Quality wise, the offer is ample, with two animation films, a franchise film for kids, two vampire films, epic films by Scandinavian masters Jan Troell and Nils Gaup, first feature films (including Maria Blom's Fishy), a handful of comedies by popular filmmakers like Måns Herngren, and Kjell Åke Andersson, plus auteur films already celebrated at international festivals such as Ruben Östlund's Involuntary, Tomas Alfredsson's Let the Right One In and the French/Swedish coproduction Les Grandes personnes.
The SFI head of International Pia Lundberg, on her way out to Toronto, stresses the cross over potential of Ella Lemhagen's Patrik Age 1.5 (photo). "It's a ‘rom-com with a twist', described by Steve Gravestock, Scandinavian scout for the Toronto Film Festival, as a real crowd pleaser." Troell's Everlasting Moments is another very strong film for her which should attract both national and international adult audiences. "Troell is a true master, very well know in Scandinavia, and perhaps an even greater name in the US" she says.
Quantity wise, the high numbers of local films - one to three almost every week until the end of the year could be problematic considering the shortage of venues in Sweden for art-house films and the risk of cannibalisation. However, the odds look good for Swedish films as the summer has been exceptionally good for cinema-going and the Scandinavian tent-pole film Arn-the Kingdom at Road's End is for the second weekend in a row number one at the local box office.
"It is an honour for us to participate in such a great project where Nordic filmmaking is being promoted to the neighbouring countries and the world...and we are simply very happy to be part of their effort to make it bigger this year than ever before."
Isleifur Thorhallsson (Greenlight Films, Iceland) on his assisting the Nordic Film & TV Fond in the pan-Nordic promotion for the Nordic Council Film Prize.