63 Swedish films at the legendary Berlin cinema

Kino Babylon in Berlin. Photo: Jan Göransson.

Kino Babylon, which is one of Berlin's most beautiful cinemas, celebrates Swedish film in January. Under the heading Best of Sweden, no less than 63 films will be screened, of which 32 have been digitally restored by the Swedish Film Institute.

The festival pays tribute to Ruben Östlund's film work and presents all of his films. Ruben Östlund and Sweden's ambassador in Germany, Veronika Wand-Danielsson, will open the festival, which begins on January 4.

Swedish film history is popular all over the world. As an example, last autumn 13 Swedish silent films by Victors Sjöström were shown in Paris, which resulted in a massive attention and sold-out screenings.

Best of Sweden at Kino Babylon runs from 4 to 31 January and first up is Ruben Östlund's Golden Palm award-winning and Oscar nominated Triangle of Sadness. Of the 63 Swedish films, six come from the silent film era and the oldest is Victor Sjöström's A Man There was from 1917. All silent films are accompanied by the house organist Anna Vavilkina on an organ that has been preserved in its original location when Kino Babylon was built in 1929.

- I love Kino Babylon and Berlin and it is an honor to start the Swedish film cavalcade with 63 films to be screened there! says Ruben Östlund.

- It is wonderful with this extensive retrospective that presents Swedish film throughout 106 years, Kino Babylon's Timothy Grossman and Friedemann Beyer have done an outstanding job with this fantastic festival, says Kajsa Hedström, project manager Film heritage at the Swedish Film Institute.

Among other films shown are: Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920), The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöström, 1921), The Girl in Tails (Karin Swanström, 1926), Girl with Hyacinths (Hasse Ekman, 1950), Miss Julie (Alf Sjöberg, 1951), One Summer of Happiness (Arne Mattson, 1951), Raven’s End (Bo Widerberg, 1963), Loving Couples (Mai Zetterling, 1964), Elvira Madigan (Bo Widerberg, 1967), Who Saw Him Die? (Jan Troell, 1968), Pippi Longstocking on the Seven Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970), Cries and Whispers  (Ingmar Bergman, 1972), Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982), My Life as a Dog ( Lasse Hallström, 1985), The Guitar Mongoloid  (Ruben Östlund, 2004), As It Is in Heaven (Kay Pollak, 2004), Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008), Incident by a Bank (Ruben Östlund, 2010), A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson, 2015), A Man Called Ove (Hannes Holm, 2015), Border (Ali Abbasi, 2020), Are We Lost Forever (David Färdmar, 2020), Pleasure (Ninja Thyberg, 2021) and Together 99 (Lukas Moodysson, 2023).

Best of Sweden is organized in collaboration with Kino Babylon, the Swedish Embassy in Germany and the Swedish Film Institute

More about the festival:

BABYLON in Berlin - BEST OF SWEDEN (babylonberlin.eu)

More information:

Kajsa Hedström, Swedish Film Institute kajsa.hedstrom@filminstitutet.se

Nina Katarina Karlsson, Cultural Attaché, Swedish Embassy in Germany nina.katarina.karlsson@gov.se