The Dear John Letter

Scenes from THE DEAR JOHN LETTER
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Frank_Nick_THE_DEAR_JOHN_LETTERBill_Watts
Bill_Frank_THE_DEAR_JOHN_LETTER_©Alan_Mair_230320
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Swedish premiere March 7, 2024 at the Tempo Documentary Film Festival in Stockholm.

Follow the film on Facebook to get info about where and when!

   facebook.com/TheDearJohnLetter

A distressing letter on facebook is the catalyst for filmmaker Bill Watts to reunite with the friends he has avoided for more than 30 years. Dark secrets from the past are explored and a cathartic process develops as the old group of friends come to terms with the consequences of what happened to them in their teens.

CREDITS

with
Clayre O‘Brien
Frank Mair
Lawrence “Lol” Ford
Nick Feinberg
Bill Watts

Director & DOP Bill Watts
Editors Sascha Fülscher, China Åhlander & Bill Watts
Sound designers Hans Christian Arnt Torp & Claus Lynge
Composers  Lawrence Lol Ford & Svante Lodén
Colorist Maciej Sanki Sankowski
Produced by China Åhlander

In co-production with Film i Skåne
In collaboration with Bill of Sweden AB
With the financial support from The Swedish Film Institute
& The Swedish Arts Grants Committee  

International premiere still available

Characters in the Dear John Letter

Bill

The director of the film Bill Watts is an old friend of all of the characters in the film. Bill is a freelance filmmaker DoP/cameraman since 1999 and is based in Malmö, Sweden. He has edited and filmed documentaries for amongst others; Swedish national broadcasters- SVT, TV4 and TV8. Two of the feature documentaries he has filmed for other directors have been awarded with the Golden Whistle award 2018 and the New Nordic Voice Award, 2019.

Bill Watts

Clayre

Bill hadn’t seen Clayre since their teens in North London before they met up to film for the first time in 2015. They grew up in the same area and got to know each other as 13 years old and hung around with the same group of close friends up until around 1981. Clayre wrote the Dear John Letter that inspired the making of the film.

Clayre O'Brien

Frank

Frank was one of Bill’s best friends during their teenage years and they have only seen each other very sporadically since the early eighties. Back in the day they rode motorbikes off-road, briefly played in a band together, smoked their first joint together and went on several holidays together with each other’s families.

Frank Mair

Nick

Nick went to the same junior school as Bill and they played football together with a bunch of other local kids who had nothing better to do. During their teenage years Bill and Nick hung around in the same group of friends who gate crashed parties and got up to all sorts of crazy stuff. Bill lost contact with Nick around 1982.

Nick Feinberg

Lol (Lawrence)

Bill got to know Lawrence who lived at a friend’s flat where a group of friends frequently hung out, when Bill was around 17yrs old. Lol who is a couple years older than Bill was always playing in different bands but they also lost contact around 1982.

Lawrence “Lol” Ford

Year of production: 2024
Duration: 99 min
Technical info: colour, 16:9, 5.1 & stereo
Subtitles: English

Straight Up

Straight Up – actress and director Theres Zoë R ichert ©Bill Watts (kopia)

Marcel admires himself in the mirror. When his girlfriend Jocelyn wakes up, Marcel wants to teach her yoga, but instead Jocelyn wrestles him to the bed and Marcel is challenged to accept something new about himself.

Directors’ vision:
The film is about masculinity and the courage to change both oneself and what is expected of a man – the norm. The film tries to question what is shameful and to facilitate the change of the gender roles.

CREDITS

Cast: Therese Zoê Richert, Mario Abou Raad
Scriptwriter : Therese Zoë Richert
Directors: Therese Zoë Richert & China Åhlander
Cinematographer: Bill Watts
Sound: Martin Hennel, Claus Lynge
Editor: China Åhlander
Composer: Jörgen Wernefedlt

Straight Up on IMDB

Year of Production: 2018
Duration: 8,5 min
Technical Info: 1:2 35 5.1 & stereo

Refugee 532 / Flykting 532

Refugee 532_300 dpi_10 cm © Igor Ripak
Enis Tuka REFUGEE 532
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The unaccompanied refugee Sevko, 12, tries to cope with his new life in Sweden. He is struggling between hope and despair, waiting for news from the war zone in Bosnia. Being bullied by the other young refugees, he decides to throw a party his own way.

