Cinema, “Swedish Film Goes Capri” on stage from 5 to 7 June

by Marco Milano

“Swedish Film Goes Capri” kicks off in Anacapri, with guests including the historic Pippi Longstocking, director Elle Márjá Eira and Welfare Councillor Luca Trapanese. From 5 to 7 June, the blue island will celebrate the writer of Pippi Longstocking, in the year in which the rebellious heroine turns eighty, will discuss intellectual disabilities and the desire to live and will address social issues such as identity and resistance to Swedish Film goes Capri 2025. The fourth edition of the Swedish film festival on the island of Capri, organised by the Axel Munthe Foundation with the patronage of the Consulate of Sweden, Campania Turismo, the municipalities of Capri and Anacapri and the Embassy of Sweden, will kick off on Thursday 5 with film premieres on the panoramic terrace preceded by meetings/presentations with guests, introduced by superintendent Kristina Kappelin. “This year’s festival,” he explained, “is divided between celebrations and reflections. We will have the actress who enthralled millions of children with the adventures of Pippi Longstocking to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of her birth, and artists who, in front of or behind the camera, courageously denounce the injustices of the present and the past, sowing a seed of hope for the future.” The program, all with free admission, starts on Thursday (June 5 at 8 p.m.) with the film “Becoming Astrid,” a biopic of the writer Astrid Lindgren, author of one of the most beloved children’s books of all time: Pippi Longstocking. The film, directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen, is a faithful portrait of early twentieth-century society. On this special occasion, the historic actress Inger Nilsson, who played her in the worldwide hit TV series, will pay homage to the brave little girl, a symbol of freedom and emancipation, who is celebrating her first eighty years, as a guest together with the Swedish ambassador to Italy Jan Björklund. The following day, Friday, again at 8 pm, the Italian premiere of the documentary “It could have been us” (Sweden, 2024), by Björn Tjärnberg and Rebecca Blander. “A tortuous journey between darkness and light, between small things and big questions, but also a story of reconciliation, told by Emma Örtlund and Ida Johansson, two friends both born with intellectual disabilities, but with even more courage”. On board an old but fascinating camper, they embark on a historic journey together with their friend and mentor Pär to discover what it meant to live with Down syndrome in another era. At the beginning of the twentieth century, thousands of people with disabilities were separated from their families and placed in institutions, isolated from society. Who were these people and what happened to them? The feature film, among the ten most viewed films in Sweden last year, will be preceded by a debate that will see on stage the actors Ida Johansson and Pär Johansson and the councilor for Social Policies of the municipality of Naples, Luca Trapanese, the first single man in Italy to obtain custody of a child with Down syndrome, who spreads, through his work, his books and his associations, values ​​of inclusion and solidarity. And it is precisely from one of his novels, “Nata per te”, that the film of the same name directed by Fabio Mollo will be released in 2023 in theaters, which tells his story of strongly desired fatherhood. the third day, Saturday, (8 pm) will be the turn of the screening, for the first time on the big screen, of “The Reindeer Girl”, (Sweden, 2024) by the director Elle Márjá Eira, distributed by Netflix. A multifaceted artist from Kautokeino, musician and activist, Elle Márjá will present herself to the public in traditional Sami clothes, giving a “jojk” musical moment and telling her origins and her life, linked to the family of reindeer herders. On stage, together with her, the Italian-Georgian actor and singer-songwriter Luca Chikovani, launched on the big screen by the film “Happy as Lazzaro” by Alice Rohrwacher and currently in theaters with the feature film “Arsa” directed by Masbedo.