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DISTRIBUTION Sweden

Bergström hits jackpot with directorial debut

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Swedish star actress Helena Bergström has succeeded in turning her directorial debut into a major local hit. Released by Svensk Filmindustri (SF) three weeks ago, Mind the Gap! [+see also:
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(Se upp för dårarna) is for the second weekend in a row number one in the Swedish Top 10 with 142,797 admissions from 128 screens (83 35mm prints and the rest digital).

“The results are excellent, all the more so since competition is unusually strong these days from a very popular song contest on TV (SVT) watched by some two or three million Swedish people every weekend. But Helena Bergström’s film (targeting women between 25-45) is a real feel-good movie shot with a lot of warmth and pace”, commented Eva Svendenius, head of theatrical distribution for SF.

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Based on an original script by Denize Karabuda, Mind the Gap! is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of racial prejudice in modern-day Sweden. It tells the story of two girls in their twenties: one is the daughter of a self-centred criminal professor, the other the daughter of a Turkish heart surgeon who, as an immigrant, has to make his living by driving the tube. They meet when they both apply for the police academy.

As a muse for her husband, director Colin Nutley, Bergström is used to being associated with local blockbusters, such as House of Angels (1992), the Oscar-nominated Under the Sun (1998) and last year’s top local film Heartbreak Hotel [+see also:
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film profile
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(462,000 admissions). But she has now proved that she can connect with audiences with her own story and personal vision as a filmmaker. (Here, Nutley only wore his producer’s cap through his company Sweetwater Film.)

Mind the Gap! was co-produced by AB Svensk Filmindustri, TV4, Cinema Art Productions, Succéfilm AB, with Break Even and support from the Swedish Film Institute.

The film had its world premiere at the latest Göteborg Film Festival and its international career is being handled by SF International Sales.

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