02/05/2013 - Producer-animator-director Tarik Saleh completes principal photography for Tommy, about a top gangster who may or may not be on his way back to claim his share of a heist

Swedish producer-animator-director Tarik Saleh (photo) - whose latest feature Metopia (2009) received the Future Film Festival Digital Award in Venice - will tomorrow omplete principal photography for Tommy after filming in Stockholm, Luleå and Göteborg.

This time Saleh – of Egyptian descent, and during the 1990s one of Sweden’s most prominent graffiti artists – has dived into the criminal underworld of Stockholm, where scriptwriter Anton Hagwall has set his story about the return of Estelle and her daughter Isabel.

The year before they fled head over heals with husband-and-father Tommy, who had committed one of the largest robberies in Swedish history. Now she wants his part of the loot, before she disappears again to start a new life with her family. But the money is gone.

In the depiction of “the woman behind the man behind the headlines”, Estelle puts pressure on his former mates from the heist, telling them that Tommy himself is on his way to claim his share of the spoils. If he comes, the city will explode.

Co-founded by Saleh, Swedish production shingle Atmo – which backed Swedish director Lisa Aschen’s multi-award-winning She Monkeys [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lisa Aschan
film profile] (2011) – has staged the project with ao Sonet Film, Swedish regional film centre Film i Väst, The Chimney Pot, and Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4.

Produced by Kristina Åberg (Metopia), Tommy stars Moa Gammel, with Ola Rapace, in a cast including Lykke Li Zackrisson, Alexej Manvelov, Johan Rabaeus, Ewa Fröling and Ingela Olsson. Swedish major Svensk Filmindustri has scheduled domestic release for February 2014.

Photo copyright: Baldur Bragason/Atmo