An arresting visual time stamp of society and democracy, director Cecilia Bjork’s feature film debut A Good Week for Democracy screens at Scandinavia House on October 17. Shot over three years during Sweden’s famous annual summertime political-fest known as Almedalen Week, Bjork chronicled the pride of Swedish democracy in its most dense microcosm, where anything goes and the candidate with the loudest presence wins. Looking at the ways that society is influenced by images created by the media, Bjork trained her camera on the performance aspect of politics, following politicians, lobbyists and journalists at different stages in their careers, with different degrees of power, as they navigate the game rules of democracy. Using a minimalist style to both critical and humorous effect, A Good Week for Democracy enables its subjects to speak for themselves through actions instead of sound bytes, entertainment instead of format, and popularity rather than punditry.
A shockingly raw examination of modern democracy, A Good Week for Democracy was produced in collaboration with producers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck of Plattform Produktion (The Square, Cannes Palm D’Or Winner, 2017, Force Majeure, 2014), and is a SIFF New Works-in-Progress Forum 2017 documentary. The film is sponsored by KCTS 9.
Following the screening, Cecilia Bjork will be present for a Q&A.
“Cecilia Björk’s clear-sighted film is an intelligent visual analysis of the political establishment and its interplay with the media. An echo chamber of overlapping interests and a market place of opinions, where one has to make an effort to be heard.”—Cinema Scandinavia
Thank you to the Swedish Arts Grants Committee for its generous support.
About the Director
Cecilia Bjork is a Swedish filmmaker, scriptwriter and poet whose documentary SALIGA (Blessed) (2014) premiered at the Gothenburg International Film Festival.
Along with her most recent work, A Good Week for Democracy, she is a writer, and continues to serve as an advisor on Plattform Produktion films.
1539802800
1539808200
WED—October 17—7 PM
$12 ($7 ASF Members)
76 min. In Swedish, English, Finnish, and Swedish Sign Language with English subtitles.