Yung Lean: In My Head to world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival

Photo by NonStop Entertainment

An ordinary Swedish teenager morphed into the world famous rapper Yung Lean. Henrik Burman's documentary Yung Lean: In My Head has been selected for the Tribeca Film Festival, where the film will have its world premiere.

Dreamy and violent. Such is the tale of how an ordinary Swedish teenager transformed himself into the world-famous rap star Yung Lean. He is introduced to Los Angeles and a world of cocaine and dollar bills – as well as depression, death and rage. In Yung Lean: In My Head the artist returns to his original form, Jonathan Leandoer Håstad, after recovering from a psychosis. The film, directed by Henrik Burman, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival where it will screen in the Spotlight Documentary section.

– To me this is more than a traditional music documentary. I see the story of a generation through one artist’s incredible journey – a com­ing-of age-story in which a boy is thrown into a world as seductive as it is treacherous. I see Yung Lean as one of the most pioneering and interesting artists of our times. My hope is that this documentary captures his uniqueness and that his story will resonate with an audience way beyond his already impressive fanbase around the world. This is a deeply tragic and difficult tale but also one of hope, warmth and light, says director Henrik Burman.

Yung Lean has achieved success unlike any other Swedish rapper. He rose to fame after posting a couple of songs on YouTube in the early 2010s, including Oreomilkshake and Ginseng Strip. The songs had millions of listeners and Yung Lean's music became the unofficial soundtrack to Generation Z. Yung Lean was contacted by the biggest names in the industry; everyone from Frank Ocean to Justin Bieber wanted to be associated with the hitherto underperforming Swedish teenager.

Henrik Burman is a Swedish director, producer and music journalist. His work includes SVT series Krunegård & Jinder on Tour and Sápmi Sessions as well as documentaries on artists such as Robyn and Lykke Li. He was involved in starting Swedish Television’s music site PSL, providing a unique platform for Swedish music journalists where documentary series and texts blended with visually innovative recordings and live performances. Burman has also directed music videos with artists such as Tyler the Creator, ASAP Rocky and Grimes.

Yung Lean: In My Head was produced by David Herdies and Michael Krotkiewski at Momento Film and Ludvig Andersson at RMV Film, in cooperation with SVT (project manager Emelie Persson) and with support from Film Capital Stockholm, Lisa Widén and Anette Mattsson. The film was granted financial support from the Swedish Film Institute, Klara Grunning. NonStop Entertainment is the Scandinavian distributor. International sales are handled by Cinetic.

The Tribeca Film Festival runs between April 15-26. Click here for the full program.

For more information, please contact Sofia Dahlén, press manager NonStop Entertainment: sofia@etpr.se / 0046762827125