News

With the holiday season comes dysfunctional family stories that reflect the reality of people living around us. Conflicts and bickering are a constant in every family, and these are the everyday problems of the current generation. Thank You, I’m Sorry is a Swedish Netflix original film about two sisters who find themselves in each other’s company after many years due to unforeseen circumstances. Directed by Lisa Aschan and written by Marie Østerbye, the movie was released on the streaming platform on December 26, 2023.

Sara is eight months into her pregnancy when her husband Daniel talks about wanting to split from her just before heading to sleep. Daniel dies the next day, and Sara is left with many questions regarding his decision to quit on her and the family. As her small family of in-laws and her estranged sister Linda join her in grief, there is a lot to uncover...

The Swedish Film Institute on Wednesday announced the nominations for the Guldbagge (Golden Bug) awards, Sweden’s top film prize, with politics taking center stage among the feature contenders.

Axel Petersén’s Shame on Dry Land, a neo-noir set in the world of online gamblers who fled Sweden for refuge in Malta, lead the pack with 9 Guldbagge nominations. But it was snubbed in the best film category. Per Fly’s cold war thriller Hammarskjöld, starring Mikael Persbrandt as the titular Swedish diplomat, and former Un Secretary-General, who died in a mysterious plane crash, received seven nominations, including best film, tying with Opponent, Milad Alami’s drama about a family who flee Iran for Northern Sweden.

Alongside Hammarskjöld and Opponent, best film nominees include Mika Gustafson’s social drama Paris Is Burning, the relationship drama 100 Seasons from director Giovanni Bucchieri, and The Gullspång Miracle, a documentary from director Maria Fredriksson about...

The Swedish comedy Call Mom! by Lisa Aschan has come out on top in the Comedy Competition. The postponed Febiofest Prague 2020 (see the news) has announced the winners of its 27th edition. The Main Competition jury, comprising Czech filmmakers Beata Parkanová and Slávek Horák, and Czech actress Anna Polívková, stated: “Each of the films made an impact on us, affecting different parts of our personalities. That’s why we also decided to hand out a Special Mention. And it was precisely that award that represented the toughest choice, as it was hard to decide between these well-matched films. In the end, it went to Maria Sødahl’s Hope, which won us over with its sensitive telling of a story, with excellent acting performances.” The top prize went to the Slovak-Czech-Romanian-Irish drama Servants by Slovakian director-producer Ivan Ostrochovský, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale. “An extremely powerful story told by purely cinematic.

New films by Thomas Vinterberg, Charlotte Blom and Jonas Poher Rasmussen will be presented at the Goteborg Film Festival’s Nordic Film Market. In total, 16 films in post-production will be presented to industry participants in at the Nordic Film Market as part of the Work-in-Progress section. Half of the lineup is made up of first features.

Cia Edström, the head of the Nordic Film Market, said the industry showcase is seeing a big increase in participation this year. As many as 381 attendees from 25 countries so far have signed up for the event, including 37 sales agents, 67 festival programmers and 47 buyers. Edström noted the breadth and diversity of films and projects in this year’s program.

Vinterberg’s next film, “Another Round” is a modern drama starring Mads Mikkelsen. Represented in international markets by TrustNordisk, the film follows a group of high school teachers who embark on an experiment to be intoxicated...

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 35th edition, which will take place from January 15 to 25. There will be 47 world premieres and 71 U.S. premieres, with 50 countries represented overall, in addition to starry tributes that serve as an awards season stop for top Oscar contenders. Among those feted in their respective categories will be Renée Zellweger (American Riviera Award), Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver (Outstanding Performers of the Year Award), Laura Dern (Cinema Vanguard Award), Brad Pitt (Maltin Modern Master Award), along with the winners of the Virtuosos Award: Awkwafina, Taron Egerton, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Aldis Hodge, George MacKay, Florence Pugh, and Taylor Russell.

The Sbiff is also unique in its yearly celebration of below the line talent. The crafts artists who’ve won the Variety Artisans Award this year are Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (“Frozen II”), Michael Giacchino (“Jojo Rabbit”), Kazu Hiro...

LevelK has acquired international sales rights to Lisa Aschan’s new film “Call Mom!”, a sequel to her well-received feature debut, “She Monkeys.”

Produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius (“Amateurs”) at Garagefilm Intl., “Call Mom!” follows Niki, a 35-year-old who lives like she’s 25 and is forced to come to grips with all of her relationships and past choices in life.

Aschan said “Call Mom!” could be thought of as a “standalone sequel” to “She Monkeys” (pictured), a coming-of-age film which won the best film award at Tribeca, received an Honorable Mention at Berlin and took home the Guldbagge award for best film.

“The choice of genre was obvious to me: A movie about familial relationships has to be a comedy. I’m drawn to humor because I think it’s very much connected to pain,” Aschan said. “I’m drawn to people who use humor as a survival mechanism.”

Aschan said...

