it All began with a stroke. Pella Kågermans grandmother suffered a fatal stroke one night after they had seen the ”Aniara” at Stockholms stadsteater 2010. At the Sabbatsbergs sjukhus, she began to högläsa for his granny out of Harry martinson’s classic rymdepos. Pretty soon turned högläsningen to a riotous rollek on the spaceship that is pushed off course in the galaxies.
– Grandmother was a device which Mima and I was Mimaroben. We pretended that all of the ”strokare” in sjuksalen was a passenger and that the doctors were the crew of the goldondern Aniara, ” says Pella Kågerman in its pink älsklingssoffa at home in the apartment in Kungsholmen, stockholm.
parhästen Hugo Lilja, whom she met at a party at the Mejan for more than 10 years ago. Since then, the couple, among other things, made short films about the swingersträffar, feminist porn, football hooligans, zombies, and larper playing soldiers from the 1600s.
It was thus their own lajvlekar at the Sabbatsbergs sjukhus, which gave them the idea to embark on this visionary rymdeposet as Martinson wrote in the feverish anxiety over the atomic bomb and the destruction of the environment. Together, they started to slowly boil down the work of 103 poems into a feature screenplay that mixes dödsskräck, lesbian love, maktintriger, religious occultism, existential angst and obscure sexkulter.
– We set the bar damn high and was a bit naive, thankfully. Otherwise, we had never gotten ourselves into this, les Hugo Lilja, who still seem to feel relief that the filming is over.
at the same time, he wants to almost apologize for the bad news.
” It is as if klimatångesten has caught up with us once and for all. Unfortunately, feels the film is a little too relevant for it to really feel good. Just when ljudläggningen was finished we went straight out in the summer extremvärme. And with the nuclear threat with north Korea came high on the agenda when we played them in the film, ” says Hugo Lilja.
Also if you build up in the studio, it is difficult to get away from his own time.
revolves the film around the passengers and the crew of Aniara, a kind of huge, sophisticated for london four people to Mars while the Earth is dying by human mismanagement that has led to climatic disasters. After an unlikely accident – a collision with space debris – ports Aniara irreparably off course. Suddenly all on board are forced to deal with the realization that they are at risk to soar further in the space’s emptiness, forever…
”Aniara” has a very existential klangbotten, ” says Hugo Lilja. It is, of course, about everything from our place in the infinite universe to the human life, control. Life on earth suddenly becomes very tangible when you place people in a craft adrift in space. Martinson’s ”Aniara” is a very visual work that conjures up strong images as we went in once on that filmmaker, ” he says.
Quite early in the process, they decided to give rymdfilmen a naturalistic style that crosses the unglamorous vardagsmiljön at the Sabbatsbergs sjukhus, with Las Vegas the glitzy kitsch and slot machines. Their ”Aniara” is a so-called ”no set sci-fi”, which means that the film was not recorded in a studiobygge. The greater part of the scenes were filmed at night in amongst the other shopping complex, the Mall of Scandinavia in Solna and eventpalatset the Stockholm Waterfront.
– Also if you build up in the studio, it is difficult to get away from his own time. “2001 – a space odyssey” reflects the 60’s when it was created. It is not climate smart to build in the studio, even if it would have as much money as any. Also do not have our audience to see the same kind of masonitskarvar as in “Blade Runner 2049”, laughs Pella Kågerman.
”Aniara” has been recorded without studiobyggen. Most of the scenes were filmed at night in the, inter alia, the Mall of Scandinavia and the Stockholm Waterfront. Photo: Metafilm
the location was Finlandsfärjan M/S Viking Grace, as daily cruises between Stockholm and Turku.
” We went with the so many times that we could almost begin to imagine how it would feel to be passengers on the Aniara. We held on to krevera of eating the same buffet every day – and then it was still a more comprehensive and larger buffet than the one on the ”Aniara” which eventually only came from the algae, ” says Hugo Lilja.
