It’s the beginning of the end. Last day of the festival and my body feels it. The party yesterday at the festival pub was incredible. All these filmmakers who were nominated for best film had come to see if they would go home with a little bronze price. A true red carpet moment for the Uppsala short film festival, without the actual red carpet in this case. I think it was green.

The Queen got packed early on so I said my hi’s and bye’s to the filmmakers I could find and then we were off to another place, this huge place called Saluhallen here in Uppsala.  It’s stores and restaurants during the day but at night they close everything down and the whole place turns into a party house with multiple dance floors. It was obvious I wasn’t going home early.

I hate to say I told you so but I told you so. Actually I don’t hate saying it so I’ll say it again. I told you so! In some of my first posts in this blog I mentioned some favorites of mine. I said the Swedish films This Is Alaska was going places and the same thing with my favorite, Wanted To Be Friends and guess what? They both won prizes! This is Alaska won Best Swedish Film and Wanted To Be Friends won an honorary mention. I’m really happy to see that there are so many great Swedish shorts this year. It’s a breath of fresh air. Even if that air is freezing here in Uppsala.

If that wasn’t enough, the filmmakers that I interviewed, won Best Film of the festival for Elephant Skin.  After I had seen the film I knew this was a contender to be reckoned with and that’s why I started talking to them in the first place.  When I congratulated them at the pub a fun fact gets delivered to me by Ulrike. I was, or actually Sweden.se was, the first in the world to interview them. As a parting joke before I left yesterday I said I would do a follow up interview with them after they win their first Oscar.

Soon I’ll post a “greatest hits” of the festival. A “the hits and misses” if you will because there are a few films that should be mentioned and a few people I would like to thank so keep reading.

Today I’ll see as much film as I can taking into account it’s the final day of a seven-day stretch and I’m going back to Stockholm to resume life as it was before these six to eight hour per day blocks of film. It feels weird in a way and part of me doesn’t want to go but hey, there’s always next year!

Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you. The Crowded House song is a good tune but a lie! Considering we’ve got filmmakers from all over the world, a lot of them from really warm places, I would have hoped that one of them had packed a bit of sun in their luggage. But no, the weather is freezing and it’s not looking good: winter is just around the corner.

Today started bright and early, well 11 is early for me on a Saturday, especially if you went out the night before for a couple of drinks with friends and some festival people. The day started with a breakfast conversation with as many of the international directors they could get. The festival had set up two couches with a plate of sandwiches for them. And what better way of making someone feel like a deer in headlights then ask them questions when they’ve got food in their mouths in front of 30 people.  Why not next year ask the filmmakers to talk about their childhood when they’re on the toilet?  No, I’m just kidding. The breakfast went pretty smoothly. The moderator had good questions and there were very few awkward silences.

Josephine Halbert from the UK was there to talk about her film, Time Travel Boyfriends. The film is a love letter from a woman to all these important and grand men through history, like Marlon Brando and Orson Wells.

David Mabille from France was there to talk about his movie Stockholm Syndrome. The film, which is really funny, is about a man not accepting that his girlfriend has left him so he decides to kidnap her until she falls in love with him again. David talked a lot about the difficulty of making something funny about a topic that really isn’t.

Then it was time for my good old interview victims, Severin Fiala and Ulrike Putzer, from Austria and they were asked almost identical questions to what I asked them the other day. Has the moderator read this blog? Hah, who am I kidding, who hasn’t read it?

And This Is Belgrade director Corina Schwingruber Illc was there to talk about her 11 minute film and what she did with the 14 hours of raw material she had from the start.

Vanessa Lépinard talked about her motivation behind her movie, On The Quiet, and about open endings in films.

The Finish directors Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen talked about their experimental documentary about the destruction of a power plant. The film, Hanasaari A, is based on about half a million photos and mixes real live action with animation.

Anything But Sound director Peter Hecker talked about his research that took about seven weeks and the actual filming which span over three months. In the film, which is about a deaf family, there are no subtitles when they sign to each other and he explained the motivation behind that choice.

Vika Kirchenbauer answered questions around her film Reproduction, one of the very few films in the festival which I haven’t seen yet.