TrustNordisk has closed several deals on “Swoon,” the fantasy-romance pic written and directed by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, the pair behind hit drama series “The Bridge” and “Midnight Sun” as well as “Underworld Awakening” and “Shelter” with Julianne Moore.

“Swoon” unfolds in an imaginary universe and follows the love story between Ninni and John, the young heirs of two rival families who own neighboring amusement parks.

TrustNordisk, which is hosting market screenings for the movie at the Efm, has sold it to Korea (Activers Entertainment), China (Turbo Films), Greece (Weird Wave), Russia Cis (Capella Film), Croatia and Ex-Yugoslavia (Kino Mediteran), Estonia (Estin Film) and Lithuania (Scanorama/Kino Aljausas).

The movie stars Pernilla August, Albin Grenholm, Frida Gustavsson and Robert Gustafson.

“Swoon” was produced by Kristina Aberg at Atmo Rights, whose credits include Tarik Saleh’s “The Nile Hilton Incident,” Erik Gandini’s “Videocracy” and Lisa Aschan’s “She Monkeys.

Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson directs project with Sfi backing.

Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975) is working on the feature documentary That Summer, centred on artist Peter Beard and his family of friends, who formed an enormously influential and vibrant creative community in Montauk, Long Island in the 1970s.

The film includes extraordinary footage from a project Beard initiated with Lee Radziwill about her relatives, the Beales of Grey Gardens, predating by years their depiction in the landmark Albert Maysles film Grey Gardens.

Andy Warhol also features in That Summer, and shot some of the newly unearthed footage, as did director Jonas Mekas, with additional cinematography by Maysles and Vincent Fremont.

Olsson and Swedish production company Story join production companies Louverture Films, Thunderbolt Ranch and Final Cut for Real on the project. Tobias Janson, Joslyn Barnes, Nejma Beard and Signe Byrge Sørensen serve as producers, with Beard serving as executive producer alongside Andrea Barron...

Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson is directing project with Sfi backing.

Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape) is working on feature documentary That Summer, which will include long-lost archive footage of the stars of the Maysles brothers’ 1975 doc Grey Gardens,

Olsson is reviving a project first initiated by artist Peter Beard, which chronicles his family of friends and creative collaborators in Montauk, Long Island in the 1970s.

Beard set up the project with Lee Radziwill, a relative of eccentric duo Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and Edith Bouvier Beale (Little Eddie), who were depicted in Grey Gardens and its 2006 follow-up The Beales Of Grey Gardens, which featured previously unused footage shot by the Maysles.

Andy Warhol also features in That Summer, and shot some of the newly-unearthed footage, as did director Jonas Mekas, with additional cinematography by Albert Maysles and Vincent Fremont.

Olsson and Swedish production company Story have rights to use footage.

The film is...

Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson is directing project with Sfi backing.

Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape) is working on feature documentary That Summer, which will include long-lost archive footage of the stars of the Maysles brothers’ 1975 doc Grey Gardens,

Olsson is reviving a project first initiated by artist Peter Beard, which chronicles his family of friends and creative collaborators in Montauk, Long Island in the 1970s.

Beard set up the project with Lee Radziwill, a relative of eccentric duo Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and Edith Bouvier Beale (Little Eddie), who were depicted in Grey Gardens and...

It’s been over half-a-decade since we last saw the work of Tomas Alfredson on screen — his stellar follow-up to Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — but he’s finally returning in 2017 with one of our most-anticipated films of the year. His latest feature is The Snowman, an adaptation of Jo Nesbø‘s novel, which also stars Rebecca Ferguson and Charlotte Gainsbourg, and follows Fassbender as detective Harry Hole who, upon finding a pink scarf on a snowman, searches for the missing woman.

“It’s got that Scandi-noir element to it, for sure. I think it’s going to be very rich. I love working with Tomas Alfredson. He’s an absolutely great filmmaker. And I think it’s going to be scary, and I think it’s going to be edge-of-the-seat stuff. I like it because Harry Hole’s a very flawed genius in his department of work.

Other winners include Drifters and box office hit A Man Called Ove.

Magnus von Horn’s The Here After was the big winner at last night’s Guldbagge awards in Sweden.

The film, produced by Zentropa Sweden and Lava Film, was selected for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2015. The drama isabout a young man who returns home after serving time in prison, but is not forgiven by the local community,

The Here After won best film, best director and best supporting actor (Mats Blomgren).

Another newcomer, Peter Gronlund, won five Guldbagge prizes for his debut film Drifters, a low-budget feature produced by B-Reel. The film won best script for Gronlund and best actress for Malin Levanon.

Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove, a current box-office smash hit, won best actor for Rolf Lassgard. Ove also won the audience award and the prize for best makeup.

Other winners included Beata Gardeler’s Flocking, which won three...

