Lukas Moodysson Returns to Feel-Good Films With New Project

COLOGNE, Germany – Acclaimed Swedish director Lukas Moodysson will return to the feel-good mood of his earlier films with his new project VI ÄR BÄST!, which roughly translates as We Are The Best!.

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The director said his goal with the new project, based on the graphic novel Never Goodnight from his wife Coco Moodysson, is to “make a happy film full of hope and vitality.” In other words, a departure from his last few films including Mammoth (2009) and Lilya 4-Ever (2002), which have focused on inequality and social deprivation.

VI ÄR BÄST! is set in Stockholm in 1982 and focuses on three girls, aged 12 and 13, who roam the city streets and who decide to form a punk band. The mix of period setting and feel-good narrative brings to mind Moodysson’s cross-over success Together (2000), a dramedy set in a 1970s Swedish commune. Moodysson’s debut Show Me Love (1998) – about a teenage lesbian romance – also mixed drama with lighter, comedic elements.

TrustNordisk has picked up international sales rights to VI ÄR BÄST! and will be presenting the title to buyers in Cannes next month. The film does not yet have an official English-language title.

Shooting on the project, which Lars Jönsson is producing for Memfis Film, is set to start at Sweden’s Film I Väst studios this Fall.

Svensk Filmindustri will bow the feature locally next year.