Last but not least the producer of Oli’s Wedding was there to talk about production, keeping the story on track, budget cuts and working with the good actors of Romania.

Now I’m off to watch some animated films and then it’s time for the award ceremony. Let’s see what country wins. I’m of course hoping Sweden but now, after all these days of film, I’m thinking France or Germany will bring it home.

Final question. Where are all the Swedish filmmakers? We’ve got people from all around the world that have travelled here to stand behind their work so where are all you Swedes? I’ve only seen very few of you but almost all of your films.
Har ni fest eller?

I know I’ve been nagging about this interview for some time now but believe me. I nagged them even more. Every time I bumped into them I didn’t have time to talk so I kept saying soon, soon.  We ended up having the talk in the festival pub, Queen Victoria, over a beer. So here goes ladies and germs, my conversation with Severin Fiala and Ulrike Putzer.

How did the idea for Elephant Skin come to you?

We were actually working on another film at the time. We were trying to cast a part for the film and went all over Austria to find the perfect actor. We spent most parts of a year doing so. During this time we had help of a friend, who every time we auditioned actors was better than the one we tested. So we changed it all. We wrote a new script, cast her as the lead and then things took off.

So how long did the whole process take, from script to post production?

If we count all the work with the previous project it would be about a year. But if we only take Elephant Skin it would be about 3 months. The script only took a couple of days to write and the filming went by quickly.

It’s a great film, but are you happy with the results or would you maybe want to change something?

Overall absolutely. Sure we see small mistakes like all people do in their work but we’ve had people watching the film multiple times and not noticing anything. And even if we could go back and maybe change acting in a scene we wouldn’t want to. We work mostly with non actors to get more of a realistic feeling and we know that these people might not be able to go as far emotionally as some professionals and if we ask to retake something too many times it would become fake. We also never show our actors a script. The script is only for us. We tell the actors in the scene that this is where you need to go and these are key points you need to reach. The way they get to them is up to them.

That’s a pretty interesting way to approach filmmaking considering that both of you come from screenwriting school.

Yes but to never show them a script is not necessary for us. A screenplay is not about the block of paper you hold in front of you. It’s about the characters and structure of the story. Everything else comes from our actors.

Do you have any favorites of the festival so far?

There are so many good films at this festival but some that really stood out were Time And Again (Una Y Otra Vez) from USA and the documentary I Want To Live from Kyrgyzstan.

So where have you been with Elephant Skin? I assume this is not your first festival.

We’re very happy that our film has been as successful as it has. It’s been to festivals in Germany, Ireland and Austria of course. It’s also been screened in Barcelona, Vienna, San Paulo and Sarajevo.

Any awards yet?

In Germany it won 2 awards and in Vienna, at the Film Academy Festival, it won 3 prizes, best script, best production and best actress. To win the best production award was great because if you look in the credits we’re about 5 people doing everything from lighting to catering and sound.

Are you working on anything now?

We are currently writing a feature script but we just started so there’s still a lot to do.

And of course I have to ask. Are you enjoying Sweden and the Uppsala festival so far?

We hate it, no, of course not. We love it here. The festival has got this great atmosphere. We have great films and really nice people. It’s like a family thing.

Do you have Facebook?

Ok, so the last question was made up by me but it fits pretty well there, don’t you think?

There you go everybody. A little talk with two filmmakers that started working together when they realized in film school that they liked the same movies and that they were often the only two people that were agreeing on different film related topics. One thing everyone should know is that Ulrike Putzer studied at the Academy Of Fine Arts here in Sweden about 6 years ago.

Dear diary, I have a confession to make. I’m not coming home. To have only food, film and blog on your daily schedule is something the human body can quickly come to appreciate. And forget that daily planner because let’s face it, how many times do you want to write the word film? I’m soon up to a hundred.

Yesterday was a great film day. I might have said this before but it really was. The overall quality was much higher than any other day so far. Sad to say that none of them were Swedish (no Swedish films were shown), but keep in mind, my favorite film of the festival is still Swedish.

