Newsletter: WG Film March 2025

Breaking social is still being talked about

Resistance and hope!

A film that helps us to understand what we are up against and who we really are.

---

  Breaking Social is more relevant now than ever. The film is on the platforms of public broadcasters around Europe. Arte.tv (Germany, France, Italy & more), RTS (Suisse), NPO (NL), NRK, YLE, and SVT. 

Distribution: Good Docs (US, Canada, TriArt, Cine Delicatessen, Mindjazz, Docs Barcelona, Five Stars. Request screening through film@wgfilm.com

Follow us on social media, talk to your friends and watch the film together. 

Vimeo on demand.

---

Meet WGFILM @ CPH:DOX

Attending the Forum is Fredrik Gertten, Margarete Jangård, Cecilie Bolvinkel and Karina Bernauer. 

10 years since Bikes vs Cars premiered at SXSW

Since then it reached an audience in over 100 countries. 

3000 special screenings

Outdoor screening South by Southwest Austin, Texas 2015.

---

Corporate Lawyers go bananas against Greenpeace

Greenpeace is battling a multimillion dollar lawsuit over protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline

Gibson & Dunn, the same lawyers that sued WG film for Bananas!* is again trying to silence resistance. Big Boys Gone Bananas!* tells the story on how corporations use legal actions to intimidate and silence critics. 

Listen to our interesting podcast: PUSHBACK Talks

Pushback Talks is our resistance podcast. Co-host Leilani Farha and Fredrik Gertten. With inspiring guests as: Rutger Bregman, Chris Smalls, Sarah Chayes, Anand Ghiridharadas. Leading politicans as the Danish housing minister, deputy mayors of London, Paris and Bologna, FransTimmersmans. Stories from Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Singapore, China, Finland, Spain, France, Kenya and much more. All great pushback inspiration. 

Pushback Talks have now an audience in 164 countries. On all platforms.

Click here to listen.

Watch our films online

Breaking social, Bikes vs Cars, Big Boys Gone Bananas!*, Daughters and many many more on our Vimeo.

Want to organize a screening of Breaking Social? Write to us at film@wgfilm.com and we will make sure it happens!

---

Fredriks Retrospective in Mexico City

The most important documentary film festival in Latin America, DocsMX invited Fredrik Gertten as the guest of honor for a special retrospective!
Five of his films will be screened and Fredrik will lead several masterclasses and talks across multiple seminars!

Join him for a Special Retrospective of his work from October 11 to 17 across four venues in Mexico City.

Not in Mexico? You can watch Breaking Social, Bikes vs Cars, Big Boys Gone Banana’s, Push, An Ordinary Family and all the other films by Fredrik on our Vimeo.

If you want to be the first one to know all about our new projects, older films, screenings all over the world and other WG News: Follow our Instagram for the latest information!

Newsletter: WG Film 30 years!

We are still around, telling local stories with a global impact. Films shown in 100+ countries. A small celebration will take place at our studio Västergatan 22 in Malmö. Friends are welcome.  Monday 23th 19.30 – 22.00

Watch our films online 

In addition to our anniversary, we offer a discount code on our Vimeo channel. Watch all our films using the following code to get 50% off! wg30years

---

WG Film presents at Nordisk Forum

A new film is in the making! Director Jonathan Lomar is trying to find out what happened to his friends. 

THE ART OF NOT KNOWING is a film by Jonathan Lomar. A filmmaker and skateboarder embarks on a journey to the past, hoping to uncover and understand what he did not see back then, things that defined his and his friends' youth and left lasting imprints on all their lives. The Art Of Not Knowing will be pitched at Nordisk Forum in Malmö.

---

Breaking Social on cinemas in Serbia

Five Stars Distribution presents the film on six venues in Belgrade and Abazija. More info 
Breaking Social has been selected for DocuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 1-7 October in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

---

PUNKDREAMS

Borgerlig Begravning was the youngest punk band in Sweden.

Our short documentary Punkdreams is making waves across the globe! After being screened in Sweden and India upcoming screenings include Reykjavík International Film Festival, KUKI Young Short Film Festival Berlin, doxs! Dokumentarfilme für Kinder und Jugendliche, Duisburg and the Cinemagic Belfast Festival. During Nordisk Panorama in Malmö Punkdreams has been handpicked for a cool new initiative where film students curate films for their peers.

---

Our podcast pushes back!

PUSHBACK Talks. A podcast by Fredrik Gertten & Leilani Farha. Season 8. 

Since 2020 Fredrik & Leilani invite inspirational guests, trying to understand what we are up against and how to pushback. So far audience in 161 countries.  This truly global podcast is available on all plattforms.

Don't miss this enlightening episode. Listen to it here.

---

Want to organize a screening of Breaking Social? Write to us at film@wgfilm.com and we will make sure that can happen!

