For more than three decades, 1 KM FILM has been one of Sweden's most established short film pitch competitions. Since its launch during the very first Stockholm International Film Festival in 1990, it has served as a platform for emerging directors taking the next step in their careers. Previous winners include Amanda Kernell, John Skoog and Ninja Thyberg, while recent recipients include Johan Stavsjö, Lode Kuylenstierna and Ville Gobi.

Nominated directors pitch their upcoming short film projects live during Stockholm Industry Days, with film commissioners, festival programmers, distributors and industry professionals from across the Nordic region in attendance. The competition provides a platform to connect with future creative and financial partners.

The winner of the 1 KM FILM Award receives 400,000 SEK in production support towards the making of the pitched short film project. The award is presented in collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute, Film Stockholm, Storyline Studios, Tint, Ponytail, Scen & Film and Fyra K Media. The competition also features the Torino Script Award, providing one pitched project with development support from an internationally recognized script consultant in partnership with TorinoFilmLab.
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1 KM FILM NOMINEES 2026

Synopsis:

Aman is 14 years old and this morning we get to know his life in real time. At home with his mother and sister, in the stairwell meeting the girl he has a crush on, and on his way to school, meeting friends at the town square. But Aman never makes it to school. Instead, he is shot in the back of the head. And just like that, his life and the film ended, before it even began.

CLARA VIDA

Pitches Aman

Synopsis:

Longing for home, Lam, a Vietnamese migrant worker in Sweden, searches for durian—the fruit growing behind his family’s home in Vietnam. Through night shifts and calls with his wife, he hides his unhappiness. When blamed for a workplace accident, Lam grows increasingly isolated. Finding durian at an Asian grocery store, he offers it to a coworker to make peace, but it ends in violence. Desperate, Lam returns to the store, seeking comfort in home.

RONSON HUYNH

Pitches Durian

Synopsis:

Bastian has broken up with Moa, but she refuses to accept that it’s over. Discovering they’re still sharing their phone locations, she starts using his location as a map to win him back. But her carefully staged “chance encounters” soon become increasingly obsessive.

MALIN BARR

Pitches Emergency Contact

Synopsis:

When Oskar (13) accidentally sees his parents’ sex-tape on the family-camera during a camping trip, the facade which the adults have constructed around him crumbles and shines a light on what really happens behind closed doors.

JOAQUIM BERGLUND

Pitches Family Tapes

Synopsis:

A football referee’s need for control spirals into desperation when his authority is challenged, turning an amateur football match into chaos.

VIKTOR HEDLUND & SARA DUTTA

Pitches Ref

Synopsis:
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On her wedding day, Susie’s mother is absent. As the celebrations unfold, Susie recalls her childhood, from dancing in the kitchen to uncomfortable family dinners and the moment she first met her mother’s “love of her life.” Through the presence of a misogynistic tapeworm living inside both women, the film explores how shame, desire, and misogyny are passed down through generations, feeding on the women it inhabits.

KLARA THAFVELIN

Pitches Tapeworms

Synopsis:

The film follows a day in the life of Vita, a church janitor working in Stockholm’s Old Town. She has keys to every room and moves almost unnoticed through the building. She vacuums beneath Christ’s feet, deals with pests, clears blocked drains, and collects dead insects from the windowsills. Through half-open doors, she catches fragments of conversations and rituals that would otherwise go unheard.

TUVA BJÖRK

Pitches Vita

THE FUTURE OF SWEDISH FILM

1 KM FILM NOMINEES 2026