Synopsis
In a working-class area of Sweden, sisters Laura (16), Mira (12) and Steffi (7), get by on their own, left to their own devices by an absent mother. With summer on the way and no parents around, life is wild and carefree, vivacious and anarchic. But when social services call a meeting, Laura has to find someone to impersonate their mom, or the girls will be taken into foster care and separated.
Filmmaker
Mika Gustafson
She is a graduate of the Valand Film Academy. Her documentary Silvana, co-directed with Olivia Kastebring and Christina Tsiobanelis, was awarded at the Swedish National Film Awards for Best Documentary in 2017. In 2020 she was selected at the Berlinale Script Station with screenwriter Alexander Öhrstrand. Paradise Is Burning is her first fiction feature film, with which she won Best Direction at the selection Orizzonti in Venice 2023, Best Debut Film at the BFI and Best Film at the Swedish Academy Awards.
Filmography: Paradise Is Burning (2023, D'A 2024), Silvana (co-directed, 2017), Mephobia (short film, 2017)
Awards and festivals
Best Direction of the Orizzonti Selection
BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL
Sutherland Award for Best Film of the First Feature Competition
SWEDISH FILM ACADEMY AWARDS
Guldbagge Award for Best Film
Guldbagge Award for Best Production Design
Poster
