Psychosis in Stockholm

Surrealist, stylistically on point, and deeply moving about a girl seeking life as a teen, but who has to grow up very fast.

20 years ago, Maria Bäck went on vacation to Stockholm with her mother. It ended with her mother having a mental breakdown – and the 14-year-old Maria wandering around in the capital city alone. With the help of actors Josefin Neldén and Josefine Stofkoper, she has now processed the experience in this feature film debut (her documentary I Remember When I Die received an honorary mention by the jury at GFF in 2016). Through off-color blonde jokes, poetic doubles, and a street choir singing Bob hund songs, the director creates an equally powerful as sensible film about human yearning and the diffuse borders of existence.

Short film: Magnus Is a Sexist, dir: Hampus Hallberg, Emil Brulin. (only screenings 101 & 102, Fri Jan 24).

• Jonas Holmberg