Working mostly in Europe, Burkinabé thespian Issaka Sawadogo is a name that continues to pop up on this site, and one that you really should become familiar with, as I think it's only a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling. Although, whether he'll accept is another story altogether. The actor co-stars in award-winning Swedish director Lisa Aschan's second feature, titled ''Det vita folket'' (or "The White People" in English) which is set for theatrical release in Sweden, on November 27. The likelihood of a USA pickup is probably small, but not impossible.  The film co-stars Pernilla August and Vera...

Lucrative prize goes to the Indian director of Parched.

Leena Yadav, the Indian director of drama Parched, has been chosen as the winner of the new Stockholm Impact Award, from the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 11-22) and the City of Stockholm.

Yadav is given $114,000 (1 million Sek) to support upcoming film projects.

Parched, which had its world premiere in Toronto Special Presentations, is set in a rural Indian village, where three women begin to break from misogynistic traditions.

The jury for the award included artist Ai Weiwei (who designed the trophy), filmmaker Ida Panahandeh, and Linus Tunstrom director of Uppsala City Theatre.

The jury said, “Through superb acting, giving a unique insight into the minds and hearts of women in rural India, told with colorful, sensual cinematography, this film is a paradoxical celebration of life, in spite of tough circumstances, creating both anger and joy, giving fuel for debate as well as hope for change, when addressing...

The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (November 6-14) offers busy industry programme including works in progress and Crossroads co-production strand.The 56th Thessaloniki International Film Festival kicks off today with the Berlin prizewinner Victoria by Sebastian Schipper.

The festival closes Nov 14 with the Cannes awarded My Golden Days (Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse) by Arnaud Desplechin, who receives an homage, enjoys a full retrospective of his films and will deliver a masterclass.

Also receiving homages are veteran Romanian director Mircea Daneliuc and Greek master cinematographer Nikos Kavoukidis, accompanied by tributes to the 70 years of Greek animation and to the recent Austrian cinema.The late Belgian director Chantal.Akerman is receiving a special homage with the presentation of her 2011 film Almayer’s Folly (La folie Almayer).

The competition program includes 15 first and second films (the full list is below). The five members of the international jury set to award the Golden, Silver and Bronze...

Full line-up of the Stockholm film festival includes feature and documentary competition line-ups.Scroll down for full line-up

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 11-22) has unveiled the line-up for its 26th edition, comprising more than 190 films from over 70 countries.

The Stockholm Xxvi Competition includes Marielle Heller’s Us title The Diary of a Teenage Girl and László Nemes’ Holocaust drama Son Of Saul.

It marks the first time Stockholm has a greater number of women than men competing for the Bronze Horse – the festival’s top prize.

The documentary competition includes Amy Berg’s An Open Secret, an investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry; and Cosima Spender’s Palio, centred on the annual horse race in Siena, Italy.

Announcing the programme, festival director Git Scheynius also revealed that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will visit Stockholm for the first time as chairman of the jury for the first Stockholm Impact Award, which...

Ruben Ostlund’s new film The Square is among a host of intriguing projects in development in Sweden.

It has been a notable 12 months for Swedish film.

Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence won the Golden Lion in Venice this time last year, David Sandberg’s 30-minute short Kung Fury has notched up 20 million YouTube views, August 29 marks the 100th anniversary of Ingrid Bergman’s birth and a healthy crop of Swedish films are headed to Toronto.

The trend looks set to continue as the Swedish Film Institute (Sfi) can point to a crop of exciting features now in development or production.

Among them is The Boyfriend (Jag Vill Inte Bli Gammal Nu), which will be directed by Force Majeure actress Fanni Metelius.

“Like her shorts it shows the relationships between guys and girls and sexuality from a female perspective,” said Andrea Reuter of the Sfi, speaking to ScreenDaily...

Goteborg: Anticipated Nordic titles presented to industry.

A host of anticipated Nordic features were pitched to industry this week at the Works In Progress strand of the Gothenburg Film Festival.

Potential buyers and sellers heard about upcoming projects from directors including Antti Jokinen, Lisa Aschan and Mads Matthiesen.

Swedish outfit GarageFilm International is producing Aschan’s horror White People, currently in post-production.

Vera Vitali, Pernilla August and Issaka Sawadogo star in the feature about a woman’s clash with a corrupt head of security.

Aschan’s debut She Monkey’s received a special mention at the Berlinale and won Gothenburg’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film.

Solar Films’ period war-romance Wildeye, currently in post-production, comes from acclaimed Finnish features and music video director Antti Jokinen, best known for drama Purge and Hilary Swank starrer The Resident.

Set against the historical backdrop of The Lapland War in 1944-1945, Wildeye charts the story of a midwife who falls...

White People

Director: Lisa Aschan // Writer: Lisa Aschan

After nabbing several awards for her 2011 debut She Monkeys (see trailer below), Swedish director Lisa Aschan was set to direct a horror movie called The Deposit. But she gave back the funding she received from the Stockholm International Film Festival to make White People, which follows a group of six people as they fight for survival after being locked away. Considering the quality of Aschan’s first feature, plus the presence of veteran actress Pernilla August, this earns a place on our list.

