeå and Johannesburg. He has exhibited Participants Hervor Wester, Knutte Wester internationally since 2003 and is represented by Gallery (narrated by Inga Landgré) Andersson/Sandström. His debut film was the documentary Produced by Bautafilm/Therese Högberg, with support Gzim Rewind (2012) followed by awarded short film Dawn in a from the Swedish Film Institute/Cecilia Lidin City Without Name (2014). In 2015 he got a big grant from The Duration 57 min Swedish Arts Grants Committee and was Artist in Residence at National release TBA NARS in New York, working with A Bastard Child. Sales Bautafilm PHOTO KNUTTEPHOTO WESTER 55 After Inez Denize and Filip have it all prepared: the crib, the pram, the tiny clothes, even the car seat is ready for the baby they’re expecting any day. But at a routine checkup, the midwife’s face suddenly freezes. There’s no heartbeat to be heard. After Inez is a film about how to survive grief. It explores individual differences in mourning, as well as gender patterns and taboos in our society. And finally, it leaves us with an unexpected smile. Original title Efter Inez Karin Ekberg (b.1979, Stockholm) has a BA in Fine Arts Director/screenwriter Karin Ekberg and Photography from the Netherlands, and a Master in Participants Denize Löfgren, Filip Nordin Journalism from Stockholm University. She has also studied film Produced by Karin Ekberg, with support from the and documentary. Her debut feature documentary A Separation, Swedish Film Institute/Cecilia Lidin about the divorce process of her own parents, premiered at Duration 80 min CPH:DOX in 2013 and was later nominated for Prix Europa. National release January, 2017 Ekberg is chair of Independent Filmmakers Association Sweden. Sales Karin Ekberg PHOTO KARIN EKBERG KARIN PHOTO 66 6 Belonging Stockholm 2013. Filmmaker Sophie Vuković runs into a long-lost friend at a demonstration against the growing racism in Sweden. The meeting stirs up memories and feelings that take her on an exploration of her own story of migration and what it means to belong in a globalized world. Told through personal and collective stories from former Yugoslavia via Australia to Sweden today, and blending intimate documentary footage and home videos with fiction, we follow the narrator in a cinematic essay on migration’s psychological mechanisms. A film about rootlessness and feeling nostalgic for something you never experienced. About friendship and how you build new forms of belonging that are not defined by national borders. Original title Belonging Sophie Vuković (b. 1988 in Zagreb) has a degree in Director/Screenwriter Sophie Vuković social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. Her short Produced by Story/Göran Hugo Olsson, Tobias film09:55–11:05, Ingrid Ekman (2015) was nominated for and Janson, with support from the Swedish Film Institute/ won several prizes at international festivals such as SXSW, Antonio Russo Merenda Slamdance, Mezipatra Queer Film Festival, Mix Copenhagen Duration 84 min LGBT Film Festival and Stockholm Film Festival. The film got National release Fall, 2017 theatrical distribution in Sweden. Sales Story/TBA PHOTO STORY PHOTO 9 8 The Borneo Case IDFA In The Borneo Case filmmakers Erik Pauser and Dylan Williams spend five years intimately following the trail of an unlikely group of activists made up of an exiled tribesman, a historian, an investigative journalist and a DJ who overcome death threats and intimidation in their efforts to unravel what has been dubbed “the greatest environmental crime in history” by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Original title The Borneo Case Erik Pauser and Dylan Williams founded Amp Directors Erik Pauser, Dylan Williams film together, and the two have worked internationally with the Participants Mutang Urud, Clare Rewcastle Brown, BBC, Channel 4, PBS, VPRO, ZDF ARTE, Bertha BRITDOC, Peter John Jaban, Lukas Straumann Discovery, Ford Foundation and many others. Productions include Produced by Amp film/Erik Pauser, Dylan Williams, with support Men Who Swim (2010), The Face of the Enemy (2010), from the Swedish Film Institute/Cecilia Lidin Maneuvers in the Dark (2012), Once There Was Love (2012), The Duration 78 min Machine (2013), Infected (2012), Palme’s