World premiere for Thomas Vinterberg’s drama series Families Like Ours and Göran Hugo Olsson’s documentary Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, both selected Out of Competition. In Orizzonti you find the international co-productions Quiet Life by Alexandros Avranas and the short film O by Rúnar Rúnarsson. Furthermore Isabella Torre’s Basilieia has been selected for the Giornati degli Autori.
– We congratulate all selected films and drama series. We are very proud both of the co-operation and the fact they are filmed and/or post-produced in our region, Västra Götaland, in west Sweden, says Kristina Börjeson, Head of Production at Film i Väst.
More about the co-productions:
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 by Göran Hugo Olsson
Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson have gotten unique access to a treasure and the 4th of October his new feature documentary Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 will premiere in Swedish cinemas.
By looking back in history, we are trying to understand one of the worst conflicts of our time. During the years 1958 to 1989 there was a public-service monopoly in Sweden, and the public broadcaster SVT’s reporting from Israel and Palestine was unique. Their reporters were constantly present in the war-affected region, documenting everything from everyday life to international crises.
This extensive footage treasure makes up the material for the archive film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson’s (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Concerning Violence) new film, where footage of the rise of the Israeli state is interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence.
SVT follow Prime Minister Tage Erlander and his younger colleague Olof Palme on an official visit to Israel in 1963, a country they see as a social democratic ideal society. David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir receive them. The world-famous Israeli leaders show off their modest homes with impressive book collections. Strong ties are bound between Sweden and Israel, and to a large extent this is through the Swedish Social Democrats and the Israeli Labor Party.
The film is a co-production between Story, SVT, Film i Väst, Tekele and Ström Pictures. Premiere fall 2024.
Families Like Ours by Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterbergs seven part drama series Families Like Ours will havve it’s world premier in Venice. Written by Vinterberg and Bo Hr. Hansen and produced by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing, Zentropa Entertainments, and shot on on location in Denmark, Sweden, France, Romania, and The Czech Republic.
The series is produced by Zentropa Entertainments for TV 2 Denmark, STUDIOCANAL and CANAL+, co-funded by The Danish Film Institute – Public Service Fund, The European Union and Nordisk Film & TV Fond in co-production with NRK, TV4, ARD Degeto, co-produced by Film i Väst, Sirena Film, Zentropa Sweden (Lizette Jonjic), Saga Film and Ginger Pictures, co-produced with the support from Czech Film Fund and BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance in collaboration with CANAL+ Poland and M7.
Countries disappear, love remains. Denmark, in a not-too-distant future. The rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. As people disperse in all directions, they must bid farewell to what they love, what they know, and who they are. Slowly but steadily, everything is different. All property becomes worthless, all fortunes change, and luck favours only a few. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries while the less well-off depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations. Families, friends, and loved ones are separated. Some will be overcome by hatred and division while others will nurture love and foster new beginnings. Against this backdrop we meet Laura, a high school student in love for the first time and on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura and her family’s lives are changed forever, and Laura is forced into the impossible dilemma of choosing between the three people she loves the most.
Quiet Life by Alexandros Avranas – Orizzonti
Sergei and Natalia are political asylum-seekers who fled to Sweden with their two daughters, hoping for a new life. When their application is rejected, their youngest daughter, traumatised, falls into a coma, a condition known as apathy.
Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ film, set in Sweden and partly shot in Göteborg, stars Chulpan Khamatova and Grigory Dobrygin, with Swedish actors Lena Endre, Johannes Kuhnke and Anna Bjelkerud rounding out the cast. Produced by Les Films du Worso, Swedish co-producers: Olivier Guerpillon and Frida Hallberg / Fox in the Snow, and Film i Väst, with support from the Swedish Film Institute,. TriArt Film handles domestic distribution; international sales by Elle Driver.
Basileia by Isabella Torre
Among the thick fog and the wild nature of the Aspromonte mountain, an archeologist and his helpers search for an ancient treasure. In the process, they unleash mysterious and mythical creatures who will forever change the lives of the inhabitants of a remote mountain village.
Isabella Torre is an Italian filmmaker, writer and actor. In 2018, she wrote, directed, and starred in her first short film, Nymphs, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2019, she directed Vernice, her second short documentary, which focuses on second-generation immigrants in Italy, based on the story of Mojo, a rapper from Rome. Isabella returned to Venice in 2021 with her short film, Full Moon, which its world premiere at the Venice International Film Critics Week. Basileia is Isabella’s first feature film.
Director and screenplay: Isabella Torre. Producer: Paolo Carpignano and Jonas Carpignano, Stayblack Productions in co-production with Snowglobe Films, Katrin Pors, Mikkel Jersin, Eva Jakobsen, and Film i Väst.
O by Rúnar Rúnarsson
Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson recently opened the Un certain regard section at Cannes with When the Light Breaks; his new short film O, starring Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, is a humanistic and poetic story of a fragile man trying to achieve a simple task where his main obstacle is within himself. Produced by Compass Films; Swedish co-producer Siri Hjorton Wagner / [sic] film with SVT and Film i Väst, with support from the Swedish Film Institute.
