Play
PLAY is an astute observation based on real cases of bullying in Gothenburg, Sweden. The writing of this film began for Ruben Östlund with a newspaper article in which a group of boys aged 12-14 robbed other children on about 40 occasions between 2006 and 2008. The thieves used an elaborate scheme called the ‘little brother number’ or ‘brother trick’, involving advanced role-play and gang rhetoric rather than physical violence
Director's Biography
Ruben Östlund, born 1974 in Sweden, studied film at the University of Gothenburg. Originally a director of skiing films, he directed his feature debut THE GUITAR MONGOLOID in 2004, which won the Fipresci Award in Moscow in 2005. INVOLUNTARY premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. PLAY was selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section of Cannes 2011 and won several international awards. // Films (Selected): GITARRMONGOT (The Guitar Mongoloid, 2004), DE OFRIVILLIGA (Involuntary, 2008; CE '09), HÄNDELSE VID BANK (Incident by a Bank, 2009, short), PLAY (2011)
European Panorama Fiction 2012
Ruben Östlund
Sweden / France / Denmark 2011
color
101 minutes
OV with English subtitles
Cinematography Marius Dybwad Brandrud
With Anas Abdirahman, Sebastian Blyckert, Yannick Diakité, Sebastian Hegmar, Abdiaziz Hilowle, Nana Manu, John Ortiz, Kevin Vaz
Production
Plattform Produktion Vallgatan 9d 411 16 Gothenburg Sweden T + 46 31 711 66 60 mail@plattformproduktion.se www.plattformproduktion.se
