Frida Kempff prepares The Swedish Torpedo and 4th Momento Film collaboration

The Swedish Torpedo is Kempff’s fourth collaboration with Stockholm-based Momento Film, after her shorts Circles (2015), Dear Kid (2016) and acclaimed first documentary feature Winter Buoy (2015).

The director said she will borrow the realistic feel from documentary filmmaking for her second fiction film, after the genre-oriented Knocking.

Written by Kempff with Marietta von Hauswolff (Call Girl, Ragnarok), The Swedish Torpedo is set between 1938-1939. The story turns on a young single woman and passionate swimmer, who decided to defy her family and social norms to cross the English Channel, as Europe is on the brink of war.

“The film will be inspired by Sally Bauer’s life, but it’s not a biopic,” explained Kempff who first heard about this extraordinary story five years ago and felt compelled to tell her story.

“It’s also a universal story of a woman, determined to accomplish her dream against all odds,” adds the director.

“Sally [Bauer] pushed the boundaries of society and challenged her family to accomplish her dream. You need inspiring characters like her who rebel against the ruling norms of the time, and set their own rules,” observed Momento Film co-founder David Herdies who serves as producer on the film, together with Erik Andersson.

Kempff who worked with claustrophobia for her horror-thriller Knocking, will use it again for this feature. “I work a lot with claustrophobia, both physical and mental. Here the main character wants to break away from the rigid social norms and finds her own path to freedom-which is the ocean for her,” said the director.

Taking up the challenge of playing Sally Bauer on screen is Josefin Neldén, cast most recently in the major series The Head, and twice Guldbagge nominated for her roles in Psychosis in Stockholm and Shed no Tears.

“I have trained for the last year and a half for the film. It’s a way for me to get into Sally’s mindset and what appealed to her,” she said.

Filming is due to start in August, between Sweden, Estonia, the UK and Belgium.

The film is being co-produced by Klaus Heydemann, Riina Sildos, Elina Litvinova, Sebastian Schelenz, SVT, C More, Yle, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Finnish Film Foundation, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Estonian Film Institute, The Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Norrköpings Filmfond and Konstnärsnämnden.

TriArt will handle the Swedish release in 2024.