At a bus stop, Lukas Moodysson suddenly wrote a "messy, incoherent little poem" on his phone a couple of years ago, after a long break from lyrics. Perhaps because the interest in poetry once bonded him with his friend and author Kristian Lundberg, who passed away in 2022.
He saw some value in standing still and continuing to describe the same place. It felt like a connection, to stand still, says Lukas Moodysson.
For him, it meant going back to his roots: short films and poetry. Moodysson writes about the shock of losing his friend, whom he had not been in contact with for various reasons in recent years.
But people don't die as long as there's something left of them in the world. That's what I'm really interested in, keeping things alive.
Writing is important
Moodysson has also turned back concretely. Nowadays, he often writes in his father's old farmhouse in Småland.
I feel like a farmer in my soul, but I can't do anything. I've managed to grow potatoes once. But I walk around in my grandfather's old fields and meadows with the dogs and try to be like a diligent farmer, at my desk.
In one of the poems, it says: "all these words, what was the point?". At the same time, he quotes the poet Joseph Brodsky, who was prosecuted in the Soviet Union for vagrancy, because he didn't have "a decent job".
Brodsky replied, "I write poems and believe it will mean something to people in the future". The point for me is that poetry has become quite important.
Moodysson holds on to that feeling, even though he feels "uneven and unfinished". That he has also become almost worn out, he doesn't agree with.
It's not that I've done so much that I feel "really good" about.
Questioning
Lukas Moodysson doesn't want to write politically, but one of the poems deals with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. Kristian Lundberg objects to what he thinks is a one-sided description of the subsequent war: "Don't you see the children in Gaza/don't you see the destruction, the devastation?".
The poem is about having opinions and regretting them. I also talk about Göran Sonnevi, who took a stand for China in the 1960s and then felt ashamed 20 years later. But in my case, I like to question opinions at a high tempo.
The book contains long lists of life advice. Don't look down on the simple messages, Moodysson urges.
Like "carpe diem", I'll get it tattooed – for real.
Lives: "In Malmö and quite a lot in Småland in a rural village."
Family: Three children, wife, three dogs.
Upcoming plans: "To continue writing on different things. I don't know exactly what it will be. I was very happy that they wanted to publish my poetry collection, but it's also somewhat painful that it will be written about in the newspaper and people will read it. Then you feel like you want to do something else afterwards."
Background: Got his breakthrough as a poet and author in the late 1980s. He debuted in 1987 with the poetry collection "It doesn't matter where the lightning strikes" which was followed by "And other poems" the following year. In 2011, he published the novel "Death & Co" and in 2012 the novel "Twelve months in the shadow".
After a few notable short films, his feature film debut "Fucking Åmål" was a sensation in 1998. This was followed by "Together" (2000).
Other films in selection: "Lilja 4-ever" (2002), "Terrorists – a film about the condemned" (2003, with Stefan Jarl), "A hole in my heart" (2004), "We are the best" (2013), "Gösta" (2019, TV series). "Together 99".
Currently with: The poetry collection "It was dark in my head but never in my heart".
... political art:
It must talk about human experiences and have some kind of lightness. Like in Iran today, where the opposition has a lot of humor. Brave people are imprisoned and tortured but continue to make music. I've listened a lot to Toomaj Salehi.
I think that in today's Western world, in politically engaged circles, the artistic level is quite low.
... his new short film:
"Together 99" ended with three new people sitting at a table, and I felt curious about what would happen to them. Those characters are very alive for me, I would like to make more short films about them in the Together universe, and the films will become stranger and stranger and narrower and narrower, and get less and less audience.
... making more films:
I would like to make more short films. As soon as you make a feature film, it costs so much money and people have opinions. It sets a kind of requirement and hopes that it will get a certain audience, and there's a built-in disappointment if it doesn't.
