Hälsningar från skogen (Greetings from the woods). Documentary / Feature. 75 Min. Plattform Produktion 2009. Directed by Mikel Cee Karlsson, Produced by Erik Hemmendorff & Ruben Östlund. Produced with support from The Swedish Film Institute, Swedish Television (SVT Göteborg), Film i väst, Film i Halland and Konstnärsnämnden (The Swedish Art Council).
Inside and outside the well-kept hedges life carries on as usual. The King buys his daily newspaper. Bertil searches the parking lot for dogs to photograph. Hans and Gun-Britt is planting a big, but still too small rock in their garden. Trying to get their minds off it all. As darkness falls over the little village in the woods, the Indians gather for a meeting in the town house as angst, frustration and silent prayer echoes in the night.
"With visual precision and attention to detail, feature film debutant Mikel Cee Karlsson captures people and their existence in a small village deep inside the Swedish forest. Over a period of four years, the music video director and former professional skateboarder Mikel has been capturing singular scenes from a part of today's Sweden where reality inexorably seeps in behind the well-kept hedges. With a mixture of playful precision, humour and melancholy he portrays people’s dreams, their relationships and everyday destinies. Greetings from the Woods is a visual and personal portrait of Swedish rural life stripped bare."
Click image below for Theatrical Trailer.
Excerpt from LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL catalogue 2009.
"Life follows its peaceful course in a remote little town in the swedish forest. On his way back from buying his daily paper the king – a bearded eccentric wearing a strange gold tunic – shakes the hand of a child who takes him for a viking. Bertil surveys the parks, fairs and forests in search for new subjects to photograph: a dog, an earthworm, a group of friends, a cow. Behind well-trimmed hedges, Hans and Gun-Britt wonder whether the stone they have installed in their garden is too small. These characters, among many others, enliven sometimes absurd little scenes in this immersive exploration of everyday life in a particular part of Sweden. Apart from an introduction in which the director, from behind the camera, explains his project to a passer-by, Hälsningar från skogen (Greetings from the woods) lets strightforward observation do its work. Mikel Cee Karlsson spent four years mapping his hometown in making this documentary. With humor and sadness he explores the life of his subjects in great detail. He records their dreams, their hopes and their fears in a smooth-flowing series of tableux, nearly all without dialogue. The direction is precise and elegant: his feel for framing and montage as well as elaborately composed static shots gives his work a remarkable aesthetic. The original instrumental soundtrack underscores the dreamlike atmosphere of the film, creating soaring interludes in which the images, shorn of their sound environment, almost seem to hover."
Limited Edition Soundtrack/Various artists/Kning Disk 2009 / Hälsningar från skogen [Greetings from the Woods] Kningdisk.com
CD (Ltd. Ed. Box set of 499 handmade copies)
with a book (44 pages / size: 165 x 165 mm)
01. Jan Lindblad - Entonigt ringer den lilla klockan
02. Tired Tape Machine - Like Glass
03. Chaz Knapp - Acceptance of fate
04. Jean-Louis Huhta - Each day
05. Peter Broderick - A Song For The Cranes
06. Hans Appelqvist - Hälsningar från skogen
07. Tired Tape Machine - Life is a joke
08. Tape- Beams
09. José González - 07.11.11
10. The Dead Sea - Nulla desiderata
PRODUCTION INFO
Production Company: Plattform Produktion
Director Mikel Cee Karlsson
Producer: Erik Hemmendorff
Executive Producer: Ruben Östlund
Director of Photography: Mikel Cee Karlsson Peter Carlsson
Editing: Mikel Cee Karlsson
Sound: Jan Alvermark
Soundmix Owe Svensson/Studio 24
Music Producer: Mattias Nilsson/Kning Disk
In Co-Operation with: Film i Väst, Film i Halland, Swedish Television
With Support from: Swedish Film Institute/Tove Torbiörnsson and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Music: Tape, Hans Appelqvist, The Dead Sea, Tired Tape Machine,Jean-Louis Huhta, Chazz Knapp, Jan Lindblad, Giuseppe Verdi.
Soundtrack available from KNING DISK © All rights reserved
Swedish Title: Hälsningar från skogen
Genre: Feature documentary
Duration: 75 min
Format: 4:3 Digibeta, HD
Country of Origin: Sweden 2009
Swedish Distribution: Folkets Bio
Festival Contact: SWEDISH FILM INSTITUTE
Sara Yamashita Rüster
International Department
P.O. Box 27126
SE-102 52 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel +46 8 665 11 41
Cell +46 761 172 678
Fax +46 8 666 36 98
Production Contact: Erik Hemmendorff/ Plattform Produktion
Vallgatan 9d
S- 411 16 Göteborg, Sweden
+46 701-711923, mail@plattformproduktion.se