“Between 1992 and 1994 80.000 refugees came to Sweden. I was one of them, 17 years old, who ended up in Uddevalla refugee camp 117 in Sweden. Our film about Sevko originates from my memories from that time.”
director Goran Kapetanović

CREDITS

Actors
Enis Tuka, Haris Murić, Timur Vilić, Aldin Kajmović, Mersim Saljević, Milan Dragišić
Written by Goran Kapetanović & China Åhlander
Directed by Goran Kapetanović
Director of Photography Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
Set Designer Li Garpenfeldt
Costume Designer Paola Billberg Johansson
Make Up Kaj Grönberg
Sound Designers Martin Hennel & Claus Lynge
Editors China Åhlander & Aleksandra Gowin
Producer China Åhlander
In co-production with Film i Skåne & Sveriges Television
Financial support from the Swedish Film Institute & The Swedish Arts Grants Committee

World Premiere at the Montreal lnternational Film Festival 2015

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Nominated Best Swedish Short at the Uppsala lnternational Film Festival 2015

Year of production: 2015
Duration: 14,5 min
Technical info: colour, 1:1,85, 5.1 & stereo
Languages: Bosnian & Swedish
Subtitles: English, Swedish

Close to the Soil / Thure Andersson i Rävetofta

Close to the Soil is a short documentary made by China Åhlander.

Thure was a farmer who never gave in buying a tractor like every other farmer did during the 50-60’s. He continued working with his horses and achieved something very unusual thirty years later – the gift of being close to the soil and what that does to your soul.

Farmer Thure Andersson ploughs his land with his horses and has never been interested in buying a tractor. “To be close to the soil, to feel the way it smells, to walk behind the horses – these are pleasant things”, says Thure.
“The rythm in Thure’s work and way of life fascinates me”, says China.

Thure managed to stand the pressure. It takes character to do that. He said that “it’s never the same, ploughing with a tractor.” “You just don’t get that… When you’re close to the soil you feel the earth and everything.”

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Nominated the BEST SWEDISH SHORT 2000 at the Gothenburg Film Festival.

Awarded the BEST DOCUMENTARY at the Aspen Short Film Festival and with the JURY AWARD at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, USA.

“We chose a film that handled its subject with an exquisite delicacy. The film is filled with beautiful and expressive imagery which brings its themes of loss and the passage of time to life in a way we found deeply moving.”
Aspen Film Festival 2001

“With an economy of words and a power of image, Close to the Soil allows us to reflect on the passage of time and the end of an era.”
Mountainfilm in Telluride 2001

Awarded the BEST SHORT AWARD at the Nature Film Festival LIVING EUROPE 2003 in Helsingborg, Sweden.
“A sad, unsentimental and emotional film, which reminds us of countryside skills and talents that are fast disappearing during our own lifetime.”

“Ten minutes to soothe your soul.”
Film critic Elisabeth Sörenson, SvD 18 Feb 2000 (Swedish newspaper)

Year of production: 2000
Format: 35 mm, 1:1,66, dolby SR
Duration: 10 min
Subtitles: English, Swedish

On Suffocation

On Suffocation trailer
ON SUFFOCATION photo by Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
on_suffocation_Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
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A film about when the system becomes more important than human life. Seven minutes without dialogue about an execution.

World premiere at the Sundance International Film Festival 2013

CREDITS

.

Actors
Poyan Karimi, Peshang Rad, Ali Dawoud, Zana Penjweni, Kurdi Kara, Ako Rauf
Written and directed by Jenifer Malmqvist
Cinematography Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
Sound Mikael Körner
Set Design Mattias Engström
Makeup Katarina Kovacs
Editing Jenifer Malmqvist, Petra Ahlin
Digital Mastering Wojtek Janio
Grading Gosia Gryb
Re-recording mix Claus Lynge
Produced by China Åhlander
Production Company Anagram Film
In co-production with Film i Skåne, Joakim Strand, Sveriges Television, Helena Ingelsten
With financial support from Svenska Filminstitutet, film commissioner Andra Lasmanis
In collaboration with FilmGEAR Aps, Stengården Film, BoostHbg, Filmcentrum Syd, Ministi, South Sweden Films, Fixafilm

