Sundance selects Ruben Östlund exec-produced Fantastic Machine doc

The Swedish film will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition, screening alongside 11 international films such as the Danish/Greenlandic Twice Colonized by Lin Alluna.

The Swedish documentary Fantastic Machine, is jointly directed and produced by Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, credited for the multi-awarded short film Ten Meter Tower, shortlisted for an Academy award and Emmy-nominated in 2017.

The film under the full title And the king said, what a Fantastic Machine, is truthful to the DNA of Plattform Produktion (co-founded by Palme d’or winning director Ruben Östlund and producer Erik Hemmendorff), which is to create though-provoking entertaining films.

The 85-minute documentary was in fact edited by The Triangle of Sadness’ editor Mikel Cee Karlsson, partner in Plattform Produktion, together with Danielson and Östlund’s mentor Kalle Boman (see separate story CLICK HERE), who also serves as creative adviser on the Sundance film entry.

In Fantastic Machine, which was five years in the making, the co-directors “widen their lens to measure the depth of humanity’s infatuation with framing the world through the camera, chronicling how we went from capturing the image of a backyard to a multi-billion- euro content industry in just 200 years”, as stated in the film’s short synopsis.

The film was co-produced by SVT, Film i Väst, Denmark’s Bullitt Film, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Arte G.E.I.E., the Swedish Arts Council, Gothenburg Municipality and See-Through Films.

Commenting on their Sundance selection, Danielson and Van Aertryck said: “We are happy but also relieved! Sundance is the best possible start for the film. We have been working on the film for five years, and a large part of the work has been about defining it thematically. It is a subject that contains an incredible amount! Our selection is based on what we ourselves think is the most interesting, funny and surprising material that we have come across, at the same time we have always had our sights set on a cohesive feature film. “

“Sundance is proof that both the theme and the style of the film are engaging in the way we hoped. We are really looking forward to seeing it together with an audience on the big screen!”, they said.

Denmark is also represented at Sundance’s World Documentary Competition programme with Twice Colonized, feature-length docu debut of the National Film School of Denmark’s 2017 graduate Lin Alluna.

The film follows renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. When her son suddenly dies, she embarks on a journey to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation. Is possible to change the world and mend your own wounds at the same time?

The film was produced by Emile Hertling Péronard for Danish/Greenlandic Anorak Film, in co-production with Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Bob Moore of Canada’s Red Marrow Media and EyeSteelFilm, with support from the Danish Film Institute. Autlook Film Sales handles sales.

Minority-Nordic co-productions selected in Sundance include the World Cinema Dramatic competition entries Heroic by David Zonana (Mexico/Sweden) and Slow by Marija Kavtaradze (Lithuania/Spain/Sweden), as well as the World Cinema Doc entries 5 Seasons of Revolution by LINA (Germany/Syria/Netherlands/Norway) and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood by Anna Hints (Estonia/France/Iceland).

At last year’s Sundance World Cinema Competition strand, Danish-born Simon Lereng-Wilmont was crowned Best Director for A House Made of Splinters.

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival set to unspool January 19-29 in person in Park City, Salt Lake City US, will showcase a total of 101 feature-length films from 23 countries, including 99 announced on Wednesday.

Those films were selected from 15,855 submissions, including 4,061 feature-length films of which 2,399 were international.