Oscar-nominated Swedish director Jan Troell will start principal photography for his new feature, Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment, in three weeks - and although he usually takes his time, the $6.2m (Euros 4.8m) is scheduled for a world premiere at next year's Goteborg International Film Festival.

Finnish-Swedish actress Maria Heiskanan, who played the lead in Troell's Silver Bear winner, Il Capitano (1991), will star in the film with Sweden's Mikael Persbrandt (Beck) and Denmark's Jesper Christensen. Troell's The Emigrants (1971) won two Golden Globes and was nominated for five Academy Awards.

Set in the early 1900s, and based on a real-life story from his wife's family, Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment is the story of an impoverished woman who wins a camera in a lottery. As the mother-of-seven learns to use it, she discovers new aspects of daily life which she immortalises in her photos.

Scripted by Niklas Radstrom, from the director and Agneta Ulfsater-Troell's idea, the film was presented yesterday (Jan 31) as a work-in-progress at Goteborg's Nordic Film Market. It will be photographed by Mischa Gavrjusjov (As White As In Snow, Hamsun).

Troell has moved the story from Göteborg, where it originally happened, to his home turf near Malmo and Lund. Danish producer Thomas Stenderup, of Final Cut Productions, and Swedish producer Christer Nilson, of Gota Film, have staged the project as a Danish Swedish co-production with 21 partners.

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