14/10/2013 - New Swedish features by Maximilian Hult and Karin Fahlén are touring the international festival circuit

Having just returned from the 18^th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea – the largest showcase in Asia (October 3-12), where it was included in the Flash Forward section, Swedish director Maximilian Hult’s feature debut, Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (photo) has been selected to open the 32^nd Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival.

Unspooling between October 31-November 10, Germany’s second-oldest festival (after Berlin) is renowned for introducing first-time directors. Home follows Lou, who lives in the big city with her mother, her only relative, she thinks – until she learns that her grandfather just died, and her grandmother is still alive.

Mainly shot in Iceland, Hult’s romantic drama – which he also scripted – was produced by Anna G Magnúsdóttir and Anders Granström for LittleBig and Spellbound Productions. Starring Moa Gammel, Simon J Berger, Lia Boysen, Anita Wall and Lars Lind, it will be domestically released in the spring. The Yellow Affair handles international sales.

Swedish director Karin Fahlén’s first feature, Stockholm Stories, will have its international premiere at the 49th Chicago International Film Festival, which started Friday (October 10) and runs through October 24 – also well-known for presenting first films by new directors, among others Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders.

Competing in the New Directors and OUT-look sections, starring Martin Wallström, Cecilia Frode and Julia Ragnarsson, Stockholm Stories follows a young writer and four other characters whose paths cross during some cold autumn days in the Swedish capital. Scripted by Erik Ahrnbom, from Jonas Karlsson’s short stories, it was produced by Martina Stöhr, for Chamdin & Stöhr, with Sonet Film, which will also handle the local launch on March 7.