Exclusive: Aniara filmmakers Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja have found their next project.
The directing duo will return to feature filmmaking with Egghead Republic, a satirical coming-of-age tale in part based on Kågerman’s experience working for Vice Magazine and the novel Die Gelehrtenrepublik, by Arno Schmidt
The story will take place in an alternative reality where the cold war did not end, and Soviet Kazakstan has been struck by an atomic bomb. A young Swedish club kid — working at one of the hippest magazines in the world — is handed the assignment of reporting from the restricted zone.
The film will start shooting in Gotland and Stockholm this spring. Kågerman and Lilja also wrote the pic. Nina Lund is producing for You Saved Me Ab. Co-producers are Film Stockholm, Gotland Film Fund, and Film i Dalarna.
NonStop Entertainment will co-produce and distribute Egghead Republic in the Nordics.
“To jump up...
The directing duo will return to feature filmmaking with Egghead Republic, a satirical coming-of-age tale in part based on Kågerman’s experience working for Vice Magazine and the novel Die Gelehrtenrepublik, by Arno Schmidt
The story will take place in an alternative reality where the cold war did not end, and Soviet Kazakstan has been struck by an atomic bomb. A young Swedish club kid — working at one of the hippest magazines in the world — is handed the assignment of reporting from the restricted zone.
The film will start shooting in Gotland and Stockholm this spring. Kågerman and Lilja also wrote the pic. Nina Lund is producing for You Saved Me Ab. Co-producers are Film Stockholm, Gotland Film Fund, and Film i Dalarna.
NonStop Entertainment will co-produce and distribute Egghead Republic in the Nordics.
“To jump up...
- 2/16/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Following our top 50 films of 2019, we’re sharing personal top 10 lists from our contributors. Check out the latest below and see our complete year-end coverage here.
I’m not sure if it says more about the quality of international productions above domestic titles in 2019 or my own evolving tastes, but I’ve never had this many foreign language films in a Top Ten before. And it’s not just European countries like France and Germany. The Middle East, Asia, and Scandinavia are represented too. The consistent output of stellar dramatic work that resonated beyond borders was a truly stunning thing to behold and I hope it continues into the next decade.
Another common through-line here is the success of quiet, contemplative dramas that look to mine below the surface to find political, social, and cultural truth. So many titles on this list are dialogue-heavy confrontations in search of identity, strength,...
I’m not sure if it says more about the quality of international productions above domestic titles in 2019 or my own evolving tastes, but I’ve never had this many foreign language films in a Top Ten before. And it’s not just European countries like France and Germany. The Middle East, Asia, and Scandinavia are represented too. The consistent output of stellar dramatic work that resonated beyond borders was a truly stunning thing to behold and I hope it continues into the next decade.
Another common through-line here is the success of quiet, contemplative dramas that look to mine below the surface to find political, social, and cultural truth. So many titles on this list are dialogue-heavy confrontations in search of identity, strength,...
- 12/31/2019
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Based on the epic poem by Harry Martinson, this Swedish science fiction drama concerns the fate of the titular spaceship Aniara, on it's way to Mars with refuges from a ruined planet Earth, as it's knocked off course by an asteroid and doomed to float through space for the rest of the passengers' lives. It is at turns a deeply haunting film, meditative, occasionally funny and strikingly bleak.
We follow Mr, a woman who runs the ship's 'Mima' room. The Mima is a partly organic, sentient machine which allows the crew to access their memories and dreams, and in a virtual sense to return to the Earth as it was before it became uninhabitable. Mr is a 'Mimarobe', specially trained to operate the machine and assist passengers in using it.
While at first the Mima receives only casual visitor...
We follow Mr, a woman who runs the ship's 'Mima' room. The Mima is a partly organic, sentient machine which allows the crew to access their memories and dreams, and in a virtual sense to return to the Earth as it was before it became uninhabitable. Mr is a 'Mimarobe', specially trained to operate the machine and assist passengers in using it.
