TrustNordisk has closed several new territories on Lukas Moodysson’s feel-good movie We Are the Best, bringing the total distribution deals - so far - to over 30 territories.

The latest sales were secured with France (MK2), Russia (Caravella), Greece (One from the Heart), Mexico (Cannibal Networks), Hungary (Vertigo), Estonia (Estin Film) and Hong Kong (Edko). Previous major territories that acquired the film include the US (Magnolia Pictures), the UK (Metrodome), Italy (BIM) and Benelux (Wild Bunch). The film produced by Memfis Film with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond opened last Friday in Sweden at number three behind the Swedish biopic Waltz for Monica and Disney’s Planes. On his way to the Tokyo International Film Festival, after an encounter with the British audience in London, the Swedish director told us how he feels.

Just like a music band, you are on a world tour. How does it feel to meet so many different audiences?
Lukas Moodysson:
Interesting, and a lot of fun. But I try (not always succeeding) not to think too much about reactions. I do what I do. People react the way they react. These are two different things.

After a four year absence from the screens, you come back to a subject that seems closest to your heart: teenage angst and coming of age, filmed in its entirety with an uplifting feel. Just like your characters Bobo and Klara’s burst of ideas, was this choice of subject totally spontaneous?
LM:
I'm always here. And there are many subjects that are closest to my heart, not only one. I am (unfortunately) interested in everything. The choice, yes, it was very spontaneous. It just burst out one day in the kitchen.

Is We are the Best a truthful film version of your wife Coco’s comic book? How involved was she in the film adaptation?
LM: The film is truthful in tone and atmosphere, not very truthful to the story. Coco is always involved in everything I do.

There is a lightness that clashes with the darker tone of your last films …Do you feel wiser, still committed to certain issues, but less angry today?
LM:
All my films are - in my opinion - very optimistic. I am not wiser today, probably less angry, yes. Lazier and probably also sadder. And when you are sad you want to see (and in my case make) happy movies. Maybe I made the film because I wanted to laugh.

Did you feel that this experience was a catharsis, that lifting the camera again to film those youths helped you as an artist get over your own uncertainties?
LM: It was fun, and I hope that some of the fun shows in the film. But getting over my uncertainties - no. They are here to stay.

What’s next?
LM:
Rest. Then Tokyo. And then rest. And then Oslo and Helsinki.