Cast: Pernilla August, Vera Vitali, and Issaka Sawadogo

Producer: Garagefilm International’s Anna-Maria Kantarius (Something Must Break)

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

Release Date: We’re thinking this will pop up at the Berlin Film Festival, which is where She Monkeys migrated to after playing Goteburg.

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Last month, we unveiled our all-encompassing, most anticipated films for the current year in film. Now we peer into a future that is a little past the limits of 2014 thus we find ourselves with a quickie overview of the Top 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2015. Curated by our Nicholas Bell, with a little luck, we might see less than a finger count on one hand sum of films break this year, but for the most part, a good deal of these projects have planned 2014/15 production start dates. Here are 100 projects/filmmakers worth keeping tabs on (picks 100 to 11)

100. The Double Hour – Dir. Joshua Marston

99. Lila & Eve – Dir. Charles Stone III

98. Legacy of Secrecy – Dir. David O. Russell

97. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh

96. Elvis and Nixon – Dir. Liza Johnson

95. Hier – Dir. Balint Kenyeres

94. Timeless – Dir. Vadim Perelman

93. Wonderful Tonight – Dir. Christine Jeffs

92. Rocketman – Dir. Dagur Kari

91. Passengers – Dir. Brian Kirk

90. Sweet Cheeks – Dir.

Burkinabé thespian Issaka Sawadogo is a name that continues to pop up on this site, and one that you really should become familiar with, as I think it's only a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling. Although, whether he'll accept is another story altogether. The actor has signed up to star in award-winning Swedish director Lisa Aschan's second feature, titled White People. The film, which is a follow-up to Aschan's feature directorial debut (She Monkeys), co-stars Pernilla August and Vera Vitali in a film that follows a group of 6 people as they fight to stay alive after being locked away together. That's all we know right now of the...

Anna Odell’s drama wins best film at the Guldbagge Awards; Per Fly’sWaltz for Monica (Monica Z) wins four.

Anna Odell’s feature debut The Reunion (Återträffen) received two top prizes at the 50th Guldbagge Awards in Sweden last night. The depiction of a class reunion after 20 years won Best Film and Best Screenplay.

Odell, who wrote the screenplay, said on stage: “I usually say things how they are, but I’m really bewildered. Long live art, life and liberty! And culture and everything.”

It marks the third consecutive year that a debut female filmmaker collected the Best Film statuette after Lisa Aschan’s She Monkeys (Apflickorna) and Gabriela Pichler’s East Sleep Die (Äta sova dö).

Produced by Mathilde Dedye, for French Quarter Film, The Reunion previously picked up the Fipresci prize for Best First Feature in Venice last August and is set to screen at the Rotterdam Film Festival (Jan 22 - Feb 2).

The night’s...

Jack Reacher; Love Crime; She Monkeys

Of the few physical descriptions offered in Lee Child's source novel One Shot, one fact is clear – the hero of this ongoing avenging angel series is very big (Clive James's phrase "a condom stuffed with walnuts" has been invoked) and very tall. Not so Tom Cruise, who brings many qualities to the title role of Jack Reacher (2012, Paramount, 15), of which both heft and height are notable only by their absence. Replacing physical bulk with bankable box-office power, Cruise ambles through this oddly inert actioner as the eponymous, ghost-like figure, (re)appearing from nowhere after a clearly culpable crackpot is arrested following an apparently random daylight massacre. Teaming up with Rosamund Pike's glamorously attired defence lawyer, whose district attorney father (Richard Jenkins) has sent several prisoners to their deaths, Reacher follows the money to the Zec, a milky-eyed maniac with a very...

A modern Swedish western and coming-of-age drama is hardly the hybridisation you would expect. Lisa Aschan’s directorial debut is this amalgamation of genres, as well as bicuriousity, control and awkward overt sexualisation of a seven year-old.

Unrecognisable genre-blending has made this a most refreshing piece of cinema, one which has kept the confusion and inherent awkwardness of growing up. It has tried to capture the emotions that cinema struggle to illustrate realistically; they’re usually tampered with to become hollow, over-the-top or Americanised leaving the rest of the audiences struggling to sympathise. She Monkeys has managed to capture it with many moments being realistic and uncomfortable but ultimately it all feels worthless.

Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) joins the local equestrian vaulting team where she meets the more popular, more successful Cassandra (Linda Molin). Their personalities are opposing at the beginning with Emma being a quiet, deadpanned teenage girl who often looks after her little sister.

★★★★☆ To caption Lisa Aschan's debut feature She Monkeys (Apflickorna, 2011) as a tale of burgeoning sapphic desire amidst the intense world of equestrian vaulting is by no means erroneous. Originally produced as part of the Swedish Film Institute's 'Rookie Project', it went on to receive high praise on the festival circuit. After reaching British cinemas last year, She Monkeys now arrives on DVD courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures. A complex examination of femininity, sexuality and control, it could hastily be likened to Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010), but replaces that film's delirious bravura with a restrained but fierce intensity.

