The short film continues her momentum on the fest circuit as she gains a foothold in U.S. commercialmaking market by joining Little Minx
By Robert Goldrich
TORONTO & LOS ANGELES --In her young career, director Malin Ingrid Johansson continues to gain recognition on the festival circuit while looking to extend her reach into the American advertising market. On the latter score, sheโs joining the roster of Little Minx, the production company under the aegis of Rhea Scott whoโs known for nurturing the careers of filmmakers and helping to successfully establish them in the U.S. across commercials, music videos and other varied projects.
As for Johanssonโs film festival pedigree, she first saw her short film Madden, a coming-of-age story inspired by her teenage years on a farm, debut internationally at the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) 2023. Madden was also awarded best Swedish Short at last yearโs Gothenburg International Film Festival. Furthermore, Johansson is currently in development on a feature-length film based on Madden.
Now another Johansson short film is making a major splash. Her Deck 5B premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival during its Short Cuts program. Among the production houses behind Deck 5B–and earlier Madden–was Pine, a Stockholm-based shop which reps Johansson for commercials internationally.
In the interest of avoiding a spoiler alert, SHOOT in this piece provides a deliberately sparse description of the storyline for Deck 5B. Suffice it to say that the short stars Alma Pรถysti as Mia, a mother torn between the needs of her young son and her own desires for romance and fulfillment. Johansson said that she was deeply moved by Pรถystiโs portrayal of the recently divorced Mia and considers getting the chance to work with the actress as a major career highlight. Earlier this year, Pรถysti earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance in Fallen Leaves, writer-director Aki Kaurismรคkiโs feature which garnered assorted honors, including a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
The creative spark inspiring Deck 5B was a slice of life Johansson happened to witness aboard a ferry boat some time ago when a womanโs roller coaster ride of emotions was revealed on the car transport/parking deck. โIt was all framed by my own car window,โ shared Johansson, recalling the joy and despair experienced by the woman in a relatively brief stretch of time,
When asked how her work in commercials informs her short films–and vice versa–Johansson doesnโt see a cause and effect between the disciplines but rather a shared bond, namely her desire to authentically capture and shed light on our humanity. โI love to tell stories that are small slices of a larger one,โ related Johansson. Deck 5B for instance introduces us to a woman who feels the profound responsibilities of motherhood yet yearns to rekindle her romantic life. An encounter on the ferry deck encapsulates that struggle, including the awkward reaction of her son as he sees her race over to a man and lovingly embrace him.
While distinctly and decidedly different from Deck 5B, a recent campaign for dating app Hitch–directed by Johansson via Pine for agency/creative collective Birthday–also strikes a relatable emotional chord. โThe Moment I Knewโ campaign films feature stories gathered from a panel of Gen Z and Millennial Hinge daters. All the films capture genuine dating scenarios, like enjoying a hot pot date, taking a cold plunge together, and visiting a food market, with people recalling the special moments when they realized that they had found their true love. In one case, for example, itโs when a man sees his grumpy cat and significant male other affectionately bond. No longer needing Hinge, this couple–along with others–delete the dating app. We then see the furry Hinge icon amusingly meet its demise. After all, itโs the dating app designed to be deleted. Lensed in Stockholm, the Hinge campaign–posted last week in SHOOTโs ScreenWork section–launched in Germany, France, Spain, the Nordics and the Netherlands.
Ferry tale
For Johansson, having Deck 5B selected for inclusion in the Toronto International Film Fest is a high honor. โA year and a half ago, I had a blank piece of paper,โ said Johansson, recollecting how she grappled with somehow doing justice to that woman she saw on the ferry. โI have a lot of love for this woman. I saw her in real life.โ And to now be able to share that woman–and evoke empathy for and thoughtfulness about her–with a Toronto fest audience is particularly gratifying.
And while the ferry boat as a setting carried its own set of challenges, Johansson ultimately didnโt mind navigating through this metallic environment with all its sounds, rumbles and groans. There was also the logistical hurdle of working within the ferry schedule, especially in November when daylight in Sweden is available for a limited time. Still, she was drawn to the ferry boatโs vibrations, and somehow balancing the metallic body and the human atmosphere. โThere was something very special in a way to spend so much time in this metallic stomach of a whale,โ she said.
Johansson first established herself as a still photographer. She then began her directing career in music videos before diversifying into commercials, brand films, art films and shorts. Sheโs been shortlisted for the Young Director Award in Cannes in the category โChanging the world frame by frame.โ Johanssonโs first short film Brynjar was shot in 2018 in Iceland deploying a handheld 16mm camera, a small crew and an intimate documentary approach.
The next chapter in her career is now unfolding at the Toronto International Film Festival and then with Little Minx. Regarding her new production house roost, Johansson said she was drawn to Scott, the shopโs lineup of โamazing directorsโ and its penchant for adroitly moving between โfiction and commercials, one nurturing the other.โ
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More