18/06/2009

To boost summer releases, the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) is investing SEK 2.5m in the initiative Blågul Sommarfilm (“Blue and Yellow Summer Film”). Three Swedish films (two mainstream and one smaller film) and three Hollywood films will benefit from this new public support scheme.

Launched on Monday in Stockholm, the project consists of two kinds of support: one for the distribution and marketing of Swedish films from June 15-August 1, and one towards print costs of mainstream films (Swedish and foreign) to incentivize smaller regional cinemas to remain open during that period.

“Over the last three years, between June and August, we’ve noticed a clear upwards trend both in total admissions and in percentage of yearly admissions that have gone from 17% in 2005 to 26% in 2008,” said project coordinator Ragnar Berthlind. “However, mostly US films have gained from this trend, not Swedish films that continue to pack the autumn and early spring release calendar. This project is our way of telling Swedish distributors and producers that they should dare having summer releases.”

The first of the three Swedish supported films is Anders Nilsson’s Johan Falk-Gruppen för Särskilda, based on a popular cop character played by Jakob Eklund. The film will be released on June 26 by Nordisk Film on an extra 10 screens. The music documentary Broder Daniel Forever, about the band Broder Daniel, will be released by Noble Entertainment on July 3. Sommaren Med Göran (A Midsummer Night’s Party), the directorial debut of Swedish comedian Staffan Lindberg, will be released by Nordisk Film on July 31, with an extra 10 prints.

The Hollywood films that will open this summer, on an 10 extra prints each, are Ice Age 3 (20th Century Fox), the comedy Brüno with Sacha Baron Cohen (Nordisk Film), and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Sandrew Metronome).