Discoveries from Sweden World Cinema

Long distance runner John Svanberg runs a race against two horses on the Jägersro horse racing facility.

A history of Gotland island in Sweden.

A call center in Stockholm marks the starting point for a poetic and reflective documentary about what it means to live off the forest. With a unique tone and exquisite storytelling, director Clara Bodén explores the escalating distance between city and countryside.

Gabrielle comes home and finds her two dads in distress, they want to have a serious talk.

Peter Gärdehag has documented the work on a small farm in Småland for decades which he has now compiled into a thoughtful meditative documentary about the type of knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation.

An autobiography of Polish artist Malga Kubiak in praise of everything aesthetically in your face, confrontational, against the grist of good bourgeois taste and sense – punk camp trash, tacky, cheesy, cheap and maybe even treacly. An epic ego trip which turns one person’s experience into a tale of many.

Carl-Fredrik Hamilton lives with his wife and three children in a pink castle in south-eastern Närke - one of Sweden's last remaining fideikommiss. For almost 300 years, the property has been passed down from father to eldest son. This is a documentary about the benefits and losses of life. But it is also a declaration of love for the place we call home. A whole that, according to Carl-Fredrik Hamilton, will last forever.

Dark Side Cowboys live at Babel

A recount of the Sandinistas and the revolution in Nicaragua. It tells the story of the Somoza regime's 40 years of terror and oppression. How the people took up the fight and overthrew the dictatorship, and finally what thoughts and ideas the new leaders have for the future.

A guy who is inexperienced in dating gets advice from a friend on how to attract women.

Big sister Miriam has a boyfriend, but he doesn't seem to wanna sleep with her. It's actually pretty crazy. Little sister Harriet wants to help her sister achieve that.

Minna is a home care nurse. With undying kindness and optimism, she visits all her clients, providing them with mental and physical comfort. She has a fifteen-year-old daughter, but she is aware that she is unable to give her the time she deserves. And then there is Alvar, a sick man who desperately needs care and support – things his illness prevents him from asking for. Who Stands Up for Alvar is a critique of an overburdened welfare system that drains caregivers of valuable energy they could be devoting to their clients, as well as a poignant look at the need for “ordinary” human kindness. (KVIFF 2024)

The little man takes refuge in the bottle, flying up to dreamlike experiences in space before the rubble is swept up.

Meet the world in a wash-house in Rinkeby. Almost a hundred dryers, washing machines and centrifuges spin here when 22 families wash at once. Juan from Chile tumbles his long underwear while Akif from Turkey carries his wife's laundry.

Follows a couple of people who share issues regarding homelessness and alcoholism.

A collective video work that activates the many stories embedded in the mining area where the Norberg techno festival is held every summer.

Documentary about photographer Marianne Greenwood.

In Havana, Linda meets what she thinks is the love of her life. But it'll seem not to be what she was expecting. When she gives birth to their daughter everything falls apart in the shadow of his need of having control.

A ferocious study of everyday sadism. Grief over a lost child has left Mina living a half-life in the shadows. But one day her world is shaken when a neighbour starts projecting obscene films into her bedroom. Seeking revenge on him, Mina enters into a game where the boundaries of fantasy and reality start to fade. A story unfolds – two people wracked with painful longing for atonement.

This surreal comedy stop motion film tells a story of two lovers growing apart as one undergoes a strange transformation. When water begins to pour out of the boyfriend, the couple is faced with a dilemma. The girl finally finds him fully transformed into a statuesque fountain.

A woman returns to her old school, which was abandoned many years ago. Through her dance, the memories of her time there come back to her, with both sadness and joy.

As the members of the Stockholm Boys' Choir's voices begin to crack, they are placed in a quarantine choir. As they inhabit this liminal space between boyhood and manhood, these young men share with us their most intimate hopes, fears, desires—and, of course, the music that is so central to their lives.

A close up study of human behavior.

A documentary about the lives of three transgendered children.

A fragmented story of the forest as the bearer of emotions, life and dark mysticism. In short scenes, we are sucked into environments that, through the camera’s slow crawl and the intense presence of the sound, give us a sense of narrative. Something is threatening, but the story is broken. This is a disoriented horror movie or the unsorted memories from a traumatized camera.

A Swedish expedition explores nature, animals and people in Eastern Central Africa in this documentary.

A dreamlike journey between different images and paintings.

A heartwarming and humorous documentary about lesbian love. Five elderly Swedish women discuss their lives during a period when homosexuality was considered a perversion. They trace their personal development from self-loathing and forbidden love to a hard-won sense of emotional liberation and social openness. An internationally acclaimed and awarded documentary.

War comes between a nurse-in-training and a rugged fighter pilot.

A girl wakes up in the middle of the woods with no memory of what has happened prior to that. She is injured and confused when she starts seeing a shape, or figure, that is following her.

The film follows the tracks of a master fraudster, impersonator and Ponzi schemer who, among other exploits, coached the Hungarian ladies' swimming team to success at international championships without being able to swim himself and, a few years later, claimed to be an archbishop and buyer of antique paintings for the Vatican Museum. In both cases, he made many acquaintances, came across as engaging and helpful but finally vanished with millions in cash. Interviews with people who encountered the man and were duped by him, though despite this and despite losing money, many of them retain a humorous feeling about what happened.

Nice musical about a baby bird that is left with friends and a babysitter when the parents fly south.

Lonely rebel-without-a-cause Dante has a chance encounter with a punkband on the rise and falls for the magnetic lead singer, Victoria.

A gory action comedy, about a hobo who goes out for revenge after being brutally beaten by two crazed hoodlums.

The destinies of different kind of people encounter in a passenger train that is traveling from Helsinki to the North.

1969 short by Sture Dahlström.

A hitchhike along a new border in southeastern Armenia becomes a journey within a human landscape. People try to show us the border and share stories of how it affects their lives. They sing about the soil on the other side and mourn what has been lost. This was once an area where people of different groups lived together, but wars and forced migrations have transformed a “we” into “us and them”. The border is very real and impossible to cross. But it is abstract and invisible in the landscape. Where is it? Is it inside us?

Kalle Andersson, born in 1907, grows up in poor conditions in Malmö. He has difficulty finding a job, but eventually gets a position through SAP and works his way up. He turns down a directorship, wanting to be loyal to the Labour Party.

Emma and Lina are two young woman, passionate about motor sport and living in the northeastern part of Sweden. During the folk race season, we get a rare glimpse into their lives, culture and dreams - around the kitchen table, in the garage and on the racetrack.

In this year's New Year's revue, the Halland revue stars will be sweeping through 2023 like a whirlwind. As usual, we are treated to a sparkling, glittering show with a fast-paced mix of sketches, satire and swinging musical numbers.

A lesson in the history of portrait art. A game with the camera's eye and our prejudices by artist Ola Billgren and filmmaker Carl Slättne.