The Tempo Short Award is Tempo Documentary Festival’s competition for Best Short Documentary. Eight films compete for a prize of SEK 40,000, awarded in collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute. The winning entry will also receive an equipment rental voucher worth SEK 10,000 from Storyline Studios. The films will be screened in two programme blocks.
The nominated films are:
Fyra i rad – i covid-19:s klor
Emilio Di Stefano | 25 min | Sweden | 2026 | World Premiere
During the isolation of the pandemic, Jonas has a brilliant vision: to commission the world’s most expensive Connect Four game, crafted in precious metal. He gets in touch with goldsmith Eddie, and soon the project spirals far beyond anything they could have imagined, with hundreds of text messages and rapidly escalating costs. A fast-paced and humorous documentary that energetically explores the fascinating encounter between client and craftsman—leading up to the moment when everything is finally decided.
Greensburg Anew
Susanne Walström | 20 min | Sweden | 2026 | World Premiere
In 1993, everyday life in Greensburg, USA, was captured in photographs. In 2007, the town was wiped out by a devastating tornado. Now, the director returns with her photo album to reflect on how the disaster shaped the residents and propelled the town toward becoming a green role model. But what is it like to live in a place where storm shelters are an integral part of the urban landscape, and where destruction may strike again at any moment? A powerful portrait of human vulnerability and of those who chose to stay in a forever-altered town.
Guden i den gula t-shirten
Karin Sonnsjö Lönegren | 14 min | Sweden | 2026
A door opens to a virtual space where the mother’s childhood paradise is preserved, and a journey through a digital labyrinth of memory begins. The narrator searches for her mother’s gaze as a child in old photographs, seeking to understand who she was before life shaped her into who she became. Guden i den gula t-shirten is a poetic family chronicle that, through archival collage, reveals the roots of a family tree and allows hidden puzzle pieces to fall into place—a mood-filled walk through time and space.
It Is What It Is
Jasmijn Kooijman | 16 min | Sweden, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium | 2026
Time passes slowly at Romano’s bar in the Portuguese mountain village of Aboadela. Here, a group of young men spend their days playing cards and nursing a quiet longing for elsewhere. Existential reflections intertwine with music-driven scooter rides and charged moments with family. It Is What It Is is an intimate portrait of belonging and dreams, capturing—through a deeply empathetic gaze—the hope for a good life beyond narrow margins.
Nationens minne
Fanny Rosell | 11 min | Sweden | 2026 | World Premiere
Every day, enormous quantities of printed material arrive at the underground archives of the National Library of Sweden to be preserved for the future. Since 1661, the institution has collected everything printed in the country—from invaluable texts to millions of advertising leaflets. Nationens minne is a fascinating and at times absurd portrayal of a bureaucracy whose literal adherence to the law archives our present day. What trace will we leave behind for future generations to discover in our mountains of everyday print?
Mesa Verde
Christian Rossipal | 14 min | Sweden | 2026
After four years in an American migrant detention centre, a former detainee reveals the systematic oppression he endured, where labour for one dollar a day was the norm and resistance was met with violence. His testimony offers a rare glimpse into an institution where cameras are strictly forbidden, making the cold reality behind the walls painfully tangible. Mesa Verde is a gripping documentary that, with restrained force, exposes neglect, abuse of power, and the extinguishing of lives.
Robota Sweden
Kristoffer Kronander, Patrik Öberg | 14 min | Sweden | 2026 | World Premiere
Ukrainian Serhii works in the Swedish construction sector but never receives his wages. Together with the trade union, he tries to claim his rights within a system where workers unfamiliar with Swedish labour law are repeatedly exploited. Robota Sweden is an intense investigation into the shadow side of the construction industry, where fraud, financial crime, and empty promises have become systemic. In the affected workers’ pursuit of justice, we follow resistance against corruption. A gripping and confrontational film that exposes exploitation taking place in plain sight. Also screened in Mina drömmars land.
Röda linjen
Mira Campau | 24 min | Sweden | 2026 | World Premiere
Like a shimmering vessel drifting through an underground universe, Röda linjen glides from the morning mist into the darkness of night. A subway symphony is composed around newly graduated students, lonely real estate agents, and elderly passengers toasting to life. The film is a cinematic odyssey that, through its sublime imagery and whispering soundscape, elevates the everyday into something monumental. A deeply atmospheric and visually striking portrait of closeness and distance, rhythmically swaying along the tracks through Stockholm.
All nominated films will be screened during Tempo Documentary Festival, 2–8 March, in Stockholm. A selection of the festival programme will also be available digitally on Draken Film.