At an early stage skirting with the idea to do it in verse, much like the Baz Luhrmanns ”Romeo and Juliet” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes after Shakespeare’s original. Although they quickly abandoned the idea, they have been unswervingly loyal to Martinsons the original.
” We have been extremely faithful to the dialogue, which has many years old – used words that are modern and translated others. The hardest part was to remove the deleted text, it was that to shave a beard that is constantly growing, ” says Pella Kågerman and continues:
– Despite the fact that I had scrutinised the ”Aniara” in the past, yet it was not easy to get to the text itself. But you get out very much if you suck every sense of the word. I love it where Harry Martinson writes about our slow transmigration: ”I dreamt me a life, but forgot to be…”, etc., Who have not a sluggish transmigration?
Kågerman believe that our innate ”inertia”, also is a protection for us not to be mad. Despite the climate crisis, we keep on with the distractions that the passengers on the Aniara which draws in slot machines – afraid to touch important things.
– most of us can’t understand the universe in mathematical terms. So ”Harry” gives us a chance to get a glimpse of this, someone who sums up the shit so that it becomes more greppbart, says Kågerman.
among other things, called for a “Solaris” on speed. In addition to Tarkovsky’s sci-fi classic, and Kubrick’s iconic ”2001: a space odyssey” are they inspired by Alfonso Cuaróns Oscar ”Gravity” and Robert Zemeckis’s ”Contact” with Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.
– Fixed the greatest kick was given to us by Frank Pavichs documentary ”Jodorowsky’s Dune”, which depicts the Alejandro Jodorowskys failed attempt to film Frank Hubert’s sci-fi novel from the 60’s “Dune” in the mid-70s, ” says Hugo Lilja.
Even if they had the same bad luck as Jodorowsky, so also affected their space projects of the hassles, which resulted in years of delay. The budget of 20 million was low for an ambitious rymdepos and in the end, they got to play at the margin in order to maximize the value of the production. In the end, there was not even money to könsperuker, so-called ”merkins”, which is usually used in Hollywood.
” Martinson was extremely imaginative visionary who was far ahead of its time. The only thing that time has not caught up is when he describes the hairy skin he which of course is not as common today. In the scene when we were filming sexkulten around Libidel thought we, to cut the captain’s beard, but he vetoed, haha. The make-up artist took a little lösmustascher as a backup, ” says Kågerman.
Emelie Jonson play Mimaroben. Photo: Metafilm
a authenticity avoided the to rollbesätta with Swedish celebrities and specialskrev the script for teaterskådespelaren Emelie Jonson who plays Mimaroben. When it comes to the math, they have taken a lot of artistic freedoms.
” Really should you not see any stars outside the windows, really, they stand absolutely still, but it is too difficult and too undramatic to represent. In reality, one would see a static environment where nothing changes in a million years, it is terrible, absolutely unbearable, ” says Lily who does not have any desire to go into space.
like many other rymdepos is ”Aniara” in the foundation of man, of life on earth and what we are doing with our planet. Neither Kågerman or Lily are some optimistkonsulter when it comes to the climate crisis. Kågerman tells about a touching moment when a 17-year-old girl came forward after one of the screenings in Toronto and wondered if it was meant to be ”Aniara” would deprive her disillusioned generation is the last hope.
– Both me and Hugo was completely speechless and could not answer. Unfortunately, it would feel förljuget and dangerous to raise false hopes. Art’s task is not to come up with the final answer or engage in propaganda. If the doors are closed so we must learn to realize this and instead try to find new ones. Even if not everyone sees it, we live in the midst of the fire now, ” she says.
on new post-apocalyptic project. In addition to a tv series that updates the zombiegenren, they want to film an as-yet secret book that revolves around a journalist who travels around in a wasteland caused by nuclear weapons in the nevada desert.
the Book includes sex with centaurs. After trollsexet in the “Limit”, I think that kentaursex is the next big thing, ” she says, and laughs.
