Kristina Brändén Whitaker

André and Vera are a young entrepreneurial couple. They get the opportunity to pitch their female health app at a prestigious competition. Before going there, Vera tries hypnotherapy to quit smoking. From this point, her attitude changes and André starts to behave unexpectedly.

Set in a near-future Sweden, where jobs are scarce, margins are tight and corporate profit trumps all, this timely hybrid film reveals a frighteningly all-too-recognisable economic dystopia. Sköld highlights the effects of the ruthless system on families, friendships and communities. All but a hair’s breadth away from homelessness, zero-hours contract workers squabble over shifts at the discount supermarket while store manager Eleni, a new mother forced to return to work too soon, frantically pumps breast milk in the staff toilets. Poignant and compellingly performed, the film’s vignettes are punctuated with animated sequences, inventively exposing the dehumanising and absurdly wasteful effects of capitalism. And yet, beyond the store, an ever-growing ‘underclass’ offers a sense of hope through sustainability and true community.

When a body is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, right on the border, Danish inspector Martin Rohde and Swedish Saga Norén have to share jurisdiction and work together to find the killer.