[SKRIVA] Från Cirkeln-träff
- From: Ahrvid <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 17:29:18 +0100
(Jag var på SF-Bokhandeln för några dagar sedan, till träffen med skådisar m fl
från "Cirkeln". Här en rapport jag skrev på engelska avsett för nyhetssiten
Europa SF. De brukar ta mina grejor, så det lär väl snart dyka upp på
scifiportal.eu. --AE)
-----
"The Circle" - Swedish fantasy about young witches
Mats Strandberg's and Sara Elfgren Bergmark's The Circle from 2011 is the
first in a supernatural trilogy for young adult readers (followed by Eld -
"Fire" - and Nyckeln - "The Key") and has become an international hit,
translated to 20+ languages. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_%28novel%29 . It has now become a
film with a music score by no other than Benny Andersson of ABBA fame. Benny
also produced, as well as putting up the money for the film to become a
reality (after a conflict with the original film company).
"The Circle" was first screened on the recent Berlin International Film
Festival and had its Swedish premiere Feburarty 18th, to favourable reviews in
Swedish papers. The big morning paper Dagens Nyheter gave it the score 4 out of
5. The paper praised the manuscript (by Elfgren Bergmark, also author of the
original novel) and the cast of half a dozen young actresses, most of them
debutants. Benny Andersson's music was also given a favourable review. More
about the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_%282015_film%29
The plot is about six high school students in the sleepy, fictitious Swedish
town Engelsfors, who suddenly learn they are witches! And they are the only
ones who can save the world from evil and destruction. The story balances
between the complicated teenage school life and the supernatural.
The Science Fiction Bookstore in Stockholm had a packed meeting about the
film a few days before the premiere. The audience of 90+% teenage girls could
meet much of the film's cast and the director, as well as the authors
Strandberg and Elfgren Bergmark.
The meeting was packed, as said. Your's Truly was lucky getting a seat
towards one of the sides. Many had to sit on the floor. The cast talked about
who they were and what they thought about their characters in the film. The
cast was at first strangers to each other, but became a rather tight gang
after a while. All of them thought that the filming was just about the best
thing they had done in their lives. And the two original authors present, Mats
and Sara, talked about how they got the idea for their trilogy, and how they
worked when writing together. Sara had worked with movie scripts before, so it
was natural that she took it upon herself to write the film adaptation. They
now work on new projects, but there will be nothing more connected to the
Engelsfors trilogy.
For the film the plot had to be compressed, of course. Some minor characters
from the novel had to be scrapped. Despite this "The Circle" is nearly 2.5
hours long, cut from a original rough version of a massive 4 hours! (That
could maybe be something for a later DVD release?) When the novel was first
picked up to be filmed, a conflict emerged between the authors and the original
film company, which simply wanted to change too much of the plot. It made quite
a few headlines in Swedish papers when Strandberg and Elfgren Bergmark
publicly denounced the proposed script and withdrew the rights to film it.
Ludvig Andersson (co-producer), however, had read and liked the book and
convinced his father Benny to put up some of his ABBA money to finance the film.
From the attention "The Circle" seems to be getting now (even
internationally) it's not a bad bet that books two and three of the trilogy
will also hit the silver screen in due time.
Sf and fantasy hasn't been very big in Swedish film and TV, but something
changed with "Let the Right One In" (2008; from John Ajvide Lindqvist's
successful vampire novel) and the TV series "Real Humans" (first season
2012). A third season for the latter has not yet been decided, but Swedish TV
has recently began showing a new genre series, "Jordskott" (approx "Earth
roots" or "Earth shot"), dealing with supernatural mysteries and Nordic
mythology, which may become the next export. Swedish sf and fantasy has finally
come to the screen - to stay.
--Ahrvid Engholm
(Bifogade bilder också som visar:)
Miranda Frydman, Hanna Asp, Leona Axelsen, Levan Akin (director), Helena
Engström, Irma von Platen, Josefin Asplund, Sara Bergmark Elfgren (author of
the novel, also movie script), Mats Strandberg (author of the novel).
--
ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx / Follow @SFJournalen on Twitter for the latest news in
short form! / Gå med i SKRIVA - för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur
(skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, subj: subscribe) info
www.skriva.bravewriting.com / Om Ahrvids novellsamling Mord på månen:
http://zenzat.wordpress.com/bocker C Fuglesang: "stor förnöjelse...jättebra
historier i mycket sannolik framtidsmiljö"! /Nu som ljudbok:
http://elib.se/ebook_detail.asp?id_type=ISBN&id=9186081462 / Läs även AE i nya
E-antologin E-Xtra Vildsint https://bokon.se/ebok/vildsint_jens-stenman /
YXSKAFTBUD, GE VÅR WCZONMÖ IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07)
-----
SKRIVA - sf, fantasy och skräck * Äldsta svenska skrivarlistan
grundad 1997 * Info http://www.skriva.bravewriting.com eller skriva-
request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx för listkommandon (ex subject: subscribe).
Other related posts:
- » [SKRIVA] Från Cirkeln-träff - Ahrvid
