Sweden Shortlists Three Films For Oscars

The Swedish Oscar Committee has announced a shortlist of three films to be considered for the Best International Feature Film Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards: And Then We Danced, Aniara, and The Perfect Patient / Quick.

Steffen Andersen-Møller, Head of the International Department at the Swedish Film Institute, said: “The fact that we chose to nominate three films as part of the first phase, symbolises our intention to spotlight several of our wonderful films and place them in a larger context.”

The 92nd Academy Awards will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during a gala ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday 9th February 2020. Sweden’s final submission will be announced at Malmö Filmdagar on August 28th.

And Then We Danced, directed by Levan Akin
Merab has been training from a young age at the National Georgian Ensemble with his dance partner Mary, but his world is turned upside down when carefree Irakli arrives and becomes both his strongest rival and desire. It was selected for Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Queer Palm.

Aniara, directed by Pella Kågerman
A spaceship carrying settlers from the wreckage of Earth to a barren life on Mars is knocked off course by debris, causing the materialistic passengers to consider their place in the universe as they are hurled into the unknown. Aniara is based on the 1956 poem of the same name by Nobel prize winner Harry Martinson.

The Perfect Patient / Quick, directed by Mikael Håfström.
​Mikael Håfström’s first Swedish feature film in 15 years, starring David Dencik, Jonas Karlsson and Alba August, tells the story of Hannes Råstam who sacrificed everything to prove the innocence of Thomas Quick and unmask the legal chaos that sentenced him to life in a psychiatric facility. Mikael Håfström previously directed 2004 Oscar nominee Evil.