I have a new personal record on most films on one location. I arrived at the Castle theatre (Slottsbiografen) at 1 and didn’t move from the area until after 7. That is 6 hours of shorts, nonstop. My friend however has me beat. She sat in that theatre from 11 to 7 so she’s got 8 hours under her belt, and she’s pregnant! Damn her.

I won’t mention all the films I saw because, quite frankly, that would be boring for all of us. I will mention the ones that stuck with me most and for you frequent readers that are still waiting for the interview your wait is over. The conversation with the filmmakers went so well and I have so much material that it has become a separate piece that will surface soon.

Yesterday started great. My first dose of film was a short from the UK called Leaving, directed by Richard Penfold. The film is about a woman trying to leave her violent boyfriend. Every night he gets worse and worse and the film focuses on a day when she tries to build up strength to leave. This film is a powerhouse of the festival. The acting took the film to a higher level where very few films this festival has reached.  It’s painful to watch and that’s a good thing.

I also got to experience a first yesterday. A musical by the name La Chaîne Du Froid (The Cold Chain). It follows a man into a store and well, nothing more exciting then that happens. I later saw another musical short but once again, not worth talking about. It’s too bad because seeing contributions from genres like that aren’t often highlighted. I kind of see why.

Big news for blood and gore fans is that a German zombie film, Full Employment (Arbeit Für Alle) is competing for the best international film award but without spoiling too much, it won’t win.

Ending the night were two very interesting films. The first one from is from France. Dix is about a man that can’t walk on the cracks between bricks on the sidewalk, just like Jack Nicholson’s character in As Good As It Gets. As soon as he walks on a crack whatever part of his body that stepped over gets chopped off. It’s well made and it made everybody laugh. I talked to a girl that works at the festival and the inside scoop is that this one is a very strong candidate for the Audience award.

And finally, the film we’ve all been waiting for. The one I heard Spielberg is doing a remake of. A little British film called Feeder. This entire 4 minute film is shot from the INSIDE of a person’s mouth. We get to see everything from drinking beer, coke, smoking cigarettes, eating chips and making out from the inside, yummy! To top it all off it end with the person throwing up. It sounds and looks absolutely repulsive but honestly it was a great experimental piece. Damn, I actually said that.
Dear diary, help!

Another day, another dollar and another problem. I arrived early this morning back in Uppsala from my night in Stockholm with a big problem. There is no time! There’s no time to eat, no time to write and no time to sleep. If you want to eat, bring a fruit because the schedule is packed all day, all week.

If you want to write, learn to write in the dark or practice great “Good Will Hunting” kind of memory so you can write at night and there’s the reason why there’s no sleep. However, burning the midnight oil to keep everything updated has never been this good.

Yesterday was a hectic day. I went to Israel, France, South Korea, Finland, United K, Austria and Italy and all within 2 hours. Yeah, my frequent flyer points are amazing. These films were not the best way for me to start my day. Some of them were way too experimental and a little bit too much out there for me. Most out there was a film called Burning Palace. This was an Austrian film and I have a better chance of explaining Russian to you then what this movie is about and I don’t even speak Russian. The feeling I got when watching it was very “Lynchian”. David Lynch is a master at this and the director of Burning Palace, Mara Mattuschka, should feel very comfortable in his shadow. The biggest problem is just that the film is too long, way too long. Actually if it was half of its 32 minutes it would be great.

Today I’m doing the interview with the writers and directors of Elephant Skin, Severin Fiala and Ulrike Putzer, so get ready for that. If you have a question for them, too bad.

I haven’t had time yet to write about all films on my Twitter but I promise I’ll do it as soon as possible. The only issue here is that every day I watch at least 10-20 new ones so the list will be long. I am booked for about 10 hours of film today and sad to say, there’s no Swedish ones showing today. It’s a Swedish free day for the festival I guess. But tonight, after the festival, I’ll buy a beer, a good beer, a Swedish beer. Just to get even.

We’re almost halfway through the festival but the best is yet to come.  The first couple of days there’s not a lot of choice when it comes to what you want to see but as the week progresses more and more film choices are introduced and during the weekend all theatres will be in full use and probably as packed as a good Broadway play, no, not Cats.

