Eva och Adam, Caroline Cowan’s directorial debut in feature film, premiered this weekend to rave reviews from Sweden’s critics. The film is written by Johan Unenge and Måns Gahrton, and produced by Francy Suntinger for Filmlance.

“Caroline Cowan makes us understand what it means to be young in Eva och Adam. /…/ Director and screenwriter Caroline Cowan breathes new life into the young pair of lovers, Eva and Adam. /…/ Cowan’s take on the universe pulsates with real emotions, and it’s not just the romantic crush that’s given focus, but also the difficult relationship with one’s parents, friends, political interests, moving and leaving things behind – in short, everything that’s part of a young person’s life.”
– TT ★★★★

“Eva och Adam cheerily tells of youthful love – without for that matter neglecting the big feelings.”
– Barometern ★★★★

“This autumn’s big family movie has arrived.”
– Skånska Dagbladet

“Beautiful, well-made, and probably butterflies-in-the-stomach-inducing for its intended audience.”
– Swedish Radio

In 1879, renowned philosopher Pontus Wikner pens the text he will call “Psychological Self-Confessions.” The manuscript is locked in a tin box and sent to Uppsala’s University Library, where it will, per Wikner’s instructions, be left unopened for a minimum of fifty years. The unassuming box’s contents are so controversial and scandalous that rumors of it alone cause a panic among Wikner’s circle of friends, who try to prevent it from ever being opened. Yet Wikner’s wish is to one day have the manuscript published. In a future where everything has changed. In a happier year.

In 1970, almost a hundred years after Pontus Wikner’s melancholy confessions, a group of youths in Örebro form the Gay Power Club. The eccentric Ronny walks the town’s streets in full drag under the midday sun. The lovers Vanja and Kerstin create national headlines as “the girls who want to get married.” And together they perform Sweden’s first ever march for the freedom of homosexuals.

A Happier Year is Jonas Gardell’s gripping story of students Pontus and Herman and their impossible love story of the late 19th century. It is the fantastical tale of a few brave young people from a small-town in the middle of Sweden during the second half of the 20th century, youths who’ve decided that they too have a right to be happy. It’s a dizzying novel of love in a time when love had no language, and the true story of how the fight for freedom began.

Danish screenwriter Anders August is set to adapt Karen Blixen’s novel Ehrengard for Netflix. The Danish Oscar winner Bille August has been recruited to direct the project. The project has been developed over the last decade by Jacob Jørgensen and JJ Film, with SF’s Marcella Dichmann producing. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is designing the sets.

Ehrengard is set in the fairytale kingdom of Babenhausen, where a young, self-appointed expert on love, Cazotte, is hired by the scheming Grand Duchess to help her secure an heir. While searching for a suitable future Princess, Cazotte teaches the timid and introverted Crown Prince the art of seduction and lovemaking. But their plan soon backfires, when an heir is conceived out of wedlock and the royal family has to seek refuge in the castle of Rosenbad. Here, as rivals within the royal family close in on their scheme, Cazotte himself falls in love with Ehrengard, the maid of honour, and gradually learns that in fact, he’s no expert on love at all.

Lina Brounéus, director co-production and acquisition EMEA at Netflix, said: “With such a strong creative team in Bille August and Anders August, our close partners SF Studios producing combined with the extraordinary decoupages from Queen Margrethe II, I feel confident that this timeless tale will be just as epic, ingenious and witty as Karen Blixen’s masterpiece from 1962.”

Lars Kepler is nominated for Bookbeat’s Crime Author of the Year 2021, an award that is completely data-driven and is based on how popular, listened to and liked the three latest novels from current Swedish crime authors have been during the past year.

The winner will be announced on September 25th at this year’s CrimeTime Festival in Gothenburg.

SAS: Rise of the Black Swan, the action film directed by Magnus Martens based on Andy McNab’s novel Red Notice, premiered on Netflix on this Friday and is the second most watched movie in the US this weekend.

The film stars Sam Heughan (Outlander), Ruby Rose (Batwoman), Andy Serkis (Planet of the Apes), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ready Player One) and follows a band of criminals as they hijack the Eurostar train with 400 hostages on board, deep beneath the English Channel where they plan to detonate an explosion, ushering in an economic war on the government. Unbeknownst to the criminals, injured Special Air Service off-duty officer Tom Buckingham is on board the train as well, and he will stop at nothing to thwart the terrorist attack.