The Here After – Sweden

As do Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “commandment films”, The Here After conveys the mechanisms and day-to-day effects of violence with a low-intensity energy, using a camera that depicts both landscape and people as contained in deep desolation. The film’s austere visual expression is in tune with a story in which what isn’t said has the same weight as the scant dialogue. The sensitive interplay between the father and son in the film also helps to make The Here After an unusually mature debut, one that already feels like a classic.

Synopsis

When John returns home to his father after serving time in prison, he is looking forward to starting his life afresh. However, in the local community, his crime is neither forgotten nor forgiven. John’s presence brings out the worst in everyone around him and a lynch-mob atmosphere slowly takes shape. Feeling abandoned by his former friends and the people he loves, John loses hope and the same aggressions that previously sent him to prison start building up again. Unable to leave the past behind, he decides to confront it.

Motivation of the adjudication committee

Magnus von Horn’s The Here After is a timeless film that raises classical moral questions in unexpected ways that challenge the viewer.

As do Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “commandment films”, The Here After conveys the mechanisms and day-to-day effects of violence with a low-intensity energy, using a camera that depicts both landscape and people as contained in deep desolation. The film’s austere visual expression is in tune with a story in which what isn’t said has the same weight as the scant dialogue. The sensitive interplay between the father and son in the film also helps to make The Here After an unusually mature debut, one that already feels like a classic.

Magnus von Horn (b. 1983) was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and studied at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. His school film, Echo (2010), was a selection for Sundance and won Best Short Film at the Kraków Film Festival. His graduation film, Without Snow (2011), premiered at Locarno and was nominated for a Swedish Guldbagge for Best Short Film. 
The director’s feature debut, The Here After, premiered at the 2015 Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Since then, the film has been invited to more than 60 international festivals and received numerous accolades, including three Guldbagge awards for Best Film, Director, and Supporting Actor (Mats Blomgren). 

Magnus von Horn teaches at the Polish Film School in Lodz.

Madeleine Ekman (b. 1965) studied film at Stockholm University, then graduated from Stockholm Film School in 1994. Following several years as production manager and first AD for commercials company Traktor, she began working on feature films with directors like Jan Troell, Lukas Moodysson, Lisa Siwe, and Daniel Bergman.

In 2006 she was hired by Memfis Film to handle their Trollhättan-based films, such as Lukas Moodysson’s Mammoth.

Since 2009 Madeleine has been CEO and producer at Zentropa Sweden. She produced Happy End by Björn Runge (2011), winner of Best Cinematography at San Sebastián (Ulf Brantås) and of a Swedish Guldbagge Award for Best Actress (Anna Petrén). The Here After by Magnus von Horn triumphed at the Guldbagge Awards 2016, picking up three prizes, including Best Film and Best Director.

With Lizette Jonjic, her new production partner at Zentropa Sweden, Ekman also produced the SVT Play series Hashtag. As co-producer, Ekman has worked on nearly 20 films, including Antichrist, A Royal Affair, The Hunt, A Second Chance, The Commune, and Wolf and Sheep, the latter selected at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight 2016. Among her upcoming co-production projects is Alexander Payne’s My Saga.

Original title: Efterskalv

Director: Magnus von Horn

Screenwriter: Magnus von Horn

Producer: Madeleine Ekman

Production company: Zentropa International Sweden

Principal cast: Ulrik Munther, Loa Ek, Mats Blomgren, Wiesław Komasa

Running time: 102 minutes

Swedish distribution: TriArt

International distribution: TrustNordisk

Jannike Åhlund, Jon Asp, Kristina Börjeson