Today I will start off by seeing part nine of the international contenders for best film. There are films from countries like France, Israel, South Korea, Italy and Austria. There are a lot of films from Austria this year around and that’s only a good thing because they’ve all been great so far.

After that it looks like it’ll be about four hours of Swedish shorts, all competing for Best Of Sweden. I really hope one or a couple of them can affect me like some of the Swedish ones did yesterday. I am of course thinking about Wanted To Be Friends, which I talked about in my previous post but also a film that I didn’t mention. It’s called Caught Redhanded (På Bar Gärning) and it’s a very simple film about two friends who are sitting in a café studying, but the girl’s mind is elsewhere. It’s simple and has a great twist.

After my four hour film marathon I’m finally heading home to Stockholm but only over night to refuel my batteries and maybe bring some of that sugar I forgot at home. I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning to this great city. And if it hasn’t come across enough yet I highly recommend everyone to get out here for this festival. Not only for the films, but also the mood and people. It cost about 10 dollars to get from Stockholm to Uppsala so there’s really no excuse not to come.

Where people meet, networking at the Queen Victoria. Photo: Chris Gardner

A very good morning to all you Sweden.se readers. Yesterday was a great film day. Yes, I’m a straight shooter, right to the point, but just don’t ask me to shoot you. I’m not a fighter, I’m a bleeder.

The reasons why yesterday was of such delightfulness are many. It started early when I went to see the first batch of Swedish films competing for Best Of Sweden and we had some pretty strong contenders this time around. In fact my favourite film of the festival (so far) was shown here.  It’s called Wanted To Be Friends (Jag Ville Va Doms Kompis) and it’s a beautiful short documentary about a bunch of kids at a youth centre, we’re talking six to eleven-year-olds. Just the opening of the film makes your face want to leak.

These two kids are getting interviewed when a little girl walks up behind them crying. They ask her why and she says over and over again that nobody wants to be friends with her. Soon the film sets its mark and that mark is the fragile line friendship really is for these young ones. One of the young boys even says that he won’t promise anything because promises are for nerds. The only problem the film had was that it wasn’t longer. I would park myself and watch this documentary even if it was Lord Of The Rings long.

Later during the day I saw another Swedish short that really thought outside the box when it comes to storytelling. It’s about a woman that in order to get this job she needs to pitch her life as a trailer for a film. The great thing about it was that they had actually hired the guy that does all the Hollywood trailers. What started off as this great comedy bit turns later on becomes a marvelous love story between two friends. The film is of course called My Life As A Trailer (Mitt Liv Som Trailer).

I ended the night at the pub Queen Victoria, which is used as the official film festival pub. Right when I walk in the door I meet the directors of the last film I saw for the night, Elephant Skin (Elefantenhaut), from Austria. We talked film school and a lot of the process behind making film. A few beers later we said that we would try to meet later during the week for a proper interview so cross your fingers.

Before I end I just want to point out that of course I saw a few films that I really didn’t like, but there’s too much love in the air to trash someone’s film because if you face facts, they got a film showing at the festival, have you?

Where it all happens, Uppsala cinemas by night. Photo: Chris Gardner

Good morning soldiers. I use that word because that‘s what most of these people at the festival are. The people that work at the Uppsala short film festival do their best to make sure everything goes smoothly and with one day down they have succeeded. I’ll let you know if they burn down the place.

Interesting to see is that the organizers have gathered people all around the world to help out with the festival. I started talking to a bunch of people in Swedish but quickly realized that they didn’t know the language, so from now on if I open my mouth English words will be coming out. Better safe than Swedish, right? The filmgoers are also troopers, especially the people that go see a lot of these films because if I may be frank, the chairs in most of these theatres are not the most comfortable ones.

I woke up this morning knowing that there is no way I’ll be able to write about every single movie I see here on the blog. I will write about the ones that affect me the most, good and bad, but also write more about the festival itself.  I will however give my 2 cents about all movies I see on my Twitter.

Yesterday I was invited to the opening ceremony of the festival. It was a very pleasant gathering with champagne and finger food. At the ceremony they gave a little taste of films that are shown at the festival. After that it was off to dinner and more drinks.

