Sweden was one of the few countries that did not pause production in 2020 due to Covid-19. Several shoots, including The Emigrants, from SF Studios, relocated to shoot in Sweden as a result their approach to the pandemic. According to Western Sweden's Film I Vast, the number of incoming productions to the region was on par with 2019 despite the overall slowdown in global production. Ruben Östlund recently shot Triangle of Sadness and Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World are two of the productions to film in Sweden in 2020.
Sweden has become an increasingly popular destination for international production, after the success of local series such as The Bridge and Wallander inspired international remakes. International feature films, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo further built Sweden’s reputation for Nordic Noir.
For incoming productions, Sweden has a lot to offer. Modern cityscapes as well as a strong sense of history with pastoral scenery and medieval villages. Islands, towns, castles, large woods, archipelagos and beaches and agricultural landscapes can all be found in the country. Sweden itself is easy to access from hubs of is easily accessible from transport hubs across Europe.
Studio Fares, in Trollhattan, Western Sweden is one of the largest purpose built sound-stages in Scandanavia that has housed international productions including Filth, Melancholia and The House that Jack Built. Southern Sweden's Ystad Studio in Southern Sweden has been home to successful TV series The Bridge and both the Swedish and British versions of Wallander.
Netflix has been investing in Swedish content with upcoming series The Unlikely Murderer building on momentum from Quicksand and Love & Anarchy on the platform, all from the producer FLX. The five part Swedish language series is based on Stig Engstrom, the probable murderer of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
Rather than a national film commission, Sweden has a number of regional offices that provide support, consultation and information on funding opportunities to incoming productions.
Although there is the no formal production incentive, there are many opportunities for co-productions including the national film fund. Regional film funds regularly support co-productions and Stockholm, the West, South and North of Sweden each have separate film funds.
The latest addition to our ‘criminal region’ is The Bridge, which has French-British and Mexican-US remakes being produced as we speak. The show’s second season just wrapped here in southern Sweden and this is truly a 50/50 co-production between Sweden and Denmark.
Mikael Svensson, Oresund Film Commission
Most of Sweden has a continental climate with a moderate-to-high temperature range between summer and winter. Winter temperatures are milder in the south-west from Gothenburg to Malmö. Winter in the east is much colder because of the frozen Baltic Sea. In the far north you enter an arctic climate.
There are very long daylight hours in the summer and very long nights in the winter. In the far north you will get 24 hours of daylight in mid-summer and days of arctic twilight in mid-winter.
Above the Arctic Circle you can view the Northern Lights between September and March.
