What to See at Stockholm International Film Festival 2018

Stockholm International Film Festival is back for its 29th edition and it’s bigger than ever! It is no surprise that with a program as vast as 159 films one needs a little bit of guidance in choosing which films to watch. So with that in mind, the editors right here at Your Living City took to the task to go through all the film’s reviews and trailers to select 20 films that are a MUST SEE at Stockholm International Film Festival 2018.

We have chosen a little bit of every film genre, so whatever you’re into, you’ll find something you will want to watch. Please notice that all films that are not in spoken English will be screened with English subtitles, to facilitate access to the international community attending the festival.

ALLA VET (EVERYBODY KNOWS)

Another jewel by the extremely talented Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. Laura (Penelope Cruz), returns to Spain with her teenage daughter and her younger son from Argentina to her childhood village in the country side just outside Madrid, to be present during her sister’s wedding. The reunions are both dear and problematic, specially when it comes to Laura’s old friend from her youth, Paco (Javier Bardem), and old loving feelings come to the surface. What really shocks the people though, is the mysterious disappearance of a member of the family, followed by a rescue message. Farhadi’s attraction to thrilling moods lands in the shadows of his humanistic qualities, but it’s not to be underestimated. In this film both qualities get plenty of space. Asghar Farhadi, whose “The Salesman” and “Nader and Simin – a separation” won Oscars, has created yet another exciting, intense drama. “Everyone knows” opened Cannes Film Festival this year.

Friday, November 9th at 6pm is the gala and award ceremony when Asghar Farhadi will receive the Stockholm Visionary Award 2018.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

X & Y

After her successful debut, Anna Odell returns to Stockholm International Film Festival with the world premiere of “X & Y”.

“X & Y” is a film that explores identity, male and female. It’s a game of reality and fiction, a controlled survey of what it means to be human in our medially boundless contemporaries” says Anna Odell herself about the film.

“X & Y” is an original work and hard to compare to anything, but if it was to resemble another film’s narrative, it would have to be Charlie Kaufmann‘s “Synecdoche, New York”. The two films are centered around an artist trying to explore reality through art, hoping to succeed in creating something inner and true that explores man in depth.

Despite the film’s deviant reality, Odell succeeds in finding the common human core – and she does it with the help of humor.

Film screening dates and venues:

THE FAVOURITE

England, the early 18th century, a fierce and perhaps deadly battle between Sarah and Abigail is conduced and it has to be definitive about who gets to be the Queen’s favourite. Former Bronze Horse winner (Stockholm International Film Festival’s major award),  Yorgos Lanthimos refurbishes and modernises this historical drama with his new film, “The Favourite”. The leading roles by Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz deserve all Oscars for their  performances.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

SKATE KITCHEN

Camille is a pretty lonely teenager until she becomes friends with a group of skateboarding girls. Her new acquaintance takes her deep into New York’s subculture. She also learns more about the meaning of true friendship and herself. “Skate Kitchen” is a modern coming-of-age film that portrays community among identity-seeking millennials and the fascinating world of an American youth that is looking to break loose from the older generation’s norms and expectations.

The film’s director Crystal Moselle has previously directed the acclaimed “The Wolfpack”, which was also screened at Stockholm Film Festival

A film based on a true story where Rachele Vinberg, who plays the main character, Camille, was actually a part and co-founder of the real Skate Kitchen group.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

GIRL

There is nothing that 15-year-old Lara wants more than to reach success as a professional ballet dancer. But her biggest obstacle is not making the perfect lift, but her being born in a boy’s body. In order to fulfill her dream, she has to struggle with her view of herself. One of Cannes’s most talked about films and Belgium’s Academy Award candidate, is Lukas Dhont’s debut film “Girl”, which is an unexpectedly emphatic and nuanced, beautiful portrait about the battle that the 15-year-old trans-girl Lara has to go through. Despite being accepted and supported by her parents, her biggest battle is yet to be confronted with herself.

Film screening dates and venues:

MUSEO

On the Christmas Eve of 1985, a number of invaluable artefacts from Mexico’s National Anthropology Museum are stolen in Mexico City – one of Mexico’s most renowned robberies ever. Alfonso Ruizpalacio‘s impressive second film “Museo” is based on the story of the two young men who performed the heist.
Alfonso Ruizpalacio‘s “Güeros” was nominated for best debut film at the Berlin Film Festival 2014, and this year “Museo” won the prize for best script at the festival.
In the main role we see Mexico’s most famous actor Gael García Bernal, playing the unlucky Juan, who together with his friend Benjamin (Leonardo Ortizgris) decides to perform a big robbery in the hopes of being able to sell their loot for immense amounts of money. These two, however, are far from being super-villains and one ends up feeling sympathy for them, but they do have a watertight plan.

Film screening dates and venues:

BIRDS OF PASSAGE

Beautifully loaded visual drama with a contentious darkness. “Birds of Passage” has been acclaimed by critics for its pioneering way of showing a new side of Colombia’s drug trafficking.

The duo formed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, whose former work of “Embrace of the Serpent” picked up Colombia’s first Oscar nomination, is back with a thrilling and beautiful drama about the country’s early drug trafficking and its effect on the country’s native people, the Wayúu tribes.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

VOX LUX

A story divided into two parts about how a school shooting in the U.S. led to the discovery of a pop star, and how the same pop star 15 years later in her career has had a breakthrough and become the celebrity everybody wants to be, or, are we wrong? The acclaimed “Vox Lux” shows a critical image of the United States in the past 20 years. An ambitious drama, which is Brady Corbet‘s major breakthrough as director, featuring Natalie Portman in one of her coolest roles in the past few years.

