Hjärtligt Välkomna! Sweden in Wiesbaden. The Northern European country has more to offer than home centers and elks. Regarding films, Ingmar Bergman comes to mind first, but then one soon thinks of the two internationally best-known ambassadors of the new Swedish cinema, Lukas Moodysson and Roy Andersson. This year’s retrospective is dedicated to the latter.
Our focus lies on the current movie scene which offers inventive and intelligent cinema. We have selected four feature films and two short film programs. Among the feature films are three debuts and two German premieres. We present the Swedish entry for best non-English language film at the 2010 Oscars, INVOLUNTARY by Ruben Östlund, and the cynical road movie ALMOST ELVIS by Petra Revenue. Great acting is offered in A RATIONAL SOLUTION by Jörgen Bergmark – thanks to the convincing performances by Pernilla August and Rolf Lassgård, who solve their marital problems in a rather idiosyncratic manner. GUIDANCE by Johan Jonason also deals with the problems of a middle-aged couple. Petra Revenue and Jörgen Bergmark are going to present their films in person.
The country focus is topped off with two short film programs. Especially for exground filmfest, the International Short Film Festival Uppsala – the biggest of its kind in Sweden – has compiled a program with the most interesting entries for the Swedish contest in 2009: SCHWEDEN I – BEST OF UPPSALA. Its 28th edition has just ended successfully. The second Swedish short film program SCHWEDEN II – LIEBE UND HIEBE centers around love and its perils. Three medium-length feature films, two of them from the Swedish Film Academy in Stockholm, illuminate the eternally young subject from different angles.
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