05/07/2006

About Sara, the directorial debut of Ugandan-born Swedish director Othman Karim, took the Golden St. George Prize for Best Film at the Moscow International Film Festival, which ended last Sunday.

The jury – made up of UK actress Julie Christie, Canadian actor Remy Girard, Polish director Andrzeij Zulawski, Russian producer Alexei Uchitel and French producer Pierre-Henri Deleau – preferred the Swedish drama over 16 other strong competitors, including Raoul Ruiz’s Klimt [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Bertrand Blier’s Combien tu m’aimes.

About Sara follows 25 year-old Sara (played by Finnish actress Linda Zilliacus) over a ten-year period. We see her mature as she goes from one relationship to the next, and ends up buying the old house she grew up in.

Writer/director Karim, who was in Moscow to receive his award, was educated in the US and has been working as a filmmaker (mostly for TV) and producer in Sweden since 1998. He sometimes acts as producer on his brother Baker Karim’s films.

About Sara was produced by Malin Holmberg Karim for One Tired Brothers Productions in association with SVT, Film I Skåne and Sonet Film, who also oversaw the film’s domestic release last November and is handling world sales. Othman Karim is now working on his new project, Farlig förbindelse (lit. “Dangerous Relationships”), set to start shooting in August in Sweden’s Southern region of Skåne, as well as in Copenhagen, with the Swedish release date scheduled for 2007.

Speaking to local newspaper Piteå-Tidningen, Karim said this next project will be financed by private investors, like Peter Lindmark’s upcoming Exit, starring Mads Mikkelsen, and Björne Larson’s Kill Your Darlings.

“I’ve had enough with the Film Institute and their film support model, including two consultants deciding everything. If neither of them wants to go ahead with it, it’s all over. So it’s really great that now you can find private money, that suddenly you have opportunities to make different types of films with different means,” he said.