Shapeshifters
2017 | 75 min | hybrid feature documentarySynopsis
When filmmaker Sophie Vuković has a chance encounter with an old friend at a demonstration, it provokes a wistful but self-assured exploration of her personal and global identity. Tracing her ancestry through her parents’ migration from former Yugoslavia to Northern Europe via Australia, we are brought into the home and world of a family both moving and tethered.
Selected festivals & awards
CPH:DOX | Nordic:DOX competition
Chronic Youth UK
Shapeshifters has been screened at the Barbican Centre in London, and was included as part of Modernautställningen 2018, Moderna Museets survey of the Swedish contemporary art scene.
Theatrical distribution in Sweden, Folkets Bio
Selected press
Dagens Nyheter (Swedish)
Facebook
Stream Shapeshifters
Vimeo on demand | 75 min, english subs
UR Play | 58 min, Sweden only, swedish subs
When filmmaker Sophie Vuković has a chance encounter with an old friend at a demonstration, it provokes a wistful but self-assured exploration of her personal and global identity. Tracing her ancestry through her parents’ migration from former Yugoslavia to Northern Europe via Australia, we are brought into the home and world of a family both moving and tethered.
Through a diverse mix of film styles, blending documentary with the fiction of memories and dreams, the director combines the personal and the political through a gentle first-person narration. Relating the experience of globalised and marginalised identities the world over, Shapeshifters beautifully portrays the yearning for a fixed and stable identity, while wholeheartedly embracing the internationalist spirit that transcends the borders implicit in such an identity. Always on the cusp of two or more cultures, Vuković examines the lasting effects of one generation’s choice to migrate on the next.
Selected festivals & awards
CPH:DOX | Nordic:DOX competition
Göteborg Film Festival | Dragon Award Best Documentary Competition
Tempo Documentary Festival | Documentary Award Competition
Dokufest Kosovo
ZagrebDox | International Competition)
Nordic Panorama | Best New Nordic Voice Competition
Beat Film Festival Moscow
Nominated for Nöjesguidens Stockholmspriset
Chronic Youth UK
Shapeshifters has been screened at the Barbican Centre in London, and was included as part of Modernautställningen 2018, Moderna Museets survey of the Swedish contemporