New Sanna Lenken and Magnus Gertten films to compete in Berlin

Nelly & Nadine and Comedy Queen. Photo: Auto Images/FLX.

Two Swedish films will be competing at the 2022 Berlinale. The documentary Nelly & Nadine by Magnus Gertten has been selected for the Panorama section, and Crystal Bear winner Sanna Lenken competes again in Generation Kplus with Comedy Queen at the same festival.

Nelly & Nadine is the unlikely story of love between two women, who fell in love on Christmas Eve 1944 in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Nelly’s granddaughter Sylvie decides to read her grandmother’s diary,and discovers a lifelong love relationship shaped by the events at the camp. The film is the third part of Magnus Gertten’s documentary trilogy and the continuation of Harbour of Hope (Hoppets hamn, 2011) and Every Face Has a Name (2015).

“The Berlinale is one of my favourite festivals, so I’m particularly delighted and honoured to première my latest film there. Nelly & Nadine is the end of a journey that began in 2007, when I first took an interest in some archive material from April 1945. The material includes footage of concentration camp survivors arriving at Malmö harbour. One of the faces in the archive film belongs to Nadine Hwang. It’s great that the world can now finally see Nadine and Nelly’s amazing love story,” says the film’s director, Magnus Gertten.

Since his debut in 1998 with True Blue (Blådårar), in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic particiaptes, Magnus Gertten has been one of Sweden’s most productive documentary filmmakers. He has been twice nominated for a Guldbagge Award, most recently for his documentary Every Face Has a Name.

Nelly & Nadine is released at Swedish cinemas in March 2022 and is being distributed by Doc Lounge. The film is produced by Ove Rishøj Jenssen, Auto Images with with support from the Swedish Film Institute, former Documentary Film Commissioner Klara Grunning.

Comedy Queen to compete in Generation Kplus

Sanna Lenken’s new film Comedy Queen has been invited to the Berlinale’s children and young people’s section, Generation Kplus. Comedy Queen tells the story of 13-year old Sasha who refuses to cry despite suffering from immeasurable sorrow. She decides to become a stand-up comedian. Her goal is to make everyone laugh again, especially her father.

 The film is Sanna Lenken’s second feature. Her first, My Skinny Sister (Min lilla syster, 2015), screened in the same section and won the Crystal Bear – the world’s leading award for children’s and teenagers’ films. However, she debuted in Berlin in 2013 with the short Eating lunch (Äta lunch, 2012). With three Guldbagge Awards nominees to her name, in the last year Sanna Lenken has directed several episodes of popular Swedish TV series Thin Blue Line (Tunna blå linjen) and Thunder in My Heart.

“I’m proud and delighted that our film is being shown in Berlin. The Generation section is run by such a great team who are really passionate about film for children and teenagers, which makes it a true blessing to have the international première there again,” says director Sanna Lenken.

The film is based on the Jenny Jägerfeld novel of the same name, and the screenwriter is Linn Gottfridsson. The film is produced by Anna Anthony and Rebecka Lafrenz, FLX in co-production with Film i Väst, SF Studios and SVT, and with with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The film has received funding from the Swedish Film Institute’s Children & Young People’s Film Commissioner, Jenny Gilbertsson. SF Studios is the Swedish distributor, and the film will be released in Sweden on 11 February 2022.
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The co-production Dreaming Walls by Amélie van Elmot and Maya Duverdier – about the Chelsea Hotel in New York – is also competing in Panorama. The film has been awarded funding by Swedish Film Institute Documentary Film Commissioner Juan Pablo Libossart. 

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival runs 10–20 February 2022.

Further information about the festival here | Berlinale |