Nordisk Film & TV Fond is proud to be associated to The Square ‘s extraordinary win at the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

On Sunday the Swedish director triumphed at the Cannes Film Festival by receiving the coveted award from the hands of jury president Pedro Almodovar for his film The Square. 

The Spanish director said about his jury’s choice: “It’s contemporary, about the dictatorship of being politically correct.” Other jury members comprised directors/writers Maren Ade, Agnès Jaoui, Park Chan-Wook, Paolo Sorrentino, actor Will Smith, actresses Jessica Chastain, Fan Bingbing and composer Gabriel Yared.
The film's production designer Josefin Åsberg who had collaborated with Östlund on his award-winning Force Majeure was also bestowed the Vulcain Prize for Artist-Technician for 'her remarkable artistic contribution to match the inventiveness of the film The Square'. 

Petri Kemppinen, CEO at Nordisk Film & TV Fond said: ”Our warmest congratulations to Ruben Östlund, Erik Hemmendorff, Josefin Åsberg, Philippe Bober and the whole team behind The Square. It has been a great pleasure to witness how the film has developed - from the amazing 70-minute story pitch by Ruben at their Göteborg office last year that left us with no doubts, to the challenging editing process-and the excitement at screenings we experienced in Cannes. The Square is modern filmmaking at its freshest, and we are very proud of being among the contributors."

A last-minute addition to the competition line up including 19 films by world class directors such as Michael Haneke, Naomi Kawase, Michael Hazanavicious and Todd Haynes, The Square received a standing ovation at its official screening on May 19. Danish actor Claes Bang gives a strong performance as the director of an art gallery whose life goes downhill when his mobile phone is stolen. Other roles are played by Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Dominic West (The Wire), and animal movement expert Terry Notary (Jungle Book).

Last time Östlund was in Cannes was with Force Majeure, winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize 2014.
The 43-year old director becomes the second Swede to win the Cannes Film Festival’s top award after Alf Sjöberg in 1951 for Miss Julie. Last time Sweden grabbed a Palme d’or was in 1992 with Bille August’s The Best Intentions.

Östlund’s fifth feature length film produced by Erik Hemmendorff (Plattform Production) will be released in Sweden on August 25, 2017 courtesy of TriArt.
Scanbox Entertainment will launch it in Denmark and Finland in November and is discussing the Norwegian release with sub-licencee Arthaus.

Coproduction Office has sold The Square to most world territories including the US, France, the UK, Russia, China.

Other Nordic films or co-productions awarded in Cannes include:

  • The Ceiling (Katto) by Teppo Airaksinen (Finland)-winner of a Special Mention from the Short Film Main Competition. The humorous story of a man whose cabin by the lake is suddenly shrinking is produced by John Lundsten of Tack Films. Pekka Strang (Tom of Finland) has the title role. 
  • A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano (IT-US-FR-SE-DE) –winner of the Europa Cinemas Label Award. The Directors’ Fortnight entry was co-produced by Sweden’s Film i Väst and Filmgate.