The film festival organized by Swedish Center in San Diego had over 150 attendees. Movies with Michael Nyqvist and Peter Stormare were screened during this very first Swedish Center Film Festival. The feedback from the visitors is still coming. They want more Swedish movies!
The film festival was initially based on the idea of showing contemporary Swedish movies - with no admission - in the Ulla “Lotta” Wiik Auditorium at San Diego State University. In collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute and Swedish Council of America, Swedish School in San Diego, the Swedish Center screened two movies this late spring.
The first film was the Black Pimpernel, about Harald Edelstam, Ambassador to Chile in the 70’s, who broke a lot of diplomatic rules to save innocent lives during the 1973 Chile Coup. The role as Ambassador Edelstam was played by famous Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist. After the movie there was an open discussion held by SDSU professors Mark Freeman and Brian Loveman and a woman who had been tortured because of her political beliefs during the Pinochet regime.
The Second film was the children’s movie Leaps and Bounds with Hollywood star, 12 year old Ali, who comes to Sweden by mistake and meets a spaced out hotdog vendor played by Peter Stormare. Several children from the Swedish School in San Diego were present. Swedish Center contacted Peter Stormare who was very excited about showing the movie and sent greetings from Hollywood to the audience. After the movie the children discussed the differences between Swedish and American movies. They all liked the movie and agreed that movies with small budgets are more dependent on originality, script, and acting.
To every ones delight, the children were served cookies and lingonberry juice from IKEA after the discussion. The next movie will screen sometime in October, and on swedishcenter.org you´ll find more upcoming events and additional information about Swedish Center San Diego.