14/02/2005

The big dream of Matti e Niila, characters in Reza Bagher’s Popular music, has just been projected on Berlin’s big screens. The film adaptation of Mikael Niemi’s novel "Populärmusik från Vittula" , translated everywhere in Europe, was presented last night in Berlin’s section Kinderfilmfest 14+.
Shot in Pajala, Northern Sweden, the film focuses on the childhood and young adulthood of two friends who discover music, love and life in a harsh environment where Swedish and Finnish traditions and culture intermingle.

"It was a bit difficult to adapt the novel, sold in Sweden at over 800,000 copies. It deals with eccentric and complex characters in a way quite similar to Kusturica’s characters”, said the director Reza Bagher (Wings Of Glass and Capricciosa).
The 7 million Skr film (around 755.000 euros) is a co-production between the Finnish Solar Films Inc. and the Swedish AB Svensk Filmindustri, Happy End Productions and Filmpool Nord AB, with support from the Swedish and Danish film institutes, the Finnish Film Foundation/Suomen elokuvasäätiö and Nordisk Film & TV AS Fund.

(Translated from Italian)