Jonas Gardell (b. 1963) is one of the greatest and most distinctive voices in Swedish literature today. Since his literary debut in 1985, the novelist, playwright, screenwriter and comedian Gardell has time and again mesmerized the reading audience with moving, stylistically immaculate prose that ricochets off the page. His unique mixture of humor and heartbreaking episodes fetched from his own life as a member of the LGBTQ community has made Gardell a trendsetting authorship in Scandinavia. Deeply personal, utterly unfazed by taboos, and with a humor you can’t guard against, he is finally back with the national No. 1 bestseller, In Memory of an Unconditional Love.

Hedvig Montgomery climbs the official bestseller list for nonfiction yet again. This week her Parental Magic comes in at No. 3. Jørn Lier Horst’s long-running bestseller The Katharina Code comes in at No. 4 on the paperback list.

Jo Nesbø’s The Thirst, the eleventh installment in the Harry Hole series, is No. 2 this week on Der Spiegel’s bestseller list for paperback fiction in Germany.

This week’s official bestseller lists in Norway see Jørn Lier Horst’s The Katharina Code climb once again, this time coming in at No. 3 on the paperback list.

Hedvig Montgomery likewise climbs, claiming the No. 4 spot on the nonfiction list with Parental Magic.

The Truth Will Out, the TV series based on an original idea by the award-winning author and criminologist Leif GW Persson, and adapted for the small screen by Aron Levander and Hans Jörnlind, will premiere on Channel 5 in Sweden on August 21st.

The Truth Will Out centers around police detective Peter Wendel (played by Robert Gustafsson) and his work as he heads a newly started cold case group. Gustafsson is joined in the cast by la Langhammer, Louise Peterhoff and Christopher Wagelin, among others. The psychological drama series is directed by Kjell-Åke Andersson and Liza Farzaneh.

Even before its premiere, the series has received widespread acclaim in Swedish press:

“A series that’s different from the rest, expertly acted and thoroughly thrilling. /…/ A truly excellent series.”
-Aftonbladet

“The Truth Will Out is this TV fall’s most given hit series. /…/ Right from the start, The Truth Will Out has three impressive elements to it: Robert Gustafsson’s deliberate acting, a low-key script where silence is given the same weight as dialogue, and a visual tone almost as familiar as it is foreign to the viewer. /…/ And it’s ambitious: when one episode ends, you long for the next one.”
-Expressen

Palme d’Or winner Bobbie Peers’ new short film To Plant a Flag will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.

Peers, who has both written the screenplay and directed the 15 minute long drama comedy, is joined by a cast comprising of among else Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom, Darjeeling Limited) and Jake Johnson (New Girl, Jurassic World).

Schwartzman and Johnson play the roles of two hapless NASA trainees sent to the lunar landscapes of Iceland in the early 1960s. Their mission is to train for the 1969 moon landing, but even before leaving Earth the would-be astronauts encounter trouble in the form of an Icelandic sheep farmer. Bobbie Peers’ deft direction ensures no comedic opportunity goes lost in this visually stunning and on the mark short film.