The director’s first TV series, produced by Garagefilm for SVT, is currently filming between Gothenburg and Skåne, Sweden.

Reinvent has picked up rights for global distribution.

One of Sweden’s most original voices, writer/director Pichler had her breakthrough with her feature debut Eat, Sleep, Die which won the Audience Award from Venice’s Critics Week and four Guldbagge Awards including Best Film in 2013.

Pichler is now making her long-form fiction debut with Painkiller, co-written with Eat, Sleep, Die cinematographer Johan Lundborg.

Anna Croneman, Head of Drama at SVT said: “No one can portray life, love, and culture clashes like Gabriela Pichler, and no one who has seen her outstanding debut film Eat Sleep Die has ever forgotten the characters it depicted. It’s a great honour for SVT Drama that Gabriela and her team are making their series-format debut with us.”

Commenting on her series debut, Pichler quipped: “We had no choice. Certain characters refuse to let their stories be told in a feature-film format. They demand to be the focus of an entire TV series. They get unruly and elbow their way into the script and demand six episodes-and they’re convinced that the audience is going to love them!”

The six-part series follows Dijana and Andrea, a mother and her daughter who try, in their own ways, to make life better for one another but keep failing, time and again.

Dijana is a proud working woman from the Balkans whose body is worn out from factory work and cleaning.

Incredibly enough, her daughter Andrea - officially a successful artist, unofficially still living with her mum - has convinced her to start attending a class for patients who suffer from chronic pain. When the class is abruptly cancelled, Andrea has an idea. She will subject her mother to things that are guaranteed to take her mind off her pain. Dijana will be the central figure in her new art project! Eventually, what begins as a creative idea takes an unexpected turn when Dijana takes command.

In the main roles are stage-actress Dodona Imeri who makes her screen debut as Andrea, and the non-professional Snežana Spasenoska, cast as Dijana.

Behind the scenes include production designer Ellen Oseng (Battle, Amateurs, My Skinny Sister), film composers Gustaf Berger and Markus Hasselblom (X&Y) as well as editor Andreas Nilsson (Thin Blue Line, Amateurs).

The series is being produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius of Garagefilm, in co-production with SVT, Film i Väst, in association with Yle, support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg. Executive producers include Garagefilm’s Mimmi Spång and SVT’s Amna Maksumic.

Painkiller is due to premiere on SVT1 and SVT Play in the spring 2024.