Please tell us the story of your film Deck 5B.
This story takes place inside the metallic stomach of a ferry boat. On a parking deck we meet a woman full of desire, finding herself forced to make a choice between her duty as a mother and the love she’s been waiting for. Deck 5B is a film about longing, passion, broken promises and dog hair. You can also say it’s a ghost story.
The film was inspired by a real situation that you witnessed. Share with us that experience and what you saw that day.
Framed by the window of my car a few summers ago, I witness a woman with blushing cheeks, smiling from ear to ear, jumping out of the driver’s seat of her car and passionately kissing a man coming from another vehicle. There were kids everywhere, streaming out of both cars, none of them talking to one other. A few hours later, driving off again, it was as if everything changed. The woman hid it from the kids in the backseat, but I couldn’t help but see it since I was on the other side – she stared blankly in front of her, like all her dreams left her, with silent tears down her face.
She stayed with me. Of course, I wondered what happen during those few hours. I was also curious as to why she stayed with me – probably because I’ve been in both the front and backseat of that car and recognized something. Also, all the high expectations of the summer vacation and the brutal contrast of when it doesn’t end up as you wish for. This is about how it is to be a human. Curiously, I was on my way to “Bergman Island” with that ferry boat.
Talk to us more about Mia.
Full of desire Mia thinks this boat will take her to the vacation of her dreams, but it ends up taking her to the exact spot she is at in her life. We meet her in an in-between space just like the ferry boat itself on the open sea – recently left one relationship and head over heels (to quote an Abba song) throw herself into a new one. Full of a longing to feel fully alive, I believe she just got taste of that feeling and has been longing for it as it was missing for a good while. I believe falling in love is also not a choice, of course our actions are chosen but strong forces are involved when it comes to passion – pulling Mia towards her new love interest, the longing is huge when we first meet her. This is a small slice of a larger story that in a way just begun when our film ends. We ask ourselves if freedom is always liberating or comes with a price – a question that I’m deeply interested in to explore in film making.
Alma Pöysti is phenomenal in the lead role. Readers may recognize her from her standout performance in Aki Kaurismäki’s ‘Fallen Leaves’. How did she come onboard the project?
I’m grateful and glad that that Alma wanted to make this film with us and bring Mia to life. She was my absolute top choice for this part – so full of life in her acting. I simply sent her the script and she read it and said yes to do the part. After our shoot she went to the Golden Globe awards, where she was nominated for her role in “Fallen Leaves” which I personally think she should be pictured with the statuette. She caught every nuance of Mia and, for example, we end our film with a minutes long one take and she has my interest and highest curiosity every second of this sequence.
What did you find the most challenging throughout this creative process?
To shoot on a ferry boat obviously adds an extra layer of planning to a shoot with a timetable of its own, but with that said, we had amazing help from the ship crew, which would not have been possible without them. I have to say that pretending that it was Summer in Scandinavia in November was the trickiest part, having only 6–7 hours of daylight. We were lucky though – we saw both the sun and blue sky as we shot the scene of them driving off the boat and starting this “summer’s vacation”. When you play all is possible.
How do you think the narrative would differ, if at all, if the film centered on a father as opposed to a mother?
Great question. I think even today we do have a different gaze and expectations on fathers compared to mothers. I think mothers putting their own wishes and needs first are met with more resistance from the surroundings – if generalizing. But with that said – I believe this film could easily be filmed with the father as our protagonist instead and his dilemma between duty and desire with have been exactly as hard within himself as it is for a mother. That dilemma goes way beyond gender I believe.
Congratulations for winning Best International Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. How did it feel to pick up that award?
Warmest thank you. Proud, grateful and a slightly surreal feeling – there were so many great films in competition, and it was an honor to screen our film amongst them all. I really wanna give a huge shout out to all other film makers and also to my whole team – this award is to everyone who made this film happen.
What’s next for you?
A feature, exploring how it is to be a young man with a large sensibility growing up in contemporary rural Sweden. Where we explore the gap between who we dream about being and who we actually are. This one is dedicated to everyone who ever tried to ride a skateboard on a gravel road.
Also, I’m writing the third short in this trilogy, this time about a woman in her 70’s breaking free, longing and having to choose between the two – by this time famous – duty and desire.