Ebbe the movie by Jane Magnusson and Karin af Klintberg
The nominations for the Swedish Guldbagge, the equivalent of Quebec’s Jutras were very interesting. In the documentary category Ebbe the movie by Jane Magnusson and Karin af Klintberg is a fascinating film about Publisher Ebbe Carlson, a larger-than life character whose social climbing and political manipulations during several were so complex that it’s impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. Wisely, the filmmakers don’t try doing that, opting instead for an exploration of ambiguities and contradictions. And they got the award. Videocracy by Eric Gandini ( who also made Surplus and Sacrificio) takes us behind the scenes of Berlusconi’s media & political power grabs and corrupt schemes in Italy. The Queen and I, which I personally liked less, tells the story of Swedish-Iranian filmmaker Nahid Persson-Sarvestani’s relationship to the former Queen of Iran Farah Diba and the recent history of that country.
It’s interesting to see that two of these films were made by swedes born outside of Sweden. And overall in this years Swedish Jutras, the women had the majority of the important nominations. Not only among the documentarians ( 2 out of three for best documentary), but also in fiction: 2 out or 3 of the directors ( Lisa Siwe got the nod) and 2 out of 3 script writers. According to a film industry agreement, signed in 2006, the women “should” receive at least 40% of the subventions for script, directing and production. So far the goals haven’t been reached (it’s still between 20 to 30%) and the Swedish organization WIFT demands a change into making the 40% obligatory.
For more information, contact: info@wift.se
Thanks to Jessica Berglund for the help with this blog post.
