The Uppsala Short Film Pitch is held 23 October, during Uppsala Short Film Festival, one of Swedens only international short film festivals and the premier venue for short films, as well as one of Europe’s most important short film festivals.
The Uppsala Short Film Pitch brings six projects in development to the stage, where filmmakers pitch their projects to both a live audience and a panel of industry professionals representing the Swedish and international film landscape. The winning project receives a prize of SEK 50,000 from the Swedish Film Institute to help bring the film to life. The pitch is held in English.
Pitch Jury:
Clarice Goulart (Editor at SVT)
Juha Löppönen (Producer at Mouka Filmi)
Nayeem Mahbub (Script consultant and editor)
PITCHING PROJECTS
CORNUCOPIA
Alex, a financially struggling woman, accompanies her friend to an exclusive art opening. The exhibition marks the comeback of an artist whose new works are all made from food. Among them is a monumental cornucopia suspended from the ceiling. Alex is immediately captivated. A mysterious man encourages her to take a peach from the cornucopia. As soon as she does, the lights go out, and the crowd turns toward her. The man reveals himself to be the artist, and Alex has just become his new centerpiece.
Director/Writer: Jakob Bjerkesjö
Writer: Soraya Bay
FAMILJEBAND
When Oskar (13) accidentally sees his parents’ sex tape on the family camera during a camping trip, the facade which the adults have constructed around him crumbles and shines a light on what really happens behind closed doors. In between the intimate and the uncomfortable, between desire and shame, Oscar takes his first steps out of childhood.
Director/Writer: Joaquim Berglund
Producer: Annegret Kunath
HOPPBORGSINSPEKTÖREN (THE BOUNCY CASTLE INSPECTOR)
Children playing in colourful bouncy castles as a government inspector tries to prevent the next disaster. The Bouncy Castle Inspector is a film where humour and seriousness meet in the space between play and regulation. Through Anna’s work as an investigator at the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), we discover the strange and often invisible efforts that go into keeping children safe.
Directors: Molly S. Bengtsson, Simon Averin
Producer: Alice Sunnelius Aldén
I PROFILERNAS TIDSERA (THE AGE OF PROFILES)
In The Age of Profiles, we revisit the ”fjortis” – a Swedish youth subculture of the 2000s defined by bleached hair, online profiles and performing teenage identity to the extreme. The film explores a generation shaped between analogue and digital life, reclaiming a culture once mocked by adults. An archival portrait of the first generation of teenage girls to share their private lives on the internet through their own webcams.
Director: Maja Wiezell
THE ARC OF THE UNDESIRABLE
As sea levels rise and forests burn, oblivious tourists glide around the globe on a cruise ship. But they are not the only guests on the ship. Two burrowing owls, fleeing Florida’s flooded prairies, have made the ship’s botanical garden their home, searching for a better future around the solarium and mini- golf course. Alongside them, hiding in gaps and crevices, a modern Noah’s Ark tale unfolds with animals and seaweed hitchhiking in acts of survival. Blending documentary, reconstruction and animation, the film depicts a final voyage where not God or nature – but human decisions – decide which species live and which are exterminated.
Director/Writer: Jasmijn Kooijman
VILDAR
During a crayfish party in a small Swedish village, two children show off a pig they’ve kidnapped from the neighbour farmer Rojne. In a room under renovation, the jokes escalate from feeding it a sausage to planning how to cook it. Ten-year-old Hobbe watches uneasily but says nothing. When Rojne’s whistle sounds outside, the others sneak away. Hobbe, however, locks the door and sits down beside the pig, as adults pound on the other side.
Director/Writer: William Fidler