Awards & Nominations

2014 Guldbagge (Swedish Oscars) for Best Short
2014 Special mention at the Lolly Award, XPOSED International Queer Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
2013 International Grand Prix, Regard Sur Le Court Métrage, Saguenay, Canada
2013 World of Maps Award, Capalbio Cinema, Capalbio, Italy
2013 Laicity Prize, Reggio Film Festival, Reggio Emilia, Italy
2013 Best Swedish Short, 32nd Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden
2013 Red Citation Humanitarian Award, 24fps International Short Film Festival, Abilene, USA

Duration: 7 minutes
Technical info: colour, 16:9, 5.1
No dialogue

Eat Sleep Die / Äta Sova Dö

EAT SLEEP DIE Trailer | Festival 2012
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Eat-Sleep-Die-2-Foto-Johan-Lundborg1
Eat-Sleep-Die-6.1-Foto-Zoltan-Sari
Eat-Sleep-Die-Rasa-kraks-Foto-Zoltan-Sari1
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Ever wondered who packs the fresh plastic­ sealed salad you are having for lunch?
Who are the people getting laid off from their factory jobs in the small rural towns?
Ready for a visit to another kind of Sweden?
When the forceful young Muslim Swedish/Balkan factory worker Raša, who has a no-shit, never-say-die attitude to life, loses her job, she faces unemployment. With no high school diploma, no job – but her boots deeply stained with the mud of the small town she grew up in – Raša finds herself on collision course with society and a comical world of bureaucracy and contradicting values and expectations.
First time actors play all of the main characters in the film.

CREDITS

Actors
Rasa Nermina Lukač
Father Milan Dragišić
Nicki Jonathan Lampinen
Peter Peter Fält
Rosi Ružica Pichler

Director Gabriela Pichler
Scriptwriter Gabriela Pichler
Cinematographer Johan Lundberg
Editors Gabriela Pichler, Johan Lundberg
Sound Design Martin Hennel
Casting Lotta Forsblad
Costumes Sandra Woltersdorf
Composers Andreas Svensson, Jonas Isaksson
Producer China Åhlander
Executive Producer Martin Persson
Production Company Anagram Film
Co-producers Film i Skåne, Sveriges Television, Film i Väst
With financial support from the Swedish Film Institute, BoostHbg, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

4 Guldbaggar (Swedish Oscars) – Best Film , Best Script, Best Director, Best Main Actress
Nominated for Best Film , Best Script, Best Director, Best Main Actress and Best Supporting Actor

Grand prix de jury + Best actress (Nermina Lukač ), Premiers plans Angers
Special jury prize, Festival Int’l du film de femmes de Salé, Maroc 2012
Audience award, Venice Critics Week
NDR Film Prize, Nordische Filmtage Lübeck Grand Jury Award
AFI Los Angeles FF, Best Film + Best actress (Nermina Lukač )
Special mention Nermina Lukač , Zürich FF
NDR Film Prize, Nordische Filmtage Lübeck
Grand Jury Award, AFI Los Angeles FF
Best Film + Best actress (Nermina Lukač ), Sevilla European FF
Best actress (Nermina Lukač ) + Special mention, Amiens IFF

“Eat Sleep Die” was the Swedish candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards 2013
Nominated for Best European Discovery at the 2013 Euopean Film Awards

Year of production: 2012
Duration: I04 min
Technical info: color, 1:1,85, Dolby Digital 5.1
Original languages: Swedish, Montenegrin & Serbian
Subtitles:
Swedish, English, Italian and more

Eat Sleep Die at the Guldbagge Award Gala, Photo © Patrik Österberg/All Over Press Sweaden

