Swedish Oscar Contender Border Wins LA Film Fest

Ali Abbasi’s supernatural love story Border (Gräns) has won the LA Film Festival World Fiction Competition, which showcases unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers.

Based on a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, best known for Let the Right One In, Border has had a successful year, having won Un Certain Regard at Cannes, made the shortlist for the European Film Awards, and been selected as Sweden’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.

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.

Alongside Border, the 2018 World Fiction Competition nominees were The Cotton Wool War (Brazil), The Day I Lost My Shadow (Syria / Qatar), Heaven Without People (Lebanon), Microhabitat (South Korea), Socrates (Brazil), and Tower. A Bright Day (Poland / Czech Republic).

Festival Director, Jennifer Cochis, said: “Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true. These storytellers are united by their ability to transport, impact and inspire audiences with the power of their craft.”

“We congratulate all of the filmmakers that shared their work with the LA Film Festival. These awards honour the wide range of exceptional storytelling we’ve been sincerely delighted to present. All of us are looking forward to wider audiences discovering these stories in the year ahead.”