FLICKER

Winner of Best Swedish Feature at the Gothenburg International Film Festival.

Like a bizarrely surreal, acid-drenched version of The Office, this wacky first feature by Patrick Eklund has been highly anticipated following the success of his short films, the Oscar-nominated Instead of Abracadabra (MIFF 2009) and Situation Frank, which was selected for Critics' Week at Cannes 2007.

A deadpan comedy about phone towers, online dating, the odd tarantula and a militant group of people allergic to electricity, Flicker is set in the small town of Backberga (deliberately shot as beige as possible), where a local telecom company is planning to freshen up its profile under a clueless CEO. Meanwhile the accounts person is trying to find love online, the cleaning lady fancies herself as an inventor and, out in the field, the linesman toys with death.

Weaving in and out of these individual stories, Eklund expands his trademark brand of sideways thinking into a feature-length film, offering a bittersweet satire beneath the silliness while building a warm, if often absurd, picture of ordinary people trying to find their place in a rapidly changing world.

“Eklund is… an absolute genius.” - Twitch

Patrik Eklund is a guest of the festival.

D/S Patrik Eklund P Jan Blomgren, Mathias Fjellström WS TrustNordisk L Swedish w/English subtitles TD DCP/2012