Eight new projects were presented at the traditional Film i Väst press conference in Cannes. Among the directors introducing their projects were Anders Thomas Jensen, Magnus von Horn,  Emma Bucht and Ragnhild Ekner.

 

Stenbeck by Goran Kapetanović
Jan Stenbeck was a Swedish entrepreneur, outsider and a controversial corporate genious who reluctantly took over the family business and turned into a pioneering media empire that had a great impact on Sweden and big parts of the world. The new dramaseries about Jan Stenbeck also portraits a man who made himself many enemies and who had to pay a high price for his success.

The drama series Stenbeck is produced by FLX for Sveriges Television, the Swedish national public television broadcaster, and will be premiered 2025.

Prize winning actor Jakob Oftebro (Hamilton, Black Crab) acts as Jan Stenbeck. Filming starts spring 2024 i Västra Götaland, Sverige. At the press conference in  Cannes director Goran Kapetanović.  (Knutby/The Congregation, Caliphate) introduced the project together with script writer Alex Haridi (Blue Eyes, Quicksand, Love & Anarchy).

Stenbeck is based on a biography by Per Andersson and produced by FLX for Sveriges Television and co-produced by Film i Väst, DR, NRK, RUV and YLE. Photo Christina Kronér, from left Lejla Bešić, Alex Haridi and Goran Kapetanović.

 

Back to Reality by Anders Thomas Jensen
Fresh out of jail bank robber Anker is on his way to collect the loot. The only one who knows where the money is buried is his traumatized brother, Manfred, who has meanwhile fled into an alter ego, and now knows nothing about the money. Hoping to unlock Manfred’s memory, the brothers travel to their childhood home and start digging.

Written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, produced by Zentropa, Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann, in co-production with Zentropa Sweden, Lizette Jonjic, and Film i Väst, with support from Det Danske Filminstitut, FilmFyn and TV2. Distributed by Nordisk Film Distribution and sales international by TrustNordisk. Photo: Anders Overgaard.

 

Iza & Alice by Emma Bucht
The film is directed by feature film debutant Emma Bucht, who previously has directed several very successful Swedish drama series. Jonna Bolin Cullberg and Bengt Braskered have written the script and the film is produced by Lena Rehnberg / StellaNova Film, who has produced many music-driven audience successes such as Waltz for Monica and Ted – Show me Love.
Iza & Alice is an emotional, music-packed drama with Hedda Stiernstedt (The Restaurant) and Josefin Asplund (Vikings, Top Dog) in the lead roles, where two artists from different sides of the pop spectrum are reluctantly forced into a joint tour by their manager. It is a film full of music, drama and big emotions, with a custom made soundtrack written for the film by some of Sweden’s most successful and internationally renowned songwriters. Photo: Christina Kronér.

 

Laura by Fanny Ovesen
On a couchsurfing trip through Europe, 19-year-old Laura wakes up naked after having had sex with another couchsurfer, without a single memory of their night together. This becomes the starting point for an equally liberating and destructive exploration of Laura’s own boundaries, taking her on a personal journey across the borders of Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and France. But as the journey goes on, an increasing fear emerges – the fear that the forgotten night wasn’t voluntary.

The lead roles are played by Embla Ingelman-Sundberg, Aviva Wrede and the french actor Oscar Leasage (Les Amandiers by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and the tv-drama Marie Antoinette).

Laura is the debut feature of director Fanny Ovesen and a collaboration between seven countries, led by producer Marie Kjellson, Kjellson & Wik in co-production with Film i Väst, True Content Production Norway (producer Renée Mlodyszewski) and Ström Pictures (producer Monica Hellström) with support from The Swedish Film Institute, The Norwegian Film Institute, The Danish Film Institute, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Eurimages and YLE with development support from Creative Europe and Lindholmen Science Park. Associate producer in France is Antoine Simkine, Les Films D’Antoine. The film is shot in collaboration with Background Films in Czech Republic, F25 in Poland and New Matter Films in Germany. Nordic distribution is handled by Scandinavian Film Distribution. The film will be shot on location in Europe in summer, 2023.

 

The Little Seamstress by Magnus von Horn
The director Magnus von Horn attended the press conference introducing his new film, The Little Seamstress. In the main roles we see Trine Dyrholm and Vic Carmen Sonne.

1918.  Karoline, a young factory worker, apparently widowed by the Great War, finds herself pregnant by the factory owner’s son.  Subsequently, she is cast out by his mother and then discarded by him.   Shortly afterwards, she is the surprised by the reappearance of her husband, who is both physically disfigured and traumatised by his war experience.  He accepts her predicament but she cannot him or the oncoming baby.  After a failed attempt at an abortion in the communal baths, she meets Dagmar Overby who offers Karoline her services as a solution: an arranged adoption.

