Editing Lukas Moodysson

{{Short description|Swedish writer and film director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Lukas Moodysson
| image         = Lukas Moodysson.jpg
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by the blind and visually impaired's speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software  -->
| caption       = Moodysson in 2011
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|1969|01|17|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Lund]], Sweden
| death_date    = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|1969|01|17}} -->
| death_place   = 
| nationality   =
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = {{Flatlist|
*Filmmaker
*writer}}
| years_active  = 1998–present
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = 
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Coco Moodysson]]|1994}}
| children      = 3
}}

'''Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson''' ({{IPA|sv|ˈlʉ̌ːkas ˈmɔ̂dːʏˌsɔn}}; born 17 January 1969) is a Swedish filmmaker, [[novelist]], and [[short story writer]]. First coming to prominence as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big domestic and international breakthrough directing the 1998 romantic film ''[[Show Me Love (film)|Show Me Love]]''. He has since directed a string of films with different styles and public appeal, as well as continued to write both poetry and novels. In 2007, ''[[The Guardian]]'' ranked Moodysson eleventh in its list of the world’s best directors, describing his directorial style as “heartfelt and uncompromising.”<ref>{{cite news|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/page/0,11456,1082823,00.html|title=The world's 40 best directors| newspaper = [[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

==Early life==
Born in [[Lund]], Moodysson grew up in [[Åkarp]], [[Skåne County]] as an outcast, expressing himself through poetry. By the time he was 23 he had written five [[poetry collection]]s and a [[novel]] published by [[Wahlström & Widstrand]].<ref name=it>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2010/1112/1224283130733.html |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=12 November 2010 |title=The wrong trousers |access-date=4 January 2010 |first=Tara |last=Brady}}</ref> He decided to move to film to produce works that were less introverted and could be enjoyed by a wider audience than poetry. After studying at what was then Sweden's only film school, the [[Stockholms Dramatiska Institut|Dramatiska Institutet]], he directed three [[short film]]s before moving to features.<ref name=bergamo>{{cite web
| url =https://www.bergamofilmmeeting.it/en/bfm-42-en/europe-now-2024/
| title =Frederikke Aspöck, Lukas Moodysson e Metod Pevec: the protagonists of Europe, Now!
| publisher = Bergamo FIlm Meeting
| access-date =2024-03-30}}</ref>

==Filmmaking==
Moodysson's directorial breakthrough came with ''Fucking Åmål'' (retitled ''[[Show Me Love (film)|Show Me Love]]'' in English-speaking countries).<ref name=it/> A classical love story, filmed in a highly naturalistic, almost documentary style, it is set in the small and boring Swedish town of Åmål, and follows two girls who awkwardly fall in love. The film was a huge success with the Swedish public and critics. It won four [[Guldbagge Award]]s, including best film, best actress (shared by the two girls [[Rebecka Liljeberg]] and [[Alexandra Dahlström]]), best direction and best script. It was a colossal hit in Sweden.

His next film, 2000's ''[[Together (2000 film)|Together]]'' (Tillsammans), followed the antics of life in a commune in suburban Stockholm in the 1970s. It achieved a sense of the era through extensive use of period Swedish [[progg]] and pop songs, including [[ABBA]]'s hit "[[SOS (ABBA song)|SOS]]."<ref name=it/>

Moodysson followed up these two sunny, cheerfully optimistic films with the brutal ''[[Lilya 4-ever]]'' in 2002,<ref name=it/> included in many American critics'  top ten lists the following year. The mainly [[Russian language]] film follows a girl living in an unspecified country in the former [[Soviet Union]] (filmed in Estonia) as she is abandoned by her mother, drops out of school, is forced into prostitution, and then is kidnapped into sex slavery. Moodysson has said he could not have made the film without his strong Christian beliefs. The frequent religious fantasies that Lilja has are the only tender spots in the bleak world Moodysson presents. At the time of its release, critic [[Dave Kehr]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' declared Moodysson to be "Sweden's most praised filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman".<ref name=kehr/>

His 2004 film, the controversial ''[[A Hole in My Heart]]'' (Ett hål i mitt hjärta) is more an experimental film than a traditional narrative. He has said it is intentionally designed to be off-putting to the audience. It intersperses frequent screeching noises, close-ups of female genital surgery, and other jarring elements into a vague plot about two pornographers shooting their latest video in a filthy apartment, with an attention-craving porn starlet, while the webbed-handed son of one of the men stays holed up in his bedroom. It received a special certificate for shocking images in Sweden and received terrible reviews from the vast majority of critics.

He followed this with another even more experimental film, 2006's ''[[Container (film)|Container]]'', featuring narration by actress [[Jena Malone]]. The only sound in the movie is a [[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]] narrative, which is only loosely related to the visual content.

Moodysson's work took a new turn with ''[[Mammoth (2008 film)|Mammoth]]'', released 23 January 2009. Unlike his previous two efforts, it is a narrative film and his first English-language piece, about a successful New York couple, their daughter and her Filipino nanny.<ref name=it/>

His 2013 film ''[[We are the Best!]]'' (Vi är bäst!), based on the comic book ''[[Aldrig Godnatt]]'' by his wife Coco Moodysson, returns to the themes and style of ''Show Me Love'' and ''Together'', set in 1982 and following the exploits of a teenage three-piece girl punk-band.

