Swedish Film Institute backs new films from Andersson, Hallstrom, Odell

The Swedish Film Institute has announced its latest backings, including Swedish directors Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron) and Lasse Hallström’s The Hypnotist (Hypnotisören). The films were granted $1.7 million (SEK 12 million) and $1.6 million (SEK 11 million), respectively, from the $4.3 million (SEK 28.7 million allocation) round of funding.

Currently in production for a 2014 release, Andersson’s Pigeon will conclude his Living trilogy which previously includes Songs from the Second Floor (2001), and followed by You, the Living (2007). ”Three encounters with death,” is his description of the film. ”The main characters are two men: one is a travelling salesman, the other is slightly retarded. It is the salesman who explains to his mate why society is as it is.” The film is produced by Pernilla Sandström, for Roy Andersson Filmproduktion.

Shooting from from this month, The Hypnotist is Hallström’s first Swedish film since 1987 and will start a whole series of films based on Lars Kepler’s crime novels, among the most successful in Sweden since Millennium. Mikael Persbrandt stars with Lena Olin and Tobias Zilliacus as Finnish-Swedish police detective Joona Linna, investigating the brutal murder of a whole family in suburban Stockholm. Börje Hansson, Peter Possne and Bertil Ohlsson produce for Svensk Filmindustri-Sonet Film. The film will be ready this autumn.

Controversial Swedish artist Anna Odell – whe was once fined for faking a suicide attempt to be committed to a psychiatric hospital – squeezed in to receive $400,000 million (SEK 3 million) backing for her feature debut, Anne Odell Untitled. Produced by Mathilde Dedye for French Quarter Film, “in the grey area between fact and fiction, the film reflects group dynamics and hierarchies, examining the issues of belonging and identity.”