While at first the Mima receives only casual visitor...
- 6/19/2019
- QuietEarth.us
Each year brings an example or three of purported “thinking person’s science-fiction” films, a category that pretty much embraces anything not centered on monsters or lightsaber battles. These efforts are often more admirable in theory than result, but “Aniara” — the first film drawn from Nobel Prize-winning Swedish poet Harry Martinson’s 1956 cycle of 103 cantos — provides a narrative as satisfying as its conception is ambitious. This tale of a spaceship stuck wandering the cosmos after being forced off course is both impressive in its scope and intimate in its portrait of human nature under long-term duress.
Though inevitably destined to frustrate genre fans who think they want something different but still require conventional action thrills, Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja’s first feature should intrigue and reward those inclined toward adult drama who wouldn’t normally expect such tropes from a sci-fi movie.
There’s also the lure of topicality:...
Though inevitably destined to frustrate genre fans who think they want something different but still require conventional action thrills, Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja’s first feature should intrigue and reward those inclined toward adult drama who wouldn’t normally expect such tropes from a sci-fi movie.
There’s also the lure of topicality:...
- 4/24/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
With High Life approaching and Ad Astra arriving this summer, it’s shaping up to be another year of bold, beautiful sci-fi and one we hope doesn’t get swept under the radar is a favorite from the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, Aniara is based on 1956 poem by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson and follows a group in a spacecraft bound for Mars that steers off course and an existential crisis kicks in for the passengers. Ahead of a release this summer, Magnolia Pictures has now released the first trailer.
Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Think High-Rise in space, the existential crises of being trapped in this cage feeding anxieties until sanity becomes hard-pressed to sustain. Chefone finds himself consumed by the power his position as captain affords — the trepidation and fear of mutiny at the start transforming into an entitled confidence...
Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Think High-Rise in space, the existential crises of being trapped in this cage feeding anxieties until sanity becomes hard-pressed to sustain. Chefone finds himself consumed by the power his position as captain affords — the trepidation and fear of mutiny at the start transforming into an entitled confidence...
- 3/6/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In the near future, the end of the Earth leads the remnants of society to make an escape from Earth to Mars on luxury transport ships which make the trip in three weeks. The Aniara is one of those ships except that partway through the flight, the ship gets knocked off course and the crew is left with one option: find a celestial body and leverage its gravity to get back on course. Trouble is, they don't know when they're going to encounter the necessary celestial body.
Adapted from Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson's poem, Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja's feature film debut Aniara (teaser) follows the survivors aboard the Aniara and observes how this insular society...
Adapted from Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson's poem, Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja's feature film debut Aniara (teaser) follows the survivors aboard the Aniara and observes how this insular society...
- 3/5/2019
- QuietEarth.us
Swedish writer Harry Martinson made the cosmos poetic with his piece “Aniara.” Aniara, meaning sad or depressing, encompassed the existential turn of the unknown space and humanity’s wavering place in it as the earth begins to crumble. Martinson’s poem is deep and reflexive and makes for an eerie adaptation to film.
Read More: ‘Midsommar’ Trailer: ‘Hereditary’ Filmmaker Ari Aster Teams With Florence Pugh For His New Nightmare
The work of Martinson provides the narrative for the film, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Continue reading ‘Aniara’ Trailer: Traveling From Earth To Mars Goes Awry In This Ambitious Sci-Fi Thriller at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Midsommar’ Trailer: ‘Hereditary’ Filmmaker Ari Aster Teams With Florence Pugh For His New Nightmare
The work of Martinson provides the narrative for the film, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Continue reading ‘Aniara’ Trailer: Traveling From Earth To Mars Goes Awry In This Ambitious Sci-Fi Thriller at The Playlist.
- 3/5/2019
- by Julia Teti
- The Playlist
Film Constellation inks deals on Toronto 2018 title.
London-based Film Constellation has secured several territory deals on its sci-fi Aniara.
The film has gone to Kinovista for France, Eurovideo for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and At Entertainment for Japan.
