Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is excited ahead of the Swedish premiere of "Armand", later the same evening as the interview takes place. 14 of his Swedish relatives will come to the cinema in Stockholm.
For even though Ullmann Tøndel is a Norwegian director, his connection to Sweden is great and for him, the island of Fårö is a paradise where he spent three weeks every summer during his entire upbringing.
It's my childhood paradise. I loved the summers on Fårö. We bathed in the sea and watched films with my grandfather, he explains.
Highest Expectations
Grandfather is Ingmar Bergman and grandmother is Liv Ullmann. His mother is author Linn Ullmann. The family ties open doors around the world, but also create pressure.
The jury president in Cannes said at the press conference that the jury had higher expectations for my film because I was Ingmar Bergman's grandson and that's absurd. Then it was fantastic to finally get a prize, says Ullmann Tøndel with a smile.
The Cannes festival in May meant an international breakthrough for Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, who received the debutant prize for "Armand", an intimate drama that takes place at a school.
Two six-year-olds have quarreled and the parents are called to the principal. It soon becomes clear that one of the boys is accused of sexual abuse against the other. But there are also connections back in time between the parents' families.
Worked at School
Norwegian film star Renate Reinsve plays the lead role, as Armand's mother.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel got the idea for the film after working for many years as a teacher's assistant and leisure leader at a school. The subject of sexual abuse worried him at first.
But I realized that there is such power in the subject that I could tell a lot about both big and small subjects that it's otherwise uncomfortable to talk about.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel remembers how easy, and dangerous it was to judge the children based on how the parents behaved – and vice versa.
If a child did something violent, one started directly blaming the parents. What are they doing wrong? You take away the child's independence.
So what is heredity and what is environment?
Yes, it's a question I'm trying to ask. And I don't have a clear answer to that. I believe that trauma can be inherited through generations. But parents have a huge responsibility not to pass it on to their children. But not everyone can handle that.
"Armand" has been selected as Norway's Oscar candidate and is considered one of the favorites for a final nomination. The film is thus pitted against, among others, Filip and Fredrik's "The Last Journey".
"I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's a touching film", says Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel about the Swedish film.
