A Swedish Elephant

Swedes in America

November 1943 •English

1943 documentary with Ingrid Bergman.

Crimes Without Honour

March 2012 •English

Every winter in a cemetery near Stockholm, activists gather to keep the memory of Fadime Sahindal alive. A Kurdish immigrant to Sweden who was murdered by her father in 2002, Fadime has become an international symbol of the debate over cultural traditions that accept the use of violence to control women's behaviour. In Crimes Without Honour, four extraordinary activists risk everything to publicly challenge these traditions and tell their own stories of physical and emotional violence. While they practice different faiths, hail from different parts of the world and have immigrated to different countries, all make it crystal clear that the justification for these crimes is an entrenched family power structure of male supremacy—one that crosses borders, cultures and religions. Raymonde Provencher has crafted a vital addition to a growing body of films about crimes related to patriarchal traditions of family honour.

Vem bryr sig

January 2001 •Swedish

Beyond The Visible - Hilma af Klint

October 2019 •German

How can an artist discover abstraction by the beginning of the 20th century and nobody is noticing? A woman, misjudged and concealed, rocks the art world with her mind-blowing oeuvre. Hilma af Klint was a pioneer creating her first abstract painting in 1906, four years before Vassily Kandinsky. But why was she ignored? Why are her paintings not available on the market? This first film on her is about her life and work, the role of women in art history and the discovery of an art scandal. Her quest for meaning in life and a boundless thinking led into a timeless, outstanding oeuvre.

Rural Sweden

May 1938 •English

This short film takes the viewer to several towns and historical sites of rural Sweden.

The Chinese Are Coming to Town

February 2011 •Swedish

The Chinese global machine has been invited to revitalise the ailing Swedish town of Kalmar. The town's mayor has invited a Chinese company to build a trade centre and 300 homes, but all does not go to plan. An amusing and deeply relevant film, which shows the fault lines that emerge when the tigers of the developing world try to expand into Europe.

Yoko Bono - The Art of Being Swedish-Finnish

December 2018 •Swedish

Because of the poor employment situation in Finland, many families and single people decided to move to Sweden to seek employment in the 1960s and 70s. The move was considered temporary and it affected people’s ways of making themselves at home in the new country; they did not even try to adapt or learn the language of the country. At that time, the nicknames “Finnjävel” and “Hurri” were well-known to Swedish-Finnish youngsters: In Sweden, they were regarded as Finns; and the other way around. As neither nation’s citizens approved them as their own, the Sweden Finns had to create their own identity. But what kind of lives do these immigrants’ children and grandchildren live today? Jonas Karén was born in a Finnish family in Husby’s suburb 1980.

Palme's Secret Agent

October 2015 •English

At the height of the cold war a struggle broke out between Governments from all over the world as to which position to take about the system of apartheid in South Africa. Leading the fight was Olof Palmes' Swedish Government, which covertly funneled over US$ 1 billion to the resistance movement. This money was given without the knowledge of either the Parliament or the Swedish populace. At the center of the net in South Africa was a Swedish diplomat called Birgitta Karlström Dorph. Meanwhile at the UN the Swedes with their Scandinavian counterparts attempted to win the argument for economic sanctions. This led to bitter arguments which saw Palme leading the fight against the Reagan and Thatcher administrations.

Santa's Wild Home

November 2020 •English

Green lights dance across a star-filled sky, and snowflakes sparkle on the trees. It is little wonder Lapland is famous as a realm of elves and flying reindeer, the magical home of Santa Claus. This northernmost region of mainland Europe, however, is a real place, with real animals such as reindeer, Great Gray owls, wolverines, eagles, wolves, musk oxen and Brown bears who live out their lives in the tundra and forest.

Från vinterviste till sommarfjäll

December 1949 •Swedish

Documentary by Stig Wesslén, commenced in 1942 and ended seven years later. Here he shows human and animal, and follows the nomadic life in an old culture.

Livet är kort, konsten lång – filmen om Åke Göransson

April 2023 •Swedish

Crackoholic

December 2010 •Swedish

Crackoholic , by Jonas Paulsson and Mikael Widerberg, is quite different to most other climbing movies. The style is somewhat similar to that of the classic Hard Grit, in that it provides a historical perspective to the climbing of the area. In this case Bohusln on the Swedish west coast. We also get to meet and listen to some of the climbers who, through the decades, have been important to the development, of difficulty as well as ethics, and hear their thoughts on climbing and risk. As would be expected, these thoughts range from profound to cliche. Of course, there's also a lot of climbing, from moderates to FA's of cutting edge "death" routes.

Drottning Kristina - Den vilda drottningen

May 2015 •Swedish

After the death of her father, Christina is a Swedish queen in her childhood. As a young woman, she leaves the throne, changes to the Catholic faith and escapes to Rome. The life of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), her power and her self-interest fascinate the world to this day. The documentary drama explores the history of the unadjusted queen in Stockholm and Rome, which is still a model for many feminists.

Three Miles North of Molkom

April 2008 •English

Three miles north of Molkom, hidden deep in the lakeside forests of Sweden, lies Angsbacka; a 21st Century playground for adults. Once a year, their gates open to a thousand international participants, placed in 'Sharing Groups' at random. A Swedish celebrity, a Californian hippy, a Finnish grandmother and a back-packing Australian rugby coach, who stumbled on the wrong party, are amongst the group that take us on an unforgettably quirky, two-week emotional roller-coaster. Firewalking, Shamanism, Tantric Sex and myriad other physical, psychological and esoteric experiences, guide our unlikely heroes towards enlightenment, love, loathing and themselves. Will they ever be the same again?

Gråbo

March 2016 •Swedish

A personal portrait of the housing project Gråbo outside old hansa town Visby. We may encounter some residents that together give the otherwise drab suburb an almost magical shimmer where everything becomes a little larger than reality.

Children of Islam

August 2006 •English

Three boys and three girls. All born in the Middle East now living in Sweden. All with different views of Islam, integration, the World and Sweden. Some follow Sharia. Others fight Islamic roles. One is a hip hopper. The other thinks music is a sin. One thinks that the woman must obey her husband. One fights for women’s liberation. One girl is a boxer. The other is an ordinary worker. Some are closely followed by the Security Police. Children of Islam is a documentary about religion, culture, conflicts and looking for an identity in a changing Sweden.

The Masters Game - Ingo vs. Floyd

July 1959 •English

A documentary about one of the most famous classic boxing match with the legendary swedish boxer Jens Ingemar "Ingo" Johansson going to New York to face the then current champion, Floyd Patterson.

Europe´s Forgotten Giants

Invalid date •Swedish

A story about Europe´s largest terrestrial mammal and their potential return to Swedish forests. The audience also meets Rikard, the main caretaker of Avesta Visentpark and who shares his inner reflections and hopes regarding the future of the European bison.

Atrabilis

June 2022 •English

Flogsta Heaven

October 2015 •Swedish

Viktor Johansson is back with a new semi-documentary. This time about teenage outsiders from Flogsta, on the outskirts of Uppsala.