Swedish Film Institute backs eight new features with $5.8m

After filming American horror-action Underworld: Awakening with Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy and India Eisley, Swedish directors Måns Mårling and Björn Stein will return to domestic skies to interpret A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Känn ingen sorg) – not the Bard’s, but an original story by Cilla Jackert.

Produced by Malcolm Lidbeck and David Olsson for Acne Production, the film, centred on Daniel who dreams of being successful with his music but is constantly getting into trouble from his obsessions, received $1.7m (SEK 11m) production funding from the Swedish Film Institute, which distributed $5.8m (SEK 38.3m) support between eight new features.

Swedish director Daniel Alfredson’s new project with Danish Yellow Bird producer Søren Stærmose, Echoes from the Dead (Skumtimmen) – Swedish Johan Theorin’s mystery drama currently shooting on Öland in Sweden with Lena Endre, Tord Peterson and Thomas W Gabrielsson in the leads – was backed by $1.1m (SEK 7m).

Gondola (Gondolen), a first feature by Swedish director Karin Fahlén, collected $1.3m (SEK 8.5m); scripted by Erik Ahrnbom, and produced by Martina Stöhr for Chamdin & Stöhr Film, the multi-plot urban drama follows a young Stockholm guy obsessed with a theory of light and darkness, deciding whether people can come together or not.

Swedish director Stig Björkman marks the 30^th anniversary of Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander with Fanny, Alexander & I (F, A & jag), a documentary where leading Scandinavian actors discuss the film and reflect on their relationship with the work. The B-Reel Feature Films production was given $45,000 (SEK 300,000).

The institute also subsided Nordic co-productions with Swedish partners for Danish directors Esben Toft Jacobsen’s Beyond, Beyond and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen’s The Hour of the Lynx, Finnish director Pirjo Honkasalo’s Concrete Night and Norwegian director Margreth Olin’s Nowhere Home.