Masjavlar

An engaging debut from acclaimed theatre director Maria Blom, Masjavlar won three Swedish Academy Awards, triumphing in the Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Leading Actress categories. Playfully taking its Swedish title (Dalecarlians) from the residents of the Dalarna province in Northern Sweden, the film concerns Mia (Sofia Helin), the youngest of three sisters who moved away to Stockholm 15 years ago. With her father, Calle (Willie Andreason), turning 70, Mia reluctantly returns to her hometown for the celebration. When it transpires that Calle is bequeathing her the idyllic family lakeside cabin, tensions between Mia and her sisters Eivor and Gunilla soon surface. Establishing herself as one of the leading lights of contemporary Swedish cinema, Blom creates an impressive set of characters, all with unexpected depths and surprises, and paints a provocative portrait of family and community. With the cast perfectly evoking a tangled web of tensions and repressed emotions, Masjavlar melts even the coldest of hearts.