STORY

Archival film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson has assembled—from a vast catalogue of footage in the vaults of Sweden’s national television service SVT—accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as witnessed and represented by Swedish journalists. Stories of the beginning of the Israeli state interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. News coverage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden unseen since first broadcast. From the tenth anniversary of Israel’s founding to the First Intifada, perspectives and encounters with statesmen, civilians, revolutionaries, and intellectuals tell the story from myriad angles of an evolving media landscape, revivifying a history of the ongoing conflict.

Based on powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, this documentary is accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.

Hnutove, Donbass, eastern Ukraine, 2015. Young Oleg lives in a war zone where anti-aircraft gunshots and missile attacks often resonate dangerously near. Although many inhabitants have already left this dangerous area, he remains with his grandmother, who has cared for him since his mother's death, because they have nowhere to go. They are just waiting for the war to end.

"There can only be an unhappy ending to this", people say when they hear about Palestinian Osama and his Israeli wife Jasmin’s love. Their home countries separate them through racist laws and lack of security. They choose exile, but soon rosy dreams turn into despair in an inhospitable Europe. Will their love survive?

A broken nose, a disjointed knee and tropical throat flux with months of side effects. Filmmaker Hanna Heilborn challenges herself by deciding to learn how to surf, just before her 40th birthday. She asks a film photographer to follow her on the road. It is not going exactly as she intended.

Sara Parkman has, through her very unique expressions revolutionized Swedish folk music and her album Vesper proves a big breakthrough. Yet, there's something about this sucess tale that doesn't feel quite right. The devotion to art can make you feel alone, because as the fire burns strong it also hurts. Now we meet the person behind Sara Parkman's strong stage persona, as a new album begins to take shape based on a topic Sara has long avoided – love.

Beyond the well-known headlines of recent years, there is a constantly ongoing everyday life in the social service that the filmmakers sought out for a few weeks at the social office in Sala. There the entrance door is unlocked and the philosophy is simple: unlocked doors create a good working environment. For a few weeks, the filmmakers Göran Odbratt and JH Engström have been allowed to portray the everyday lives of the staff.