The Explosion of a Swimming Ring

The stifling existence of suburban Norway forces a twelve-year-old boy to spend his afternoons plundering rubbish bins, in search of something specific, something that might actually lead to a reward for him and his family.

Family Stories Untold is an animated documentary, in which seven different women’s stories about family are woven into one life-long piece. It begins with Iida, 9, who after her parents’ nasty divorce helps Mummy find a new man on Tinder, and ends with Lisbeth, who has been forced into a retirement home by her children. It’s a story about a life in which we don’t have the courage to voice our opinions, desires and expectations.

A wife who has cheated on her husband for 40 years reflects on her behaviour and the benefits she has reaped.

This mother loves her kids but can't stand them for longer periods. Amidst the tantrums she ends up destroying Tupperware and the Ikea bath tub, contemplating suicide. She fears having damaged her kids so that they will become broken adults just like herself and her own alcoholic mother. What she really needs is help and support.

One early morning the Eritrean nurse and human-rights activist Adal Neguse woke up in his home in Stockholm with an uncanny feeling. He listened to the news and heard about a disaster on the Mediterranean. A boat with 369 Eritrean refugees had caught fire and sank outside Lampedusa. Adal knew his brother was waiting for smugglers to bring him over to Europe. He got a strong feeling his brother was onboard this particular boat and went to Lampedusa to look for him. In the film, four survivors tell about the disaster from their individual perspective, they have four separate stories about what happened.

Child No. 182 is a documentary film about child protection practices in Finland in the 60s and 70s. It tells the story of a little girl who is placed from orphanages to summer colonies and foster homes. The film is based on the reports of social service officials and other authorities and is shot mainly on 8mm film. Director Camilla Roos makes a deep dive into her own childhood from her birth to when she was 8 years old.