All of Moodysson's feature films have been produced, or co-produced, by [[Memfis Film]], a small Swedish production company based in Stockholm. Memfis' CEO and producer [[Lars Jönsson (film producer)|Lars Jönsson]] seeks to establish long-term working relationships with directors and support even less commercially oriented projects such as Moodysson's ''A Hole in My Heart'' and ''Container''.<ref name=westerstahl/>

2019 saw the premiere of the TV series ''[[Gösta (TV series)|Gösta]]'', Moodysson's first foray into television and [[HBO]]'s first commissioned drama series out of Scandinavia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/hbo-europe-first-look-trailer-lukas-moodysson-tv-comedy-gosta-1203216935/ |title=HBO Europe Releases First Look Trailer for Lukas Moodysson TV Comedy 'Gosta' |newspaper=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=May 16, 2019 |first=Robert |last=Mitchell}}</ref>

Moodysson's''Together 99'', a sequel ''Together'', was released in 2023. Set in 1999, it follows Göran and Klas as they establish a new commune. Most of the actors returned, with the exception of the children, Michael Nyqvist (who died in 2017), and Ola Rapace, whose role of Lasse was recast with actor [[Jonas Karlsson]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.svt.se/kultur/darfor-far-inte-ola-rapace-vara-med-i-nya-tillsammans-99 | title=Därför får inte Ola Rapace vara med i nya "Tillsammans 99" | date=20 August 2022 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Moodysson is an outspoken advocate of left-wing and [[feminist]] politics, and a deeply committed Christian.<ref name=it/> He lives in [[Malmö]] with his wife, artist [[Coco Moodysson]]. They have three children.<ref name = NYT14>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/movies/lukas-moodyssons-we-are-the-best-about-a-punk-band.html|title = Back to Normal Swedish Teenage Angst|last = Spitz|first = Marc|date = 23 May 2014|work = [[The New York Times]]|access-date = 17 February 2019}}</ref>

== Filmography ==
*''[[Det var en mörk och stormig natt]]'' — 1995
*''[[En uppgörelse i den undre världen]]'' — 1996
*''[[Talk (1997 film)|Talk]]'' (''Bara prata lite'') — 1997
*''[[Show Me Love (film)|Show Me Love]]'' (''Fucking Åmål'') — 1998
*''[[Together (2000 film)|Together]]'' (''Tillsammans'') — 2000
*''[[The New Country]]'' (''Det nya landet'') — 2000
*''[[Lilya 4-ever]]'' — 2002
*''[[Terrorists: The Kids They Sentenced]]'' (''Terrorister - en film om dom dömda'') — 2003
*''[[A Hole in My Heart]]'' (''Ett hål i mitt hjärta'') — 2004
*''[[Container (film)|Container]]'' — 2006
*''[[Mammoth (2009 film)|Mammoth]]'' (''Mammut'') — 2009
*''[[We Are the Best!]]'' (''Vi är bäst!'') — 2013
*''[[Gösta (TV series)|Gösta]]'' — TV series, 2019
*''[[Together 99]]'' (''Tillsammans 99'') — 2023

== Bibliography ==
* ''Det spelar ingen roll var blixtarna slår ner'' (1987) - poems
* ''Och andra dikter'' (1988) - poems
* ''Evangelium enligt Lukas Moodysson'' (1989) - poems
* ''Vitt blod'' (1990) - novel
* ''Kött'' (1991) - poems
* ''Souvenir'' (1996) - poems
* ''Mellan sexton och tjugosex'' (2001) - selected works
* ''Vad gör jag här'' (2002) - long poem
* ''Vårdcentralen Fontanellen'' (2005) (with [[Coco Moodysson]]) - comic book
* ''Apo kryp hos'' (2006) - poems
* ''Container'' (2009) - screenplay and documentation
* ''Döden & Co.'' (2011) - novel
* ''Tolv månader i skugga'' (2012) - novel

== Awards and honors==
*1999: [[Teddy Award]] for Best Feature Film – ''Fucking Åmål''
*2000: Gijón International Film Festival: Best Director – ''Together''. Best Script – ''Together''. Young Jury Prize for Best Feature Film – ''Together''.
*2002: Gijón International Film Festival: Best Feature Film – ''Lilya 4-ever''. Young Jury Prize for Best Feature Film – ''Lilya 4-ever''.
*2003: [[Stig Dagerman Prize]]

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=it>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2010/1112/1224283130733.html |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=12 November 2010 |title=The wrong trousers |access-date=4 January 2010 |first=Tara |last=Brady}}</ref>
<ref name=westerstahl>Westerståhl Stenport, Anna (2010), 'Local and Global: Lukas Moodysson and Memfis', in Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund (eds), ''Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader''</ref>
<ref name=kehr>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C11F83D5E0C7B8DDDAD0894DB404482 |access-date=4 January 2010 |first=Dave |last=Kehr |work=The New York Times |title=A Portraitist of Agony |date=18 April 2003}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=623|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb name|0600546}}
*{{Sfdb name}}
*[http://www.indiewire.com/people/people_030423moody.html Interview with Moodysson about ''Lilya 4-ever'']
{{Commons category|Lukas Moodysson}}

{{Lukas Moodysson}}
{{Guldbagge Award Best Director}}
{{Guldbagge Award Best Screenplay}}
{{Stig Dagerman Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moodysson, Lukas}}
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Lund]]
[[Category:Swedish film directors]]
[[Category:Swedish poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Swedish novelists]]
[[Category:Swedish-language writers]]
[[Category:Swedish Christians]]
[[Category:Swedish feminists]]
[[Category:Best Director Guldbagge Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Screenplay Guldbagge Award winners]]
[[Category:Male feminists]]
[[Category:Swedish male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Swedish male poets]]
[[Category:Swedish male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Swedish male writers]]