Film Väst is one of Europe’s most successful co-producers and Scandinavia’s preeminent regional film fund. In 2014 alone, more than 12 million cinema goers globally saw a film co-produced by Film Väst. Over the years Film Väst co-productions have also been richly rewarded with nominations and awards at the world’s most prestigous events including festivals such as Cannes and Berlin and galas such as the Golden Globes, the European Film Awards and the Oscars.
Film Väst celebrated the new year with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure. It was the fifth such Golden Globe nomination for a Film Väst co-productions in the last five years. Force Majeure earlier won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in Cannes.
After having three films selected in sections at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Film Väst will once again be well represented by co-productions in Cannes in 2015. Leading the way is Romanian director Radu Muntean, who makes his third trip to Un Certain Regard with his latest film One Floor Below folloed by Swedish debutant Magnus von Horn whose film The Here After appears in Director’s Fortnight and the Swedish short film Pojkarna by Isabella Carbonell selected in Critic’s Week.
Earlier, at the 65th Berlinale in February, two Swedish films captured Crystal Bears, the top prizes in the Generation Kplus and 14plus sections, with Sanna Lenken’s debut film My Skinny Sister and Beata Gårdeler’s Flocking being named best film in their respective categories.
The Berlinale was also a debut of sorts for German master of cinema Wim Wenders whose co-production with Film Väst Every Thing Will Be Fine, starring James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams and Peter Stormare, was his first dramatic feature film shot in 3D, appearing in Official Selection, out of competition.
Some reviews of Radu Munteans ONE FLOOR BELOW, competing in Un Certain Regard
Jay Weissberg, Variety: The moral tug-of-war between reporting a homicide and remaining silent lies at the core of Radu Muntean’s lean, absorbing anti-thriller “One Floor Below.” Like a pot set to bubble only every few seconds, [...]
Some reviews of Magnus von Horn’s Cannes debut THE HERE AFTER
Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter: A chewy blend of Swedish and Polish ingredients, The Here After was never likely to be a fun frolic on a sun-kissed Baltic beach. Offering a non-judgmental, broadly sympathetic, psychological portrait [...]
Fiscal Incentive Report presented in Cannes
Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke with CEO Tomas Eskilsson took part of the official presentation of Production Incentive for Sweden. A report presented by Mr Jonathan Olsberg, Olsberg SPI. View and download [...]
Child 44’s Daniél Espinosa to direct ’The Emigrants’
Child 44 director Daniél Espinosa is to helm a new adptation of period epic The Emigrants for Scandinavian major Svensk Filindustri. Details of the project were announced at the annual press conference held in Cannes by Swedish regional [...]
Cannes: ’Child 44’ Director to Adapt ’The Emigrants’
Daniel Espinosa, director of Child 44, will re-team with his Easy Money producer Fredrik Wikstrom Nicastro for The Emigrants, an epic drama based on the novel by Vilhelm Moberg. The book was previously adapted by [...]
Variety: Can Sweden Live Up to its 2014 Cannes Lineup?
It's hard to see how Sweden can improve upon its performance at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, when helmer Ruben Ostlund’s “Force Majeure” became the first Swedish film to win the Jury Prize in the [...]