About Endlessness by Roy Andersson in competition for a Golden Lion in Venice

About Endlessness. Photo by Studio 24

Director Roy Andersson will premiere his new film About Endlessness at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. The film, which is a Swedish-Norwegian-German co-production, will compete in the festivals most prestigious section: Competition.

In 2014 Roy Andersson competed in the same section with A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, which won the top prize – a Golden Lion. With About Endlessness Andersson adds to his cinematic oeuvre with a reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendour and banality.

– Venice is the oldest film festival in the world, I’m proud to be part of that tradition. This is my sixth feature film, I think it is my best one, says Roy Andersson.     

We wander, dreamlike, gently guided by our Scheherezade-esque narrator. Inconsequential moments take on the same significance as historical events: a couple floats over a war-torn Cologne; on the way to a birthday party, a father stops to tie his daughter’s shoelaces in the pouring rain; teenage girls dance outside a cafe; a defeated army marches to a prisoner of war camp.

Simultaneously an ode and a lament, About Endlessness presents a kaleidoscope of all that is eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

– I want to emphasize the beauty of being a human, of being alive, and in order to show that you need to have a contrast, to also show the ugly side. This film is about the endlessness of the signs of existence, the director concludes.

About Endlessness is Roy Anderssons first feature since 2014, when A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence was awarded the Golden Lion in Venice. Earlier, in 1971, director Ingmar Bergman was honored with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievements, but this was the first time ever for a Swedish film to win the prize.

Although recognized with A Love Story already in 1970, Roy Andersson has made only six feature films, including About Endlessness. Between 1975 and 2000 the director took a long break and made a number of award winning shorts, as well as several memorable commercials.

About Endlessness is produced by Pernilla Sandström and Johan Carlsson, Roy Andersson Filmproduktion AB in co-production with 4 ½ Fiksjon AS, Essential Films, Parisienne de Production, Sveriges Television AB, Arte France Cinéma, ZDF/Arte and Film Capital Stockholm.

The film has had financial support by The Swedish Film Institute, Eurimages Council of Europe, Nordic Film and TV fund, The Norwegian Film Fund, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. About Endlessness is distributed in Sweden by TriArt Film.

The 76th Venice International Film Festival is held between August 28th and September 7th, 2019.