Secret Agent (2015) National release TBA and Storyboard P – A Stranger in Sweden (2016). Sales TBA PHOTO AMP FILMPHOTO 1010 11 Citizen Schein Harry Schein was a powerful and glamorous player, propelled to media celebrity by marrying Hollywood actress Ingrid Thulin, playing tennis with Prime Minister Olof Palme and inspiring his friend Ingmar Bergman to several characters in Bergman’s films. Harry Schein arrived in Sweden on his own, as a Jewish war refugee, at the age of 14. He became one of Sweden’s most influential cultural and media personalities. Original title Citizen Schein Maud Nycander (b. 1960) has a long experience as a Director Maud Nycander documentary filmmaker. She has made a number of historical Participants Roy Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Daniel Bergman, documentaries and has acquired a deep understanding of using Harriet Andersson among others archive material to best advantage. Her film The Nun (2007) was Produced by Breidablick Film/Rebecka Hamberger, with support awarded Prix Italia and the national film award Guldbaggen. Her from the Swedish Film Institute/Antonio Russo Merenda latest film, co-directed with Kristina Lindström, was Palme (2012). Duration approx. 100 min The documentary about Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was National release March, 2017 seen by a spectacular 240 000 in cinemas around Sweden. Sales TBA PHOTO JÖRN DONNER PHOTO 13 12 I Called Him Morgan On a snowy night in February 1972, celebrated jazz musician Lee Morgan was shot dead by his wife Helen during a gig at a club in New York City. The murder sent shockwaves through the jazz community, and the memory of the event still haunts those who knew the Morgans. This music documentary is a love letter to two unique personalities and the music that brought them together. A film about love, jazz and America with cinematography by Bradford Young (DOP Selma). Original title I Called Him Morgan Kasper Collin is a Swedish filmmaker and producer. Director/Screenwriter Kasper Collin He has made films such as the feature documentary My Produced by Kasper Collin Produktion/Kasper Collin, Name is Albert Ayler, theatrically released in the UK and US with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Lars G Lindström during 2007 and 2008. Collin also works as a producer and Duration 92 min consultant for other filmmakers, and gives lectures and National release TBA master classes on filmmaking, producing and self-distribu- Sales Submarine tion in the US and Europe. PHOTO BEN MEERENDONKPHOTO VAN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL HISTORY PRODUKTION COLLIN KASPER OF COURTESY 1414 15 The Inertia Variations Singer/songwriter Matt Johnson of the English band The The has remained silent for the last 15 years. Conflicted by creative inertia he has observed from the sidelines whilst what he sees as corporate state propaganda has swamped the airwaves. Now he will attempt to challenge the media consensus through his own radio broadcast. But a request to write a song soon reveals old demons of inertia and bereavement. Original title The Inertia Variations Johanna St Michaels studied at the School of Director Johanna St Michaels Visual Art in New York City and has a Master’s degree in fine Screenwriters Johanna St Michaels, Matt Johnson art photography from the University of Gothenburg. She Participants Matt Johnson, Tim Pope, Jackson Ewald Johnson, directs and produces documentaries, experimental films and Johanna St Michaels, Eddie Johnson art installations with an emphasis on personal stories and Produced by Saint Michaels Production/Johanna St Michaels, mixed media art. The films focus on the political issues of our with support from the Swedish Film Institute/Cecilia Lidin time and the eternal questions tied to the human condition. Duration approx. 90 min Resent films include Penthouse North (2014) and National release TBA A Smorgasbord of Sin (2015). Sales Saint Michaels Production PHOTO SAINT MICHAELS PRODUCTION MICHAELS SAINT PHOTO 17 16 Kiki IDFA Through a strikingly intimate and visually daring lens, Kiki offers a riveting and complex insight into a safe space created and governed by LGBTQ youth of color, who are demanding happiness and political power.