Arrow Films previously acquired UK rights after the film premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery programme.
Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja directed the story of a ship carrying settlers to Mars. When knocked off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are forced to consider their place in the universe. It was adapted by the directors from a work by Swedish...
London-based Film Constellation has secured several territory deals on its sci-fi Aniara.
The film has gone to Kinovista for France, Eurovideo for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and At Entertainment for Japan.
Arrow Films previously acquired UK rights after the film premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery programme.
Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja directed the story of a ship carrying settlers to Mars. When knocked off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are forced to consider their place in the universe. It was adapted by the directors from a work by Swedish...
- 2/9/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Film premiered in Toronto’s Discovery strand.
Swedish sci-fi epic Aniara has been picked up for UK distribution by Arrow Films.
The film premiered in Toronto’s Discovery strand. Written and directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, Aniara follows the story of a ship carrying settlers to Mars. When knocked off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are caused to consider their place in the universe. It is an adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.
London-based Film Constellation is handling sales excluding Scandinavia. Magnolia previously brought Us rights.
Aniara stars Emelie Jonsson, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro,...
Swedish sci-fi epic Aniara has been picked up for UK distribution by Arrow Films.
The film premiered in Toronto’s Discovery strand. Written and directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, Aniara follows the story of a ship carrying settlers to Mars. When knocked off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are caused to consider their place in the universe. It is an adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.
London-based Film Constellation is handling sales excluding Scandinavia. Magnolia previously brought Us rights.
Aniara stars Emelie Jonsson, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro,...
- 11/1/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Space. The final frontier. This is the story of the starship Aniara. If you know me, you know I'm a huge sci-fi geek. Especially when it comes to space travel, and anything involving space and planets and spaceships. I discovered a film at the Toronto Film Festival this year titled Aniara, a Swedish sci-fi film adapted from Harry Martinson's epic poem of the same name. This astounding sci-fi film is set in the near future and is about a big spaceship taking colonists from Earth to Mars, usually a three week journey for batches of lazy humans. But it gets irreversibly knocked off course, causing the passengers to descend into madness once they begin to accept their fate: drifting into the void of space. This film is Amazingly good, perhaps the best indie sci-fi I've seen since Arrival, perfectly executed and invigorating in its rigorous sci-fi storytelling. The overall...
- 9/16/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Magnolia Pictures said on Monday it has acquired rights to distribute Swedish science fiction thriller “Aniara” after the film’s world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
“Aniara” was adapted by directors Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja from an epic poem by Swedish Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson.
“Aniara,” according to the Tiff description of the film, charts the fate of the human race after they have destroyed the planet. As one of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars, Aniara is designed to meet the needs of a species that has just consumed its birthplace: it’s a giant shopping mall. When an accident knocks the ship off course and disables its steering, the likelihood that these once-sanguine colonizers will ever reach their destination gradually begins to shrink.
Also Read: Focus Features Lands Thriller 'Greta,' Starring Isabelle Huppert
The protagonist, Mr (Emelie Jonsson...
“Aniara” was adapted by directors Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja from an epic poem by Swedish Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson.
“Aniara,” according to the Tiff description of the film, charts the fate of the human race after they have destroyed the planet. As one of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars, Aniara is designed to meet the needs of a species that has just consumed its birthplace: it’s a giant shopping mall. When an accident knocks the ship off course and disables its steering, the likelihood that these once-sanguine colonizers will ever reach their destination gradually begins to shrink.
Also Read: Focus Features Lands Thriller 'Greta,' Starring Isabelle Huppert
The protagonist, Mr (Emelie Jonsson...
- 9/10/2018
- by Trey Williams
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Aniara, the visionary Swedish sci-fi film directed and written by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja and based on a concept by Nobel Prize-winner Harry Martinson, has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures after the picture made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. A ship — carrying settlers to a new home in Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable — is knocked off-course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe.
