Tarik Saleh, Amanda Kernell and new Swedish horror

Actors Cherien Dabis and Fares Fares with director/screenwriter Tarik Saleh make Eagles of the Republic. Photo: © Yigit Eken

Swedish international big names Tarik Saleh and Amanda Kernell receive production funding from the Swedish Film Institute. Funding also goes to Johannes Nyholm, Göran Hugo Olsson, Lisa Langseth, Ester Martin Bergsmark, a horror film about dementia and a project for the Venice Biennale. And much more.

With Eagles of the Republic, Tarik Saleh completes his Cairo trilogy (The Nile Hilton Incident and Boy from Heaven were awarded at Sundance and Cannes). Egypt's most adored actor, George Fahmy (Fares Fares) is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts the role and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like a moth drawn to the flame he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the film.

Internationally acclaimed Amanda Kernell (Sami Blood, Charter) writes and directs The Curse - a Love Story. It is a love story about healing from trauma, where we follow the young reindeer owner Ejva (19) during her first year after her father's death.

Three-time Cannes participant Johannes Nyholm writes and directs Weird Elliot about an autistic vlogger who finds traces of a dead body on an old video tape. In his efforts to solve the mystery, he locates the house where the crime was committed and decides to move in. The film is produced by, among others, Nima Yousefi (Paradise is Burning).

Ester Martin Bergsmark has attracted great international attention with the pitches for A Sweetness from Nowhere. It's a film essay about healing and transformation, meeting a nature film about cockroaches, jellyfish and the autonomic nervous system.

Göran Hugo Olsson's doc Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 is a cinematic examination of the background to the Israel-Palestine situation, told through unique archival material long buried in SVT's archives.

Mattias J. Skoglund directs The Home, a psychological horror film with a woman behaving more than strange after a stroke. Mats Strandberg (who wrote the book on which the team-building comedy slasher The Conference was based) is responsible for the script together with Skoglund. Philip Oros (Dogborn) and Gizem Erdogan (2023 Shooting Star at the Berlin Film Festival) are in the leads.

The Ugly Stepsister is a comedy-horror retelling of Cinderella. Elvira and her family move in with her mother's new husband and his beautiful daughter Agnes. Elvira's self-image is questioned, but with the help of extreme measures, she may still have a chance to win the prince before Agnes. The international co-production is directed and written by Emilie Blichfeldt, with Lizette Jonjic as Swedish co-producer.

Short film, Floating Sea Palace by Lap-See Lam takes place aboard the Dragon Boat, a floating restaurant shaped by its unique history that now sails through time and space. At the heart of the story is Lo Ting, a hybrid of fish and man, who takes us on a journey across the sea. The film is part of Lap-See Lam's artwork at the Venice Biennale.

Read more and see images from the latest projects here