BJÖRN’S THOUGHTS

I wrote a script for a feature film, which developed into the basis for a television series. The production of this series was in essence my “real” film school. 156 days of shooting. From hot summer to deepest winter. A whole bunch of magnificent and inspiring actors. I also shifted perspective during the production: from large carnivalesque scenes to a more intimate chamber play, from the burlesque to a more restrained expression of emotions. From widescreen images to tight close-ups.

It's unimaginable that Swedish National Television (SVT) today would give free reins to such a far-out series, a story in search of its own narrative spine, a cavalcade of pranks... I remember that the team asked me why it is raining in so many scenes. I replied: There's something physical with rainy scenes, I enjoy when actors adapt their skills to pouring rain. One day, having lunch at the old TV house in Gothenburg, our producer Anita Hallgren came to the canteen with a wryly smile on her face and told us to look out through the window. Down on the parking lot was a fire engine that SVT had purchased for our production. Anita triumphed, laughingly: Now you can be your own rainmaker, let it rain as much as you want!

All the personalities that surrounded this adventure! Anita Hallgren Jakob Eklund, Ingvar Hirdwall, Viveka Seldahl, Ebba Forsberg, Fredrik Gildea, Sten Ljunggren, Lena Brogren, Krister Henriksson, Liv Svensson, Håkan Hammarén, Arne Augustsson etc etc ... 

The series was a success with the audience, on average 20% of Sweden's population watched the six episodes on Monday nights.

My most intense memories from this experience, however, derive from shooting those chamber play-like scenes we did at the end. They heralded a new phase in how I conceive how to do cinema and led me to my next film, Daybreak.