Producent China Åhlanders tal på Guldbaggegalan

då ÄTA SOVA DÖ utsetts till årets bästa film

”Tack så mycket!
Ja, man kan ju undra varför jag, som är filmens producent, står här och ska ta emot Guldbaggen för bästa film.
Vad gör en producent? Fixar pengarna eller?
Nja, jag står här som representant för alla vi som med gemensamma krafter tillsammans hjälpts åt att realisera Gabrielas idé. Visionen om att om att göra en film som vi alla har saknat, om människor som vi sällan ser representerade på duken och som vi ville känna igen oss i.
För film det gör man inte ensam…
Som producent är man regissörens kreativa bollplank under hela processen. Om man som jag, dessutom var inspelningsledare, blir man djupt involverad.
Jag brukar kalla detta slave-mode.
I samband med det tillståndet vill jag tacka min man Mattias och mina barn Simon och Anna, vars stöd jag inte klarat mig utan. De får också representera alla de andra filmarbetarnas familjer, som står ut med oss, vi som alltid jobbar, i våra korta nedslag i verkligheten.
En annan som gått in i slave-mode, förutom Gabriela och jag, är Johan Lundborg. Han är filmens fotograf och körde utan B-foto genom hela inspelningen. Han har också klippt filmen tillsammans med Gabriela. Johan – du är enastående!
Följande kollektiva tack gäller specifikt vår film, men är också ett tack riktat till alla filmarbetare som jobbar och sliter, som aldrig går på galor eller syns i övrigt, eftersom de jobbar bakom kameran.

Vi hade väldens bästa team under inspelningen av ÄTA SOVA DÖ.
Tack teamet! Utan er – ingen film!

Några vill jag tacka speciellt. Vår produktionsledare Peter Kimay, utan honom hade det inte blivit en så bra inspelning.
Vår castare Lotta Forsblad, som under lång tid hjälpt oss att ta fram alla våra fantastiska skådespelare och statister.
Vår ljuddesigner Martin Hennel – som, tillsammans med med ljudmixare Claus Lynge, gjort ett skitbra jobb.
Slutligen vill jag tacka vår käre Michael Sevholt på Shoot & Post, som alltid ställer upp.
Nu saknar jag att tacka mina föräldrar – ni som kände dem, vet ju varför. Det är tack vare dem som jag står här. Man behöver människor som tror på en. De får en att växa och våga göra nya saker.
I samband med det vill jag passa på att tacka alla er som trott på och stöttat den här filmen – Linda Sternö, som med stöd av Piodor Gustafsson och Andrea Östlund på SFI, startade upp projektet tillsammans med Gabriela, Kalle Boman, Suzanne Glansborg på SFI, Ralf Ivarsson på Film i Skåne, Gunnar Carlsson och SVT, människorna på BoostHbg, Magnus och Anders på Solid Entertainment, Konstnärsnämndens stipendiekommitté, Maritha Norstedt, Mattias Nohrborg och alla andra på distributören TriArt och, inte minst, Martin Persson och alla på Anagram.
Ert stöd har gett oss kraft och mod att växa och genomföra den här filmen på vårt eget sätt.
Sist men inte minst vill jag tacka Gabriela och alla skådespelarna – och mig själv! – för att vi lyckats berätta denna historia så att ni blivit berörda!
Tack!”
”Ingen människa kom till skada under inspelningen.”

ÄTA SOVA DÖ är min första långfilm i egenskap av producent. Liksom Gabriela kände jag samma starka behov av att skildra människor som jag kunde känna igen mig i – den svarta humorn, de kärleksfulla relationerna och hur man hanterar maktlösheten.
Samtidigt ville jag göra den här filmen för att bevisa att det går att göra film och samtidigt följa alla regler avseende arbetsmiljö och arbetstider som står föreskrivet i lagen. Jag är så trött på att att sånt inte respekteras. Jag menar att man ska kunna ha ett liv också när man jobbar som filmarbetare.

Slutligen önskar jag att solidaritetskänslan på nytt kunde genomsyra det svenska samhället, så att vi tar hand om de som blir arbetslösa eller inte längre har hälsan i behåll, på ett respektfullt sätt av välutbildad personal. Som det ser ut nu tappar man allt människovärde om man inte har ett jobb att gå till eller är sjuk men utförsäkrad. Det är inte rimligt.

