Every year, the best Swedish documentary feature film is crowned. In 2024, eight films are competing for the Tempo Documentary Award. The winning director receives a prize sum and film equipment worth 150 000 SEK. The Tempo Documentary Award is the largest prize awarded to Swedish documentary film. All nominated films will be screened during the festival from March 4th to 10th.
The Tempo Documentary Festival is a focal point for documentary storytelling. Among the previous winners of the Tempo Documentary Award are unforgettable films such as Belleville Baby by Mia Engberg, Videocracy by Erik Gandini, and Hamada by Eloy Domínguez Serén. Last year’s winner was the intimate portrayal of friendship, How to Save a Dead Friend by Marusya Syroechkovskaya.
– At Tempo, we meet the directors, producers, and artists who have created something that makes us feel and react. When the film meets the audience, when the audience meets the director, when that crucial conversation is activated, there is nothing that feels more valuable, fun, exciting, and real, says Christina Höglund, who selected the films for this year’s Tempo Documentary Award.
The competition is organized with the support of our partner, the Swedish Film Institute. We are proud to award the film director with 100 000 SEK. The winning film also receives a technology grant worth 50 000 SEK, thanks to our sponsor Dagsljus Filmequipment – a leading rental actor of professional film equipment.
Barnen från Camp Ashraf
Director: Sara Moein
Environmental Scientist Amir, actress Parwin, politician Hanif and influencer Atefeh are among the hundreds of children who were smuggled to Sweden in the early 90s in order for their parents to dedicate themselves to the political struggle in the Marxist-Islamist movement, the People’s Mujahedin. Thousands of children were sent from the movement’s military base in Iraq to foster families in Europe. In Sweden, the children were placed with the help of the social authorities. Interviews and archival material depict the painful family separations and how the movement becomes increasingly authoritarian and sectarian.
Bröderna Andersson
Director: Johanna Bernhardson
One of them is called the “black sheep,” one makes documentary films, one is the world-renowned filmmaker Roy Andersson, and one is the director’s own father. Bröderna Andersson is a tender portrait of four brothers who have drifted apart. How can they mend their relationship when they have not met in ten years? How could life become so different for the four brothers? With warmth, Johanna Bernhardson depicts the relationship that often lasts the longest in our lives – the sibling relationship.
Det omätbara
Director: Nils Petter Löfstedt
Just as his parents are about to retire, filmmaker Nils Petter Löfstedt decides to turn the camera towards them. They belong to the old generation, active at a time when societal bonds had not yet cracked, and caring for others was a natural career choice. One has worked as a preschool teacher, the other as an occupational therapist in psychiatry. Turning his gaze towards his parents and others working in care, Nils Petter Löfstedt portrays the hopeless struggle against contemporary time measurements and efficiency.
Leaving Jesus
Director: Ellen Fiske
How do you understand life when God no longer does it for you? A group of former Christian fundamentalists gathers at a retreat center in San Francisco. Through therapy sessions, dance, and exercises in trust, the group struggles to rediscover meaning and a personal identity freed from the fundamentalist communities they were born into. Together, they find strength in each other, but the path away from a given identity can be challenging to follow, and some may turn back.
Meteoriten
Director: Johan Palmgren and Isabel Andersson
An extraterrestrial rock weighing fourteen kilograms lands just outside Enköping. Soon, the rock becomes a matter for the court to determine who the rightful owner of the cosmic gravel is – a modern castle lord and nobleman who owns the land or the geologist and enthusiast who found it? Even though the iron lump in question is of a legally unknown material, the legal tug-of-war over it truly has its comedic aspects.
Om alla bara drar
Directors: Karin Wegsjö and Nazira Abzalov
Nazira lives with her family in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta. She loves her area, her neighbors, and her home. When crime creeps close, a conflict arises about what is more important: the safety of the children or the beloved neighborhood community. Politicians urge her to stay, but Nazira faces the police’s lack of action and a dismantled infrastructure. Om alla bara drar is a love letter to Tensta, depicted from an insider’s perspective.
Skärvor
Director: Sara Broos
“The truth was a mirror that fell from the sky and shattered on the ground. All people found a small shard and believed they owned the entire truth.” In Skärvor, individual life stories from all corners of the world are woven together with myths, dreams, and historical events in an associative flow between nightmare and idyll. Through individual and collective experiences, the film addresses relevant questions about what it means to live in a fragmented reality. A poetic portrayal of the darkness within us and in our surroundings, about the passage of time, and everyone’s unique story.
Som vi har älskat – en film om Sara Parkman
Director: Gustav Ågerstrand
Violinist, singer, and composer Sara Parkman has revolutionized Swedish folk music with her elevated, powerful, and maximalist music. She is a third-generation preacher’s child who, through music, preaches about solidarity, love, and the courage to change. In Som vi har älskat, we meet the person behind Sara Parkman’s strong stage persona. A young woman trying to be a creative force when the world and the inner self are on fire. Despite great success and impeccable performances, the feeling of being wrong persists. A delicate and intimate portrait of one of Sweden’s greatest musicians.