Karoline accepts but cannot pay the fee and so eventually begins to work for Dagmar in her sweet store as a form of repayment, all the while getting more and more understanding that the adoption business is not what she claims. When a friend of hers brings a baby by but then later changes her mind, Karoline is finally able to understand that Dagmar’s solution to all the unwanted babies has always been to murder them.  Only after having been party to that horror is Karoline able to reconcile with her husband.

The project will start filming this autumn. Expected premiere May 2024. Production Nordisk Film Creative Alliance (Malene Blenkov) in co-production with Film i Väst.

 

Ultras by Ragnhild Ekner
Ultras – the heart and soul of football stadiums around the globe. The supporters that will do anything for the team and yields that extra power into the game to help their team win. Ultras is not your regular sports film. Trough epic images and a cinematic mosaic of football supporters and their societal contexts around the world, we’ll portray a subculture that is widely known but yet mysterious and inaccessible for most of us.

The director Ragnhild Ekner has been travelling around the world to meet Ultras in different countries; Morocco, Egypt, Indonesia, Argentina as well as some European countries such as Sweden.

Produced by Story, Tobias Janson. The documentary is going to have its premiere summer 2024 in time for European Championship in Football.

 

Redoubt by John Skoog
Affected by the powerful images in the pamphlet “If war comes”, farmhand Karl-Göran Persson (Denis Lavant) begins fortifying his house. Through years of harvesting scrap-metal, he transforms it into a fortress meant to protect him and neighbors when the enemy attack or the disaster comes.

The lead role as Karl-Göran Persson is played by the french actor Denis Lavant (The Lovers on the Bridge, Holy Motors) and directed by John Skoog (Ridge).

Produced by Plattform Produktion in co-production with BCD Film, Paloma Production (DK), Bufo (FI), Lemming Film (NL), Film i Väst, Film i Skåne, SVT and with support by The Swedish Film Institute, Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, NL Film Fond, Region Skåne, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Distribution in Sweden by TriArt, in Denmark by Øst for Paradis. The project won the Filmmore Post Production Award at Cinemart (Rotterdam) earlier this year.

 

The Quiet Ones by Frederik Louis Hviid
Zentropa Entertainments presents The Quiet Ones, a film by Frederik Louis Hviid with Gustav Dyekjær Giese, Reda Kateb and Amanda Collin.

As the financial crisis hits Europe in 2008, a group of Danish and European men plan to commit the largest robbery ever on Danish soil.

The Quiet Ones is a suspenseful action drama that depicts a group of extremely tenacious, ambitious, and uncompromising robbers who all share the same ambition: to succeed with the impossible – despite major obstacles, internal conflicts, secret agendas, and personal costs.

It is the story of the largest and most spectacular coup in Danish history, and the long, detailed, and risky preparation it took to create a shortcut to greatness and wealth. At whatever cost. Inspired by true events.

Director Frederik Louis Hviid, Script by Anders Frithiof August, Producer Kasper Dissing, Co-producer Lizette Jonjic, Co-producer Jean-Christophe Reymond. Produced by Zentropa Entertainments in Co-production with Film i Väst, Zentropa Sweden, Kazak Productions & Zentropa International France, with support from Danish Film Institute, Canal+, Cine+, DR, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, The Swedish Film Institute, & The MEDIA Programme of the European Union. Nordic distribution in Co-operation with Nordisk Film Distribution. French distribution in Co-operation with KMBO. International sales by TrustNordisk.

 

Carousel by Simon Sandquist
The horror film Carousel opens in cinemas in Sweden just in time for Halloween this autumn. In Cannes to talk about the film were the actors Omar Rudberg and Wilma Lidén.

Park manager Fiona is going to take care of some former friends who won an exclusive private sneak preview of Halloween at Liseberg – a whole night, all alone in the empty amusement park. But cotton candy, lovely rides and lots of laughter soon turn into something completely different, as they realize they are not alone in the park… And the dream night quickly turns into a nightmare.

Carousel is produced by David Ovsepian and Filip Hammarström at Scandinavian Content Group. Directed by Simon Sandquist (The Invisible, Possession and the Oscar-nominated short film Victor.

The actors are Wilma Lidén, Omar Rudberg, Amanda Lindh, Embla Ingelman-Sundberg, Emil Algpeus, Ludvig Deltin, Michael Brolin and Thomas Hedengran.

Co-produced by Nordisk Film, Film i Väst and Liseberg.