However, I’m not here to wine and dine so I went to the last bunch of films instead, Focus Belgium 1. Here two movies really stood out. The first one was The Alarm Clock (Le Reveil). The whole thing is one long take and it’s about one man trying to wake up. It starts off like Back To The Future with all the clocks but then it turns into a kind of live action version of the classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, the one where they go camping and they’re trying to wake up Donald Duck. It’s fantastic and really well made.

A Wonderful Love (Quand On Est Amoureaux, C’est Merveilleux) is the title of the other film. This film had some problems right from the start. There were no subtitles and it’s 23 minutes long. But all issues I could possibly have went out the window as soon as it started. The movie focuses on a woman that gives herself a treat for her 39th birthday, a male stripper. During his dance she falls in love with him and without saying too much she will never let him go. This film got the hooks in me right away and it shows that dialogue is not always necessary for a really good film.

Now I am ready to face day two of the film festival and there’s at least 13 Swedish films to see today. Goddie goodie.

On the streets of Philadelphia...I mean Uppsala. Photo: Chris Gardner

There we go. So far so good, kinda.  I’ve already had the chance to see the first batch of films that are competing for the “Best in Sweden” award and I am not really blown away. Since I arrived a little late in Uppsala I missed the first film, Seeds Of The Fall (Slitage), but I’ll catch it next time they show it. However, there were a couple that really stood out.

This Is Alaska totally won me over quickly. The film is about a group of Scandinavians that have moved to Alaska to find freedom after attending a workshop they took in the late 80’s in Germany. They call themselves extreme individualists and just to call yourself that you got my vote. The film is directed by Mårten Nilsson and Gunilla Heilborn.

Did you know that you get a longer jail sentence in Cuba if you kill a cow then if you would kill a man? This is one of the statements the other movie that really interested say. The film is Repainting Cuba and it’s a strong and direct film about the true Cuba.  It’s narrated like razor and it tells us what can happen to people if they talk and socialize too much with tourists.

Then there’s the lesser goods, the less strong, the ugly ducklings if you will.

First off it’s the movie Four Days Over Due (Fjärde Dagen Över Tiden), an animated film about a woman giving birth. This is a nice premise but where they take this film is really not where I wanted to go. It’s not good animation, it’s more the “arty” animated style and I’ve seen way too much of the mainstream way to take this in.

Densen is a film that mixes photos and music and all we get to see are power lines from different places around the world. The music is great, catches you. However the photos don’t and the camera swirls around and around so it feels like you’re in a washing machine and you just want to get out. The title Densen means power line in Japanese.

Last but not least, well not when it comes to length, is The Gang Of Lidingö (Lidingöligan). This is also an animated film about a more socialistic family that leaves all behind to live on Lidingö (a little “nicer” community in Sweden). Here the three kids meet a gang of youngsters, all blond and blue eyed and rich like kings.  The premise of the film promises a lot and the animation is fantastic but as soon as too much politics come into the picture I go out of it. It’s not as funny as you’d hope and they few jokes in it you see from a mile away. However, it’s worth checking out just because of the animations.

We Swedes are really up there at the frontlines of animation battle, ready to take the world.

Hello and welcome to Sweden.se first ever film blog (I think). My name is Chris and I’ll be your waiter for the week. So, finally it’s here. The day a lot of thriving filmmakers around the world have been waiting for. It’s time to kick off Uppsala’s short film festival.

Sitting on the train towards the festival, I suddenly realize that I haven’t been in Uppsala for a long, long time so it’s a double treat for me. Film and scenery.  I’ve decided to dedicate as much free time as I can these 7 days to film so unless I am sleeping, I’m watching movies. It’s the least I can do for the filmmakers. However, since I am giving them all this time I will be honest and direct when it comes to what I think of them. There will be no apologizes and no sugar coating (I forgot my sugar in Stockholm).

I will try to watch all different genres of film this week but already now I am really excited about animation. That could have to do with the fact that I recently saw the movie Up and the short film before it, Partly Cloudy, and they were both brilliant.  Stay tuned for your next festival fix.