The Swedish Film Institute has chosen Hannes Holm’s film A Man Called Ove to represent Sweden on the Academy Award longlist for Best Foreign Language film.

The film about the grumpy and pernickety Ove is one of the biggest Swedish cinema successes ever, with more than 1,7 million admissions, domestically. In March 2016 it reached third place on the list of most watched films at the cinema in Sweden since the Swedish Film Institute started keeping track in 1963. 

At the national film award gala, Guldbaggen, the film received several awards: Best male actor (Rolf Lassgård), Best Makeup/Hair (Love Larson and Eva von Bahr) and the Audience Award. On top of that it received an additional four nominations. Lassgård’s interpretation of the main character has also been awarded at Seattle International Film Festival. Furthermore, the film is nominated to People’s Choice Award at European Film Awards which takes place in Wroclaw on December 10th. 

Internationally too, A Man Called Ove has been a success, with good reviews in prestigious Variety Magazine, amongst others. In USA it is distributed by Music Box Films and premieres on September 30th in more than 40 cities. It has been sold to over 50 territories, among them South Korea (Sidus), France (Paradis Films), Greece (Videorama) and Japan (Medallion Media), where it premieres in December. It is based on a novel by Fredrik Backman which currently holds the second spot, after 34 weeks, on the New York Times Bestsellers List.

The film is produced by Annica Bellander and Nicklas Wikström Nicastro for Tre Vänner, together with Film Väst, Nordisk Film, SVT, Nordsvensk Filmunderhållning, Fantefilm and with funding from the Swedish Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute and Nordisk Film & TV fond.

 On January 24th 2017 the Academy Award jury will announce what films have been selected to compete in the category of Best Foreign Film. The Oscars gala takes place on February 26th, 2017.