The Swedish Silence

116 CAMERAS follows Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor and stepsister of Anne Frank, as she embarks on an ambitious new project: preserving her story as an interactive hologram that will have conversations with generations to come.


Synopsis

On a night train in the midst of World War II, a German SS officer, Kurt Gerstein, secretly passes on one of the very first testimony of the Holocaust to a Swedish diplomat, Göran von Otter. This encounter came to haunt von Otter throughout his entire life. Now his daughter, Birgitta, tries to find out what happened with the information. She searches for the truth and an understanding and forgiveness of her father. Finally, she visits the German SS-officer’s daughter Adelheid von Platen. The two women are connected by this haphazardly encounter between their fathers. A brief encounter that still, over seventy years later, continues to have impact and echoes in their lives. A story about shame and personal responsibility. A film about Sweden and the guilt from the Second World War.

“The Swedish Silence” is a unique story on the Holocaust told by two women and the individual relationship to their fathers. Two families that kind of represent each of their countries. One family is dysfunctional with an open wound – the other with a culture of silence that still numbs.

About the Director

Carl Svensson is a Swedish film director who makes fiction and internationally acclaimed documentaries living in Stockholm. Carl Svensson was born in 1973 outside Lund, Skåne.

He started working as an assistant director in theater at Gothenburg City Theater, among other places, and then moved to Stockholm to work for the commercial film company Atmosfär. There he first worked for Jörgen Lööf, with whom he then also directed.

During this time, Svensson directed several short feature films and documentaries. The breakthrough came with the film “Pappa Parkinson” and he then came to work with several audience and critically acclaimed programs on TV.

The first feature film is the documentary “The Swedish Silence” which premiered in 2018.

In the past year, Svensson has worked returning to fiction and works as a second unit director for a couple of different TV dramas and develops script ideas for TV and film.

Year
2018

Film Length
93 minutes

Film Type
Documentary

Director/Writer
Carl Svensson

Stars
Birgitta von Otter
Adelheid von Platen
Kjell Olof Feldt


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