Blondie and Eat Sleep Die in this year’s Mostra

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

25/07/2012 - Swedish directors Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die [trailer] and Jesper Ganslandt’s Blondie [trailer, film focus] (photo) will both have their world premiere during the 69th Venice Film Festival between August 28-September 8, in the Critics’ Week and Venice Days, respectively. The full festival line-up will be announced in Rome tomorrow (July 26).

Pichler, who won a Guldbagga – Sweden’s national film prize – for her short film Scratches in 2010, has scripted, directed and edited Eat Sleep Die, which is one of seven selections for Venice Days. The black comedy follows 20-year-old Rasa, who lives with her father in a small village, and who has just lost her job at the local factory.

Rasa (Nermina Lukac) struggles to stay in the village despite the lack of work and the authorities’ demand she looks for it throughout the whole country – she wants her life to be more than just Eat Sleep Die. The film, which China Åhlander produced for Anagram, will be launched domestically on October 5 by TriArt Film, with The Yellow Affair in charge of international distribution.

For his third entry in Venice (after the award-winning Falkenberg Farewell [trailer] (2006) and The Ape (2009), Ganslandt has filmed his own story about three sisters, all adrift and in crisis, who reunite at their childhood home as their domineering mother is celebrating her 70th birthday. The festivities, however, will soon come to an end.

Marie Göranzon, Alexandra Dahlström, Helene af Sandeberg, Carolina Gynning and Olli Sarri play the leads in the Jesper Kurlandsky production for Fasad AB, which was shot in Sweden, UK and France. Nordisk Film Distribution AB has scheduled domestic release for November 23, and TrustNordisk handles international sales. Blondie is one of 12 titles in the Critics’ Week.