Abba star Benny Andersson has developed and will appear in Siw, a feature documentary about Swedish music icon Siw Malmkvist.
The film is directed by Stina Gardell, and produced by Gardell and Frida Neema Jarnbert for Sweden’s Mantaray Film; and has been developed together with executive producer Andersson and his son Ludvig Andersson, for their RMV Film.
The film will tell the story of the life and 70-year career of Malmkvist, a beloved Swedish artist of the schlager music style. Benny will join a host of creative figures in the documentary including Norwegian singer Wenche Myhre, Swedish schlager singer Ann-Louise Hanson, choreographer Hans Marklund, and, through archive material, late Swedish singer Barbro ‘Lill-Babs’ Svensson.
The film is currently in production; NonStop Entertainment will distribute it in Nordic territories, with a theatrical release scheduled for autumn 2025. Further co-producers are Film Stockholm, Nonstop Winning Formula and SVT, with development and support from the Swedish Film Institute.
“When they told me they wanted to make a movie about me, I was completely shocked,” said 88-year-old Malmkvist. “About me?! Why? Who would want to see that? But now, after they’ve been following me for almost a year, it actually feels pretty cool! … though still a bit strange.”
Mantaray Film has made documentaries about Swedish icons including 2015’s Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words; as well as Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In The Service Of Mind, about the US writer, which played at HotDocs in 2021.
RMV produced Swedish director Levan Akin’s second feature The Circle in 2015, and has co-produced his subsequent films And Then We Danced and Crossing.
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