The stakes are epic, as the film charts the fate of the human race after its emphasis on selfishness and consumption exhausts the resources of the planet. One of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars, the film’s consumption metaphor means that the ship is designed like a giant shopping mall. After an accident knocks the it off course and hobbles its steering and it becomes clear the passengers might not make it to Mars.
The stakes are epic, as the film charts the fate of the human race after its emphasis on selfishness and consumption exhausts the resources of the planet. One of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars, the film’s consumption metaphor means that the ship is designed like a giant shopping mall. After an accident knocks the it off course and hobbles its steering and it becomes clear the passengers might not make it to Mars.
- 9/10/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
So much of our desire to exist is based in control. We have the ability to move our homes, restart careers, and work towards a future of our choosing. No matter how difficult things become, there’s always a hope for better or an avenue towards change. It’s only when we’re cornered without an exit that we start to let our fears rule us rather than the infinite possibilities in our grasp. We search for meaning and answers, struggling to reconcile that happiness may have always been an illusion to mask the pain. And it can disappear in an instant — one hiccup along a path of tenuous certainty throwing perfect plans into chaotic turmoil. Suddenly we can no longer take the reins of our circumstances. They begin governing us.
There’s no bigger example of this truth than our premonitions of apocalypse. Beyond religious scripture lies the science...
There’s no bigger example of this truth than our premonitions of apocalypse. Beyond religious scripture lies the science...
- 9/8/2018
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Living up to its name, the Discovery program at Tiff looks to have an excellent lineup of films to choose from at this year's festival. Case in point, the new sci-fi thriller Aniara hailing from Sweden. Directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja the duo adapted Harry Martinson's epic poem from 1956 of the same name. Aniara has never been adapted to screen so fans of Martinson's literary piece are due for a glossy big scale rendition and Kågerman and Lilja look to have done just that. Screen Anarchy pleased to share with you today an exclusive clip from Aniara and debut the new poster. For a touch more context we have also included the trailer which bowed last week. First, the...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/5/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Film is an adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.
London-based sales agent Film Constellation has picked up Swedish sci-fi epic Aniara ahead of the film’s premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery strand.
Film Constellation will represent world rights (excluding Scandinavia) on the title and will co-represent Us sales rights with Endeavor Content.
In Scandinavia, Sf Studios is releasing theatrically, Viaplay has streaming rights and Svt has broadcast Sweden.
Directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja (The Swedish Supporter), the film is an adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.
London-based sales agent Film Constellation has picked up Swedish sci-fi epic Aniara ahead of the film’s premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery strand.
Film Constellation will represent world rights (excluding Scandinavia) on the title and will co-represent Us sales rights with Endeavor Content.
In Scandinavia, Sf Studios is releasing theatrically, Viaplay has streaming rights and Svt has broadcast Sweden.
Directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja (The Swedish Supporter), the film is an adaptation of a work by Swedish Nobel Prize–winning writer Harry Martinson.
- 8/30/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
The winner of the Eurimages Lab Project Award from Haugesund’s Works In Progress presentations was Katrín Ólafsdóttirs The Wind Blew On from Iceland.
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
The new prize, worth $56,000 (€50,000) was given to “the most promising cutting-edge film presented as a work in progress”.
The jury was comprised of Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer, Dorien van de Pas of the Netherlands Filmfund, and Heidi Zwicker of Sundance.
Head of New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust noted that the award was aimed at a film that was “experimental in form or content”.
Of the 20 films presented, industry buzz was highest for pitches including Izer Aliu’s energetic and funny teenage story 12 Dares; Norwegian debut The Tree Feller; Fenar Ahmad’s Danish criminal underworld drama/thriller Darkland, Danish debut Winter Brothers; family animation Richard The Stork (already a hot seller for Global Screen); absurdist Norwegian comedy Lake Over Fire; and Danish drama Mesteren, starring Soren Malling and Jakob Oftebro and directed by [link...
- 8/26/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
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