Lindy the Return of Little Light

På svenska biografer i maj 2019 – In Swedish movie theatres in May 2019

Följ filmen på Facebook för att veta var och när filmen går upp på en bio nära dig!
Follow the film on Facebook to get info about where and when!


   facebook.com/Lindy-the-Return-of-Little-Light

Lindy the Return of Little Light – official trailer
Lindy – PRESSBILD Lindy the Return of Little Light – photo Bill Watts 300 dpi
Lindy the Return of Little Light – Lindy and Stefan – photo Niklas Forshell 300 dpi
Lindy the Return of Little Light – Lindy and his nieces – photo Bill Watts 300 dpi
Lindy och Stefan i båt på sjön
Lindy 2018-02-07 kl. 14.58.28
Rehearsal Roma Army
Lindy på scen ROMA AMY
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Already at a young age Lindy became aware that he didn’t fit in. He was thin, girly, and from a family which already was exposed by the society. Instead he fled into a world of fantasies and was dreaming of becoming someone else – an actor. Today he is acclaimed and loved for his interpretations. But when he gets the question of being himself on stage, everything is put at stake…

Regissören Ida Persson Lännerberg har under fyra år följt och filmat den hyllade artisten Lindy Larsson i en avgörande period i hans liv. ”Lindy the Return of Little Light” är ett närgånget porträtt av en människa – en film om identitet, skam och om att våga stå upp för sig själv.

Lindy lärde sig tidigt att han inte passade in i den lilla bruksorten – spinkig, tjejjig och från en familj som hade samhällets ögon på sig. Istället flydde han in i en värld av fantasier och drömde om att bli nån annan – en skådespelare. Idag är han hyllad och älskad för sina rolltolkningar. Men när han får frågan om att vara sig själv på scen, ställs allt på sin spets…

CREDITS

Starring Lindy Larsson
Directed by Ida Persson Lännerberg
Cinematographers Bill Watts, Niklas Forshell
Editors Katinka Bröms, China Åhlander
Sound designers Martin Hennel & Claus Lynge
Grading Gosia Grzyb
Digital image Fixafilm
Sound mix Claus Lynge, ministi
Produced by China Åhlander
In co-production with Sveriges television & Film i Skåne
With support from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
World premiere at the Tempo Documentary Film Festival in Stockholm, Sweden in March 2019

Year of production: 2019
Duration: 72 min
Technical info: colour, 16:9, 5.1 & stereo
Subtitles: English, Swedish

My Aunt in Sarajevo / Min faster i Sarajevo

My Aunt in Sarajevo trailer 1 min 36 sec
My Aunt in Sarajevo © Igor Ripak_6233
My Aunt in Sarajevo © Igor Ripak_6403
My Aunt in Sarajevo © China Åhlander 300 dpi
My Aunt in Sarajevo © Igor Ripak_6936
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Zlatan, 50, has not been in Bosnia since he left the country as a war refugee, more than twenty-five years ago. His only contact with Bosnia consists in sending money to a woman who takes care of his old aunt.

Zlatan’s daughter Anja, 18, who lives with her mother, wants to know more about her Bosnian roots, but every single time she meets Zlatan, he is not eager to tell her anything about Sarajevo or his life there.

Anja decides to travel to Sarajevo to explore her roots. Zlatan tries to stop her, but surprisingly he finds himself in a taxi together with Anja, going towards the city of Sarajevo from the airport towards an emotional journey in search of their respective identity and their common history.

CREDITS

Actors:
Milan Dragišić, Julia Ragnarsson, Sadžida Šetić
Irena Mulamuhić, Izudin Bajrović, Minka Muftić, Almir Kurt, Merima Ovčina, Ajla Hamzić, Amina Zimić
Screenplay: China Åhlander, Dragan Mitić, Goran Kapetanović
Director: Goran Kapetanović
Director of Photography: Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
Editor: Andreas Nilsson
Production Designer: Lene Willumsen
Costume Designer: Cecilia Björck
Make-up Artist: Kaj Grönberg
Sound Designer: Claus Lynge
Music Composer: Peter Von Poehl
Producer: China Åhlander
In co-production with Sveriges Television
Financial support from the Swedish Film Institute

Awards & NOMINATIONS

Guldbaggegalan 2017 (Swedish Oscars)
Nominations: Best film, Best script, Best director, Best actor, Best supporting actress, Best cinematography
Awards:
Best Director, Best Supporting Actress

Year of production: 2016
Duration: 58 min
Technical info: colour, 1:1,85, 5.1 & stereo
Languages: Bosnian & Swedish
Subtitles: English, Swedish