On Friday, November 16th, at 18.30, there will a gala premiere when the director Brady Corbet will be visiting the Skandia cinema to meet with the public for an honest conversation about his work and the film.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

EL ANGEL

With an angelical appearance, young Carlos Robledo Puch became one of Argentina’s most notorious serial killers ever. This paradox of a film became one of the most acclaimed films in Cannes, with a  nomination in the prestigious category Un Certain Regard, as well as the relatively new HBTQ-category Queer Palm.

In “El Angel”, director Luis Ortega tells the story of the man convicted of eleven murders at the age of twenty. The exciting biographical film is Argentina’s Oscars contribution. The film has also hit historical audience records in its home country.

Film screening dates and venues:

SHOPLIFTERS

A family of thieves steal the viewers’ moral support and hearts in this colourful and heartwarming drama.

Osamu and his son find a little girl abandoned in the street, out in the cold during one of their stealing sessions. They bring the child to their family and decide to take care of her. But an unexpected event reveals secrets that put the family’s relationship to trial.

Hirokazu Kore-eda has made another fantastic family drama, rewarded with the Gold Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.

Film screening dates and venues:

SUSPIRIA

Luca Guadagnino follows the “Call Me By Your Name” success with a visually spectacular new rendition of Dario Argento‘s classic horror film from 1977. Terrible secrets are hidden within the walls of a wealthy German dance school. Tilda Swinton shines as the mysterious dance teacher in an outstanding performance, Dakota Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz play her ballet students in this school from hell.

On Friday, November 9th, Stockholm International Film Festival rolls out the black carpet and mingle before the movie.

Film screening dates and venues:

• Black Carpet 09 Nov 22:00 at Skandia
• 13 Nov 20:45 at Sture 1
• 16 Nov 20:00 at Bio Rio

Find your tickets here.

JESUS

 

The story revolves around a young boy who leaves Tokyo to live with his grandmother in the countryside. He is put in a Christian school, which he initially finds difficult to accept. Until suddenly  he begins to see a little Jesus figure every time he prays. The young director Hiroshi Okuyama has made the year’s most celebrated Japanese debut. One of the absolute must-sees of the festival.

Film screening dates and venues:

• 07 Nov 18:30 at Sture 1
• 08 Nov 16:30 at Sture 2
• 10 Nov 17:00 at Sture 2

Find your tickets here.

LORDS OF CHAOS

A group of Norwegian youths get together to form the innovative metal group Mayhem. Their dark worldview start getting worse and eventually they become dangerous to themselves and those surrounding them. Satanism and death are no longer just part of the music. With “Lords of Chaos”, Jonas Åkerlund has created a nerve-wrecking horror film around the true story of the mythical band.

Film screening dates and venues:

Face2Face 09 Nov 20:00 at Bio Rio

• 14 Nov 11:00 at Sture 3
• 14 Nov 20:30 at Skandia
• 16 Nov 14:45 at Sture

Find your tickets here.

WE THE ANIMALS

The three brothers Manny, Joel and Jonah grow up in a home where poverty and the fleeting love from their parents leave their footprints in the kid’s lives. The brothers find strength and comfort with each other instead. When Manny and Joel begin to imitate their father’s behaviors, Jonah feels the need to find comfort in his own imagination. “We the Animals” is a story about the sometimes tough way towards finding oneself.

Film screening dates and venues:

• 12 Nov 13:00 at Sture 1
• 14 Nov 09:00 at Skandia
• 15 Nov 17:15 at Zita 1

Find your tickets here.

CHARLIE SAYS

Filmmaker Mary Harron returns to Stockholm Film Festival to show yet another brilliant psychological drama. This time through an unpleasant portrayal of the killer sect, the Manson family. But she’s also here to be awarded for her outstanding contribution to the developing of film.

In “Charlie Says”, Mary Harron focuses once again on the uncommon structures of power. The film is an obscure drama, focussing on its characters’ psychological developments and portraying a real story, of the strange relationship between three young women and the man who convinced them to commit a terrible murder, Charles Manson.

During the gala on November 10th at 6pm,  Mary Harron will receive Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award 2018.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

DIAMANTINO

When the world’s best football player, Diamantino, misses a crucial penalty in the World Cup finals, little does he know that the consequences will be far beyond the football field. The event launches an avalanche of events containing everything from cloning, adopted secret agents and Portugal’s possible eviction from the EU. “Diamantino” is a queer, magical and satirical deep dive into current European times.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

FAHRENHEIT 11/9

On November 9, 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the USA, and the political world map was re-written. Documentary genre superstar Michael Moore follows up his biggest success “Fahrenheit 9/11” with the new “Fahrenheit 11/9”. A movie just as exciting as entertaining about the new United States – with weapons of violence, racism, sexism, and catastrophic environmental policies.

STUDIO 54

During the disco era in New York during the 70’s, Studio 54 became a legendary nightclub. Big celebrities, drugs and sex filled the club’s premises. “Studio 54” is the movie about a club, about a city and about an era. The film follows the club’s two founders who conquered New York and then lost everything. The documentary offers brutally honest interviews with key people in the club’s history and never seen photographs.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.

CLIMAX

Climax’ is Gaspar Noe‘s colorful and explosive new film. An original blend of dance and horror. During a snowy winter evening, a group of dancers occupy an empty, remote school hall to rehearse. What starts off as a festive event turns into a nightmare-like state when their bonfire is spun with hallucinogenic drugs.

Film screening dates and venues:

Find your tickets here.