Sweden’s Supernatural Border Joins Oscar Race

Ali Abbasi’s supernatural love story Border (Gräns), which won Un Certain Regard at its world premiere in Cannes this year, has been selected as Sweden’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 91st Academy Awards.

Based on a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, best known for Let the Right One In, Border has enjoyed a stellar run since its win in Cannes, with highlights including the Critics Award at the Norwegian Film Festival, making the shortlist for the European Film Awards, and an invite to the Toronto Film Festival.

The action follows a border guard (Eva Melander) with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers who develops a strange attraction to a suspect (Eero Milonoff) that she cannot prove guilty. The ensuing investigation soon calls into question her entire existence, as she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and mankind.

Director Ali Abbasi said: “I am overwhelmed; I thought it was impossible to even get to Cannes, but as the film has grown and is now being screened at festivals all over the world, the Oscars don’t seem so far away all of a sudden.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce its final five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film on 22nd January, with the Oscars taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on 24th February 2019.