Stockholm International Film Festival to kick off November 6

The 35th edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival will run from 6 to 17 November 2024. Opening with Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning dramedy Anora.

In detail, the Stockholm competition will consist of 20 titles, boasting an equal share of male and female directors. Notably, the two Nordic titles participating in this section are Frida Kempff’s The Swedish Torpedo (Den svenska torpeden) and Gustav Möller’s Sons (Vogter).

The first is a Swedish production that premiered at Toronto, focusing on the aquatic life of Sally Bauer, who swam her way out of the restrained 1930s. The second is a Danish psychological thriller that premiered at the Berlinale, starring Sidse Babett Knudsen and Sebastian Bull. In the film, Knudsen portrays an idealistic prison officer facing the dilemma of her life when a young man she knows from her past is transferred to her prison. Both films are supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF).

Other key titles competing in the main competition include Laurynas Bareiša’s Drowning Dry (Seses), Saule Bliuvaite’s Toxic, Meryam Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn), Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil’s Bath (Des Teufels Bad), and Klaudia Reynicke-Candeloro’s Queens (Reinas).

This year’s special spotlight, titled “Men in Crisis”, aims to explore “threatened masculinity”. “We encounter Jason Schwartzman as a Jewish cantor in both a personal and professional crisis in Between the Temples, indecisive men in The Heirloom, and alienated middle-aged men adrift in Vulcanizadora. Moreover, we meet toxic macho men in Animal(Animale), panicked and introspective soon-to-be fathers in Sacramento, and violently acting-out, internet-radicalised Donald Trump supporters in the documentary Homegrown,” explained Head of Programming Beatrice Karlsson.

Meanwhile, some of the Stockholm Documentary Competition highlights include Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics, a portrayal of the intertwining of church and state in Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, the Swedish Tribeca-winner, with top-financing from NFTVF, Hacking Hate about far-right internet environments, and the intimate Tim Bergling portrait Avicii – I’m Tim, set to open this particular strand.

Moreover, this year’s Country in Focus is Canada. The cinematic excellence of the North American country will be celebrated through the screenings of its Oscar entry Universal Language (Une langue universelle), the bittersweet indie rom-com Matt and Mara, and the “most talked-about ‘ambient slasher’ of the year” In a Violent Nature, among others.

Other buzzy films screened at the gathering include Pablo Larraín’s Maria (this year’s closing film); the NFTVF-supported adaptation of Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book (Sommarboken), starring Glenn Close; the rom-com The Other Way Around (Volveréis), reminiscent of early Woody Allen; the critically acclaimed Nickel Boys; the horror thriller Heretic, starring Hugh Grant; and Oscars bids Kill the Jockey (El Jockey) by Luis Ortega from Argentina and Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard from France.

Next, a much-anticipated novelty of this year’s edition is the Stockholm Series section, screening four Swedish shows: Jens Jonsson and Henrik Georgsson’s End of Summer (Slutet på sommaren), Daniel Espinosa’s The Helicopter Heist (Helikopterrånet), the NFTVF-supported series Jesper Ganslandt’s Cry Wolf (Vargasommar), **and Jens Sjögren and Patrik Gyllström’s The Pirate Bay.

Cry Wolf and The Helicopter Heist will both celebrate their world premieres.

Zooming in on the special awards handed out by the festival, the Swedish capital will welcome multiple Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen, who will receive the Stockholm Visionary Award.

In connection with the screening of his film Blitz at Bio Skandia on 12 November, McQueen will receive the award, and also hold a masterclass during the event’s Industry Days from 12 to 14 November, taking place at Filmhuset.

Sean Baker will receive the same accolade on the opening evening, in connection with the screening of Anora.

Furthermore, actor-director Jesse Eisenberg will be awarded the Stockholm Achievement Award, recognising special efforts within the film medium. In connection with the Nordic premiere of his latest outing A Real Pain, an exclusive face-to-face event with Eisenberg will be held at Bio Skandia on 14 November.

On 9 October, the festival also announced the nominees for the 16th SkyShowtime Rising Star Award. This year, six young Swedish actors are competing for the prestigious prize. The winner, who will be announced at the festival’s award ceremony on 15 November, will be rewarded with an exclusive trip to the Cannes Film Festival next year. The nominees are Erik Svedberg-Zelman, Felicia Maxime, Inez Micaella Andersson, Isac Calmroth, Olle Strand, and Rebecca Louvisa Plymholt.

Finally, NFTVF has learnt exclusively the nominees for Nordic Wave, the new Nordic pitching competition held from 12 to 14 November, during the festival’s Industry Days. The five selected projects are Oscar Zemarti’s Offscreen: A Handful of War Tales (produced by Finland’s Polymath House Productions with Peru’s Makanudo Cine), Alecio Araci’s Rogues (staged by Sweden’s Prolaps Produktion with Norway’s True Content Group), Elin Övergaard’s The Blowfish (produced by Sweden’s MostAlice Film with Denmark’s Ström Pictures), Marja Bål Nango’s The Herder (courtesy of Norwegian outfit 7išh Film) and Abbe Hassan’s The Mauler (produced by Sweden’s The Global Ensemble Drama). International post-production studio Tint is the presenting partner of Nordic Wave, handing out a prize worth 400,000 Swedish kroner to the winning project.

To discover the festival’s full programme: CLICK HERE.

The 35th anniversary of the festival will be celebrated with a concert by the Stockholm Concert Orchestra, conducted by Christoffer Nobin, featuring musical highlights from the festival’s titles; discounted screenings at Bio Skandia; a photo exhibition showcasing portraits of festival guests who have visited and loved Stockholm over the decades, held at Kungsträdgården; and clips from the event’s 35-year history will be shown at all festival venues.