WG FILM HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

WG Film is thrilled to unveil our latest venture: our very own YouTube channel LINK

It's an exciting addition to our platform, designed to bring engaging content directly to your screens. Our Youtube channel has been around for a long time, but now we are putting a lot of love into it in order to deliver new content to our community. 

So, friends, documentary enthusiasts, web astronauts, podcasters, curious minds, subscribe to our channel!

This is what you can expect:
If you want to learn more about the visionaries shaping the documentary landscape and the passion driving their work. Check out the interviews with the directors sharing insights of their creative process and stories behind their films.

If you want to be aware and updated of the world debates, listen to our podcast PUSHBACK TALKS hosted by filmmaker Fredrik Gertten and housing rights advocate Leilani Farha. Through candid conversations with special guests, they delve into the pressing issues explored in our documentaries, offering fresh perspectives and meaningful dialogue.

And to get a glimpse on the compelling narratives and thought-provoking themes like; environmental issues and human rights struggles, we are also showcasing the trailers for WG Films latest documentaries. 

Subscribe to WG Film's YouTube channel today and be part of a community dedicated to meaningful storytelling and thought-provoking content. Join us and change the conversation! We can't wait to share our stories with you.

We are looking for interns!

Are you passionate about documentary films? Interested to learn more about producing and releasing films? We at Malmö-based production company WG Film are looking for an intern to join our team in Autumn 2024! 

Our interns work with a wide variety of tasks to do with communications, editing, research, social media, outreach and impact work, podcast production, graphics, administrative work, development, and release of films. We are open for candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds (such as film, media and communications, journalism, politics, human rights or marketing, for example), but interest and skills in any of the above are appreciated. A passion for documentary films is a must! We also appreciate different language skills.

Please note that an internship at WG Film is office-based and most likely does not include filming (except promotional videos) or work on film sets. This is an unpaid internship, so we prioritise applications from candidates who are doing the internship as part of their degree or a programme that provides financial assistance. Internship period from August or September until Christmas.

Remote internships not possible.

To apply, send your CV and a short application letter to hanna@wgfilm.com by Sunday 14th April.

Thank you!

CONGRATULATIONS JENIFER MALMQVIST

Our heartfelt congratulations to Jenifer Malmqvist, the director of our film Daughters,  who is this year's recipient of the prestigious Mai Zetterling Scholarship!

The scholarship was presented at the Gothenburg Film Festival's gala Dragon Awards on February 3th by Hjalmar Palmgren, vice chairman of the Artists' Committee's working group for theater and film.

Jenifer Malmqvist is a director who has made herself known for strong and touching films. She has a long track-record of directing award-winning short films that have been screened at festivals all around the world - three of her short films have been screened at Sundance Film Festival. “Daughters" - her first feature length documentary film - won a “Guldbagge” (Swedish Academy award) in 2023 for Best Editing and was nominated for Best Documentary film. Jenifer's short film On Suffocation won the “Guldbagge” for Best Short Film in 2014. Jenifer is now working on the development of new feature length projects.

Jenifer Malmqvist at the Gothenburg Film Festival's gala Dragon Awards

MOTIVATION TO THE MAI ZETTERLING-SCHOLARSHIP

"In her films, Jenifer Malmqvist portrays in a unique way the deep emotions and complexity surrounding difficult subjects such as forbidden love, grief and suicide. Her storytelling style is empathetic and allows us to empathize with the people portrayed in an honest and respectful way. The care for the visual language is unique, hand in hand with the content and the characters portrayed. Her working method paves the way for a visual language that is fantastic, everyday but cinematic and without pretensions. A solid craftsmanship in every box that becomes painful and beautiful.

The latest film "Daughters" is a work that not only touches, it creates awareness and opens up dialogue about important social issues. The film is created with exceptional persistence, and never by exploitation. "Respectful, dignified and visual are her hallmarks."

“I am touched that I have been considered for this scholarship. It must mean that the films I directed left an impression, and I can’t think of anything better, especially when it comes from colleagues. It feels like a warm, supportive hand on the shoulder, and a soft push forward.”

— Jenifer Malmqvist

ABOUT THE SCHOLARSHIP

The Mai Zetterling scholarship includes 200,000 SEK and is one of Sweden's largest scholarships for a short or documentary filmmaker. The scholarship is awarded to a film director with "high artistic quality who expands the boundaries of short or documentary film".

BREAKING SOCIAL SELECTED FOR IDFA 2023

Breaking Social is going to IDFA!

We are excited to announce that Breaking Social is selected for IDFA! The International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) is one of the world's largest documentary film festivals.

On November 12th at the Royal Theater Carré (13:30) we have a very special screening! After the film Rutger Bregman and director Fredrik Gertten will be in a talk moderated by Maaike Schoon.

Rutger Bregman, a character in the documentary, is a Dutch author and popular historian, advocating for universal basic income and the reconstruction of society’s building blocks.

Screenings at IDFA

Director Fredrik will also attend the screenings on Nov 9th and Nov 14th for Q&A sessions.

For further information and all updates check out our social media!