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FILMS Italy

Fares’ policemen

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The young director Josef Fares is back in cinemas after his positive experience with Jalla!Jalla!, which was a hit across Europe in 2000, leading to him being dubbed 'the king of comedy’. Three years on, the low budget genius is repeating the success with his new work Kops shooting straight to the top of the Swedish box office, taking around $15 million, a success that has led Columbia to buy the rights for the American distribution.
The new surreal film by the director of Lebanese origin, now Swedish, once again stars his brother Fares Fares and Torkel Peterssonn, playing the parts of two policemen in a tiny Swedish village, who are faced with a complete lack of crime. When an Inspector comes form Stockholm to tell them that the police station will be closed in three months, the two heroes have to take stock of the situation and, together with their colleagues, they do everything in their power to increase the crime figures, by inventing or simulating the worst possible crimes. "Crime in Sweden isn’t as high as in other European countries" said the 25 year old director during a press conference in Rome held for the Italian release of the film on November 14. "And some police stations in some small cities have actually been closed for financial reasons ".

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Added to the dramatic reality linked to losing a job and the resulting personal economic uncertainties, this time Fares adds the fictional element through an ironic mix of genres, with clear references to films Made in USA. From Back to the Future to Minority Report, via American Psycho and Terminator, the young filmmaker recalls his teenage legends creating a work which is strange, but at the same time fascinating "It’s not a parody. I quote from films I grew up with and which I really loved. It’s more like a tribute".
This film is also being produced by MEMFIS in collaboration with Lars von Trier's Zentropa amongst others, and Lukas Moodysson's company. Yet again it’s a low budget feature, even though the spending has more than doubled over the €1m spent on Jalla!Jalla! to a total of €2.2 million, mainly due to the many special effects used in post-production.

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(Translated from Italian)

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