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INDUSTRY Sweden

A strong 2016 opening for Sweden’s Film Väst

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- The Swedish regional film centre in Trollhättan has dropped the “i” in its name after 15 years and 450 co-productions

A strong 2016 opening for Sweden’s Film Väst
Tomas Eskilsson, CEO of Swedish regional film centre Film Väst (© Roger Lärk)

An Oscar nomination, a film with one million admissions, 14 Guldbagge Awards, seven entries in the official programme of the Berlin International Film Festival, and 19 nominations for the Danish Robert Awards: “The film year of 2016 could not have opened better for Film Väst,” said Tomas Eskilsson, CEO of the Swedish regional film centre in Trollhättan. “We can only conclude that our film region offers excellent conditions for the production of Swedish and international films of the highest quality.”

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Film Väst – which has dropped the “i” in its name (it was formerly known as Film i Väst) after 15 years and 450 co-productions, as part of a new graphic profile – received an Academy Award nomination for Love Larson and Eva von Bahr’s make-up and hairstyling in Swedish director Felix Herngren’s The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. The adventure-comedy sold 1.1 million tickets in Sweden and helped domestic cinema to reach a 25.1% local market share in 2014 – the highest since 2009. 

At the same time, Hannes Holm’s local blockbuster, A Man Called Ove [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, broke through the one-million-admissions mark in Swedish theatres, and shortly after collected two Guldbagge Awards – one for Best Actor (Rolf Lassgård) and the other for Best Film, as voted for by audiences. In total, Film Väst left the awards ceremony with 14 statuettes – and films from the centre have been nominated for 19 of the Danish Film Academy’s Robert Awards (which will be handed out on 7 February).

The Berlin International Film Festival has so far selected seven Film Väst co-productions for the official programme, including the world premiere of Swedish director Pernilla August’s A Serious Game [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Karin Franz Körlof
film profile
]
in the Gala section. Meanwhile, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile
]
and Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski’s United States of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tomasz Wasilewski
film profile
]
are both competing for the Golden Bear in the main competition.

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