Read more »...

After ten days of film, I have compiled a list of the ten best at this year’s Toronto Lgbt film festival. Every bit as fearless, shameless, and timeless as the adverts suggest, Inside Out 2012 was an unmitigated success.

Honourable Mentions

Hit So Hard

Although the film initially struggles to find its objet d’art, it eventually concentrates on Schemel’s inherently engrossing story. With amazingly detailed file footage of Schemel’s personal and professional life, and a strangely hallucinogenic aesthetic, Hit So Hard is a powerful and personal documentary about a woman who’s unquestionably likewise.

Melting Away

With so much heart tugging and fifty different kinds of cheese, Melting Away eventually succeeds in its war of emotional attrition. We know exactly how the film is going to play out, and how Anna’s story will come to an end, but despite this, there’s still an inexplicable urge to cheer for her.

She Monkeys

Directed by Lisa Aschan

Written by Lisa Aschan and Josefine Adolfsson

Sweden, 2011

Oscar Levant once said, “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity”. Perhaps Levant was a genius (or perhaps he was insane), but the truth within his aphorism is both pithy and well documented. In cinema, the most notable auteurs have always been avant-garde, pushing the boundaries of our sensibilities with purposed provocation, and although Lisa Aschan’s She Monkeys isn’t nearly as groundbreaking as its influential predecessors, it nevertheless straddles the precarious equilibrium of genius and insanity.

When Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser), a girl of unflinching earnestness, resolves to join an equestrian acrobatics team, she encounters Cassandra (Linda Molin), her enigmatic teammate with a piercingly frigid persona. As they begin to bond, their relationship escalates with sudden intensity, resulting in a smorgasbord narrative of desire, love, rivalry, and power.

Initially, and ironically, the film...

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Measuring the full emotional extent of a hormonal teenage mind is something cinema rarely manages to get right, normally forcing its characters into easily categorised pop psychology pigeonholes. When a rare film actually nails it, we should take notice, as in Swedish director Lisa Aschan’s startlingly chilly feature debut, She Monkeys.

Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) is a quiet, composed, meticulous teenage girl and a keen equestrian vaulter. She meets Cassandra (Linda Molin), a fellow vaulter, and the two embark on a friendly relationship which soon seems to become something more. As the competitive pressure of qualifying for their vaulting team mounts, so too does the sexual tension, with some unexpected consequences.

It would be very easy for something like this to start as a meet-cute and quickly devolve into a sleazily exploitative middle-aged man’s fantasy. Guided by Aschan’s firm – yes, feminine – directorial hand, it...

The Dictator (15)

(Larry Charles, 2012, Us) Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Jason Mantzoukas, Ben Kingsley, John C Reilly. 83 mins

Having run out of unsuspecting Americans to prank, Sacha Baron Cohen takes the conventional fish-out-of-water route this time, as his Arab tyrant comes to terms with western democracy. But if the story plays it safe, the comedy treads a risky line between lampooning Islamophobia and fuelling it. The high gag rate, animated performance and general broad-spectrum offensiveness help him get away with murder, and worse.

The Raid (18)

(Gareth Evans, 2011, Indon/Us) Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian. 101 mins

Throwing more punches than every other movie this year combined, this single-minded Indonesian martial arts epic doesn't let up until everyone in its baddy-infested apartment block, and the auditorium, is pummelled into submission. Pacifists, look away now.

2 Days In New York (15)

(Julie Delpy, 2011, Ger/Fra/Bel) Julie Delpy, Chris Rock, Albert Delpy. 96 mins

Welcome return for Delpy's chaotic,...

I was struggling to figure out the literal and/or metaphoric reason for the tumbleweeds -- yes, actual tumbleweeds -- that roll lazily more than once through She Monkeys (in the original Swedish, Apflickorna). Are they reflections -- if strained and preposterous ones -- of the emotional desolation of its characters? And then I learned that writer (with Josefine Adolfsson) and director Lisa Aschan sees this as a modern Western. I don’t see a Western here -- the tumbleweeds still seem ridiculous -- and I’m still struggling to find reasons to do more than merely coolly appreciate, from an emotional distance, the disagreeably detached dissection of young girls’ sexuality on offer. Teen Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) and her new acquaintance Cassandra (Linda Molin), members of an equestrian gymnastics team, are engaging an ugly push-and-pull of love and hate, dominance and submission, attraction and revulsion. Meanwhile, Emma’s little sister,...

As expected, despite a whole host of lukewarm reviews, Dark Shadows has done pretty well at the Box Office in its first week. It only went in at number 3 however, behind both The Avengers and American pie: The Reunion, which will perhaps be a little disappointing for the studio who may have hoped for a bit more of a smash hit.

This week’s big release is Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest outing The Dictator which thanks in part to some surprisingly warm reviews from critics after preview screenings, should do some pretty big business over the weekend. Cohen’s hit pay-dirt before with the likes of Borat, and even the slightly lacklustre Bruno cleaned up at the Box Office. With The Dictator however, expectation seems to have been fairly low until now, the combined result perhaps of Bruno’s poor reception and a slightly misleading marketing campaign which...

