Lisa Aschan grew up in the Scanian countryside of southern Sweden and after studying at the Stockholm Film School in the late 1990s, she once again turned southbound, to Denmark, where she in 2001 was accepted into the Danish Film School’s directing programme. Already during her studies, she made a name for herself after a series of attention-grabbing fake commercials for a specially designed tampon to protect against rape. After graduating, she directed, among other things, a couple of short films and also worked as a director’s assistant on the acclaimed and award-winning Danish crime series The Killing (Forbrydelsen, ep. 4 and 5 for season 1 in 2007). In 2011, it was time for Aschan to debut as a feature film director with the drama She Monkeys (Apflickorna), written by Aschan together with Josefine Adolfsson. The film received glowing reviews and was also richly rewarded at the Swedish national film awards, where the film brought home the major Guldbagge prizes for best film and best screenplay. Aschan also received a nomination in the best director category. Also abroad, She Monkeys received attention and won, not least, the best film award at the prestigious Tribeca festival in the USA.
After the breakthrough with She Monkeys, Aschan directed her second feature film The Deposit (Det vita folket) where, in a sort of contemporary science fiction scenario, she directed strong criticism at Swedish refugee policy and the national migration agency. The action takes place in an underground prison where people are kept locked up awaiting deportation. Here, Viktoria (Pernilla August) is in charge and rules with an iron fist.
In the short film God is Silent (Guds tystnad) – one out of six entries in the Bergman Revisited project, produced on the occasion of the Bergman Year 2018 – Aschan makes an imagined sequel to Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence (Tystnaden, 1963), where the sisters Anna and Ester meet on a new (train) journey many years later. Once again love, desire and a secret are along for the ride.
In 2019, Lisa Aschan’s third feature film Call Mom! (Ring mamma!) premiered. The film is an intimate story about a charged mother-daughter relationship from the perspective of 35-year-old Niki. “The impossible equation that the film deals with are parents who wait their whole lives for their children to say ‘thank you!’ – and the children, in turn, who wait for the parents to say ‘sorry!’, says Lisa Aschan.
Call Mom! is, like Aschan’s three most recent works, produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius at Garagefilm International.
Martin Ohlsson (2013, latest update by ed. 2019)
Translated by Jan Lumholdt
Basic info
Main profession: Director
Born: 1978
Active: 2001-
Filmography
Regi:
Tack och förlåt (2023)
Ring mamma! (2019)
Guds tystnad (2018)
Det vita folket (2015)
Apflickorna (2011)
Goodbye bluebird (2007)
In transit (2006)
Fuck the Rapist! (2004)
Borta i tankar (2003)
Manus:
Ring mamma! (2019)
Guds tystnad (2018)
Det vita folket (2015)
Apflickorna (2011)
Goodbye bluebird (2007)
In transit (2006)
Fuck the Rapist! (2004)
Borta i tankar (2003)
Statistansvarig:
See Me (2001)
Övrig medarbetare:
Pojktanten (2012)
Awards
2012: Guldbagge för Bästa film, Apflickorna (2011).
2012: Guldbagge för Bästa manus, tillsammans med Josefine Adolfsson, Apflickorna (2011).
2011: Göteborg International Film Festival, Dragon Award Best Nordic Film, Apflickorna (2011).
2011: Tribeca Film Festival, Bästa film, Apflickorna (2011).