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.”
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".