★★★★★ Swedish director Lisa Aschan's debut feature She Monkeys (Apflickorna, 2011) is an immensely powerful and precise examination of adolescent female sexuality through the relationship between two young girls, Emma (Mathilda Paradieser) and Cassandra (Linda Molin), who share a passion for equestrian show jumping. When Emma joins the team, Cassandra take her under her wing - that is, until a catastrophic power struggle emerges between the two.

Read more »...

Clothing was stripped of branding, and there are no ads or billboards in uncompromising tale of teenage rivalry

On paper, She Monkeys sounds like UniLad's wet dream: nubile Swedish girls experiment with their sexuality. Sadly for any potential babe-botherers out there, the film is actually a dispassionate coming-of-age indie flick set in a washed-out town on the west coast of Sweden, where two teenage girls attempt to navigate the psychological minefield of those strange years just before womanhood.

She Monkeys centres on Emma (played by Mathilda Paradeiser), a seemingly shy 14-year-old hoping to make it in on to the local voltige (horse-vaulting) team. The world she enters is a fierce one of tacit teenage codes and continuous physical scrutiny. The dangers of the sport offer a contrast to the introspective mood of the film, as well as symbolising the fears associated with the uncharted territory of adolescence. The story begins...

"From the scary thuds and mysterious roars that accompany the no-frills titles to the bizarrely poignant final image of the monster, alone at the bottom of the ocean, Ishiro Honda's 1954 Godzilla is all business and pure dream." So begins the essay by J Hoberman included in the typically extensive Criterion DVD and Blu-ray packages, out today, reviewed and recommended by David Anderson at Ioncinema and Bill Ryan; Gary Tooze takes a close look and listen to the image and audio quality. Related reading: Sean Axmaker's Godzilla primer at GreenCine. Updates, 1/25: Budd Wilkins reviews the "monstrously entertaining package" for Slant, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars. More from Steven James Snyder in Time.

R Emmet Sweeney at Movie Morlocks: "The intrepid Twilight Time label continues their line of limited edition Blu-Ray releases with an absolutely gorgeous version of Picnic, Columbia's romantic smash of 1955-1956. Sold exclusively through on-line retailer Screen Archives,...

Bill Skarsgård, Simon and the Oaks Best film Apflickorna / She Monkeys Producer: Helene Lindholm Play Producer: Erik Hemmendorff Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks Producers: Christer Nilson, Per Holst Best Foreign Language Film Kynodontas / Dogtooth Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Jodaeiye Nader az Simin / A Separation Director: Asghar Farhadi Winter's Bone Director: Debra Granik Best Director Lisa Aschan for Apflickorna / She Monkeys Lisa Ohlin for Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks Ruben Östlund for Play Best actress in a leading role Ann Petrén for her role as Jonna in Happy End Magdalena Poplawska for her role as Marta in Between 2 Fires Helen Sjöholm for her role as Karin Larsson in Simon och ekarna / Simon and the Oaks Best actor in a leading role Mikael Persbrandt for his role as Johan in Stockholm Östra / Stockholm East Sven-Bertil Taube for his role as George in En enkel till Antibes / A One-way to...

Scott Roxborough

Cologne, Germany – Swedish director Lisa Aschan (She Monkeys) has won the inaugural Stockholm Film Fund and, with it, a $800,000 (5 million Swedish Krone) bursary towards her sophomore effort, The Deposit. The Fund rewards female directors with fewer than two features to their credit by backing their latest project. The Fund is part of a larger goal set out by the Swedish Film Institute to ensure that at least 40 per cent of Swedish films are written, directed or produced by women. The winner has a year to finish her film in time for its world premiere at

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★★★★☆ Swedish director Lisa Aschan's remarkably assured debut feature She Monkeys (2011) is a hormonally-charged, coming-of-age drama, depicting the conflict between two competitive teenage girls, and stars Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin and Isabella Lindquist.

On the cusp of maturity, 15-year-old Emma (Paradeiser) lives with her younger sister Sara (Lindquist) and their farther Ivan (Sergej Merkusjev). She's about to embark on a series of fascinating encounters that will ultimately mould her into the sort of woman she'll become. She Monkeys opens with this staunch, empowered adolescent training her obedient Border Collie using a clicker. She barely says a word other than sharp, harsh commands towards her incredibly compliant, four legged companion but instantly we can see that Emma is a girl who positively revels in being in control.

Emma meets Cassandra (Molin), a confident, beautiful and incredibly nubile girl whilst trying out for the local equestrian gymnastic team. The two quickly bond...

She-Monkeys

Director: Lisa Aschan

Writers: Lisa Aschan, Josefine Adolfsson

In Spartacus, Crassus and Antoninus coyly discuss sexual preferences in terms of snails and oysters. When it comes to Sapphic teen dramas centred on the world of sport, it might simply boil down to a choice between synchronised swimming and equestrian vaulting. While Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies was all lingering poolside gazes and hypnotic synthesisers, Lisa Aschan’s equally impressive She-Monkeys treads a much darker line between desire and athletic rivalry.

