06/05/2003 - Two Swedish children’s films, Elina by Klaus Härö, and Lillebror på tyvjakt by Lindberg triumph in Toronto and Norway while Swedish titles hold up against US rivals

This week got off to a memorable start for Swedish children's and family films with the triumph of Klaus Härö’s directorial debut, Elina, som om jag inte fanns, at the 4th edition of the Toronto International Children’s Film Festival (aka Sprokets) while Lillebror på tyvjakt (Don’t cry wolf) by Clas Lindberg won the Ludi award at the Children’s Film Festival of Kristensand in Norway.
Elina was co-produced by Sweden’s Filmalanance International and Finland’s Kinoproduction Oy. Elina spent 8 weeks in the Swedish Top 20, performed well at the domestic box office, and also won numerous important international awards at a variety of children’s film events like the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest, top awards at Montreal and Malmö’s BUFF.
A good number of Scandinavian films were selected for Sprokets and the BarneFilm Fest including Denmark’s Ulvepige Tinke by Morten Kohlert, which also won the best film award in the 10-12 Category at Toronto. Nordisk Film International Sales are handling the international sales of both Ulvepige Tinke and Elina.

(Translated from Italian)