Sweden’s most important film festival is around the corner, as with every edition the festival opens submissions of films of all kinds, styles and origins. Today together with the face of this year’s festival poster, it has has been announced that 50% of the participant films in the Stockholm XXVIII Competition will be directed by women. The movie ‘Ava’ is the first film selected for the contest section.
Since 2000 half of the winners of Stockholm International Film Festivals’ most prestigious award, the Bronze horse, have been female directors. It is unique for a film festival to both screen and award women and men equally in one competition.
The celebrated debut French drama ‘Ava’ directed by Léa Mysius was nominated for four awards in Cannes earlier this year. There it took home the Best Film award in the SADC category and the jury award in Palme d’Or.
‘Ava’ is by all merits also the film that has received the honor of embellishing this year’s official festival poster and campaign image. Which given the preponderance of female names in the directing roles in this year’s festival couldn’t have had a better image. The poster shows the main character of the film ‘Ava’ looking like a female warrior, almost like an Amazon.
Léa Mysius‘s gripping debut film is about 13-year-old Ava who spends the summer with her mother on the Atlantic coast. Suddenly, their glimmering summertime bubble is burst when Ava learns that she will lose her sight entirely within a few months. In order to experience her life fully, she chooses to fly with a young man into space.
“The fact that we choose to lift more female directors signifies that we will get more female stories on the silver screen, something that is good for everyone,” said Git Scheynius, festival director.
The debuting 28-year-old director, Léa Mysius, is looking forward to visiting Stockholm during the festival this fall. On Thursday, October 5, tickets will be released for the first show of Ava, which will take place on November 11th. After the show, the director will participate in a conversation about the film and its theme.
Previous news about this year’s edition of Stockholm’s international film festival included that it would be dedicated to Michael Nyqvist – one of the biggest and most popular Swedish actors in the world, best known abroad for his films in the Millenium trilogy. Michael Nyqvist sadly lost his battle against long-term cancer last summer. The Stockholm International Film Festival has therefore chosen to pay tribute to the popular actor by reviving some of the artistic legacy he left behind.
During this year’s festival a special tribute program is being organized together with Michael Nyqvist‘s foundation. There is the opportunity to participate in a minute of silence, followed by a showreel of Michael Nyqvist‘s biggest screen moments. In addition, the Danish drama ‘You Disappear’ by Peter Schønau Fog is to be premiered, together with the art film ‘We’ by Ulf Rollof in which Nyqvist also participated.
The festival will take place between 8-19 November and the entire program will be released October 17th. Your Living City will publish all the main details about it as soon as available and we will also be reporting directly from the festival, so keep an eye out for our updates. Meanwhile, watch the trailers for ‘Ava’ and ‘You Disappear’ here.
All images and videos used with authorisation and facilitated by the Stockholm International Film Festival.