She-Monkeys begins with Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) trying out for the vaulting team on which Cassandra (Linda Molin) is the undoubted star. Blonde, poised and supremely confident, Cassandra initiates the new recruit into this highly competitive world and helps with her training. But their growing intimacy is undercut with both recklessness and cruelty. Meanwhile, single dad Ivan (Sergej Merkusjev) has his own problems dealing with the burgeoning sexuality of Emma’s younger sister,...

The 13th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival(Mami)that kickstarted Thursday has an impressive line-up of over 200 films from 60 countries. Almost half the films in the competition section are by women directors.During the seven-day-long film festival, movie buffs will enjoy visual delights from the masters of the art like renowned international directors Lars Von Trier, Wim Wenders, Gus Van Sant and Bela Tarr.Apart from this, the winners from the world.s best film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin and Venice, will also be showcased during the festival..This is by far the best festival we have had under Mami so far and the best in the country,. Mami chairman Shyam Benegal told Ians..The quality of any film festival should be judged by its films. This year we have an enviable line up of not only the best films made in the world last year, but also the...

The BFI London Film Festival is the biggest film festival the UK has to offer, and one of the most prestigious and well-recognised festivals across the globe. This year, the festival is celebrating its 55th run, and it has an absolutely fantastic line-up of films scheduled to play through the festival, from 12th – 27th October.

We’re now able to share with you the shortlists for the festival’s various awards, along with the juries for each of those awards. More excellent news also comes with the announcement that the BFI will be honouring both writer-director David Cronenberg, who is bringing his film A Dangerous Method to the festival this year, and actor-director Ralph Fiennes, who will be bringing his directorial debut Coriolanus to the festival, with its highest honour, in the form of the BFI Fellowship.

On receiving the award, Cronenberg has said,

“This is a monumental, in fact overwhelming,...

She Monkeys / Apflickorna Trailer. Lisa Aschan‘s She Monkeys / Apflickorna (2011) movie stars Mathilda Paradeiser, Linda Molin, Isabella Lindquist, Sergej Merkusjev, and Adam Lundgren. She Monkeys / Apflickorna‘s plot synopsis: “When Emma meets Cassandra, they initiate a relationship filled with physical and psychological challenges. Emma does whatever it takes to master the rules of the game. Lines are crossed and the stakes get higher and higher. Despite this, Emma can’t resist the intoxicating feeling of total control.”

The fact that both of the girls are in competition with each other yet one girl seems to hate and like the other girl at the same time will make for a cool dynamic on screen.

I found the tone of the film to be far closer to Celine Schiamma’s Water Lilies than that of Moodysson’s Fukcing Amal (Show Me Love). It’s tightly wound 80 minutes is centered around the budding...

If you love watching movies about extremely unstable young women who are prone to acts of violence and self-destruction, you’re going to simply adore the three trailers embedded below. Instead of creating three separate articles for three movies that essentially share the same theme, I figured I’d simply lump all three together in one place for your collective viewing pleasure. Lisa Aschan’s “She Monkeys” tells the story of Emma and Cassandra, two girls who begin a tumultuous relationship, while Aldo Tardozzi’s “Spots” (aka “Fleke”) is about Lana and Irena, two girls who begin a tumultuous relationship. Ziska Riemann’s “Lollipop Monster”, meanwhile, chronicles the adventures of Ari and Oona, two girls who begin a tumultuous relationship. Thus, a themed post was born. All trailers have been embedded below. Source: Quiet Earth function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf?...

I was greatly impressed by Lisa Aschan's She Monkeys (Apflickorna) at this year's Tribeca. Evidently so was the jury as it won for best narrative feature at the festival. While statements like "the best Swedish debut since Lukas Moodysson" have been floating around, I found the tone of the film to be far closer to Celine Schiamma's Water Lilies than that of Moodysson's Fukcing Amal (Show Me Love). It's tightly wound 80 minutes is centered around the budding friendship and rivalry of two Swedish teens on an equestrian acrobatics team. It is a very cold, calculating study on sexuality and power with a dark, insidious sense of humor, a film both classical and refreshing in aesthetic. With a release in France on August 3rd, and...

Lisa Aschan's new sex-fueled teenage thriller She Monkeys just shocked and awed audiences at Karlovy Vary 2011. That's some kind of Czech film festival, in case you were American.

She Monkeys, (Aka Voltiges, Aka Apflickorna, depending on whether you speak English, French, or Swedish) is about control, sex, and creatures. Creatures like horses. When Emma meets Cassandra, they initiate a relationship filled with physical and psychological challenges. Emma does whatever it takes to master the rules of the game. Lines are crossed and the stakes get higher and higher. Despite this, Emma can’t resist the intoxicating feeling of total control.

A film that has been described as both chilling and sexy by various reviewers, Aschan herself calls it "a modern western." She Monkeys looks amazing. Here's a clip:

I'm particualrly fascinated by Aschan, because when she was a student in film school in Denmark in 2005, she created a fictional...

When you describe a film as "one of the most intense and complex feature debuts to come from Sweden since Lukas Moodysson's Show Me Love," you're bound to get my attention. But it's not as if Lisa Aschan's feature film debut She Monkeys (Apflickorna) is just now appearing on the festival circuit. Lauded at Tribeca with the best narrative feature prize as well as a special mention at Berlin, some are calling Aschan's drama one of the best films of the year.

Focusing on the friendship of two girls on an equestrian gymnastic team, Aschan's film plays with ideas of friendship and rivalry between two teen girls and apparently breaks taboos with its depiction of developing sexuality. The Tribeca jury commented that it "speaks of sex, adolescence, power, and ambition." Basically, this isn't your typical teenage drama.

With more festival screenings scheduled for the coming months it's likely...

Two Tribeca Film Festival winners, including best feature winner Lisa Aschan ("She Monkeys") and best screenplay winner Jannicke Systad Jacobsen ("Turn Me On Goddammit") are among the filmmakers named by film group European Film Promotion as one of the 10 European discoveries to watch. The group will be featured at the upcoming Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the sidebar, "Variety's Ten Euro Directors to Watch," at the invitation of the ...

She Monkeys

Directed by Lisa Aschan

Sweden, 2011

Written by Lisa Aschan & Josefine Adolfsson

Director Lisa Aschan propels into the limelight with a debut film that is light on dialogue and action, yet delivers a mighty punch with its story and atmosphere. She Monkeys tells the story of fifteen year old Emma as she lands a competitive spot on an equestrian acrobatic team. As she is taken under the wing of her older peer Cassandra, obsession and desire takes control as both girls fight for the top position. In the vein of such films as Single White Female, The Roommate, and most recently Black Swan, Aschan does an extraordinary job in creating a horrific film without being over-the-top terrifying. Consistently slow paced, She Monkeys rides the line of suspense without giving the audience the satisfaction of a scare.

She Monkeys is fundamentally a horror film at its core, yet it’s also much more.

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1. She Monkeys

When 15-year-old Emma lands a competitive spot on a young women’s equestrian acrobatics team, she is taken under the wing of her slightly older peer Cassandra. Obsessed with strength and control, Emma covets Cassandra’s natural grace and poise, while Cassandra in turn silently desires more than just Emma’s discipline. The psychological stakes of their friendship intensify as the two jockey for top position, and loyalty is traded for unbridled power. Meanwhile, Emma’s curious and innocent eight-year-old sister (in a remarkably complex performance delivered by rising star Isabella Lindquist) is prematurely spurred to confront the treacherous frontiers of sexuality and womanhood on her own.

Lisa Aschan’s award-winning directorial debut digs between the cracks of human behavior to reveal the seemingly naïve experience of girlhood as a feeding ground for underhanded brutality and rivalry. Using naturalistic direction, evocative imagery, and engrossing performances, Aschan smartly...

The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project, a film directed by Srinivas Sunderrajan is one among the 12 films that will contend for the Transilvania Trophy at the tenth edition of Transilvania International Film Festival (Tiff).

Presented by Romanian Film Promotion, 10th Tiff will take place from June 3-12, 2011 in Cluj- Napoca and June 15-19, 2011 in Sibiu, Romania. The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project will compete with films from Spain, Iceland, Sweden, USA, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Belgium, Uruguay, Israel and Russia.

The film belonging to meta fiction genre stars Kartik Krishnan, Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, Swara Bhaskar and D Santosh. A Hindi-English drama-thriller film shot in Mumbai, it was screened in Mumbai International Film Festival, 2010, South-Asian International Film Festival New York 2010 and Asian Hot Shots International Film Festival Berlin 2010.

The films in competition are:

A useful life / La vida util

Dir: Federico Veiroj, Uruguay – Spain, 2010

Innocent Saturday / V subbotu

Dir: Alexander Mindadze, Russia – Germany – Ukraine, 2011

King...

You can tell how massive and diverse a festival like Tribeca is by the fact that I saw 10 features and a whole bunch of shorts, yet only one film I saw won an award and none received special mention. I want to congratulate Rider & Shiloh Strong for winning best online short for their amazing film, The Dungeon Master. I have been pushing it as my favorite short of the festival and apparently many people agreed with me. Below is the list of all the winners & special mentions. Congratulations to all of them and congrats to everyone who just played at the festival, which is a huge honor by itself.

World Narrative Competition Categories:

The jurors for the 2011 World Narrative Competition were Souleymane Cissé, Scott Glenn, David Gordon Green, Rula Jebreal, Art Linson, Jason Sudeikis and Dianne Wiest.

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature . She Monkeys (Apflickorna), directed by Lisa Aschan,...