Ruben Östlund
As an avid skier, Ruben Östlund directed three ski films, testifying his taste for long sequence shots. Östlund went on to study film at the University of Gothenburg where he developed his sense for constructed and well thought out sequence shots, which has continued to evolve in his short and feature films until now. Ruben has also become known for his humorous and accurate observations of human social behaviour. His feature debut The Guitar Mongoloid (2004), won the FIPRESCI Award at Moscow in 2005. Involuntary (2008), followed by making its premiere in Cannes’ Official Selection, went on to win 10 awards, was sold to 28 countries and released theatrically in 16 territories. His short film Incident by a Bank (2010) won the Golden Bear at the 2010 Berlinale. His third feature Play (2011), premiered in Quinzaine at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival winning the the “Coup the Cour”-Prize. Winner of the Nordic Council Film Prize 2012 and two national Guldbagge awards for Best Cinematography and Best Director. Play was the first Swedish film ever to be screened in all three of the big A-festivals Cannes, Venice and Toronto. It has also screened in the New York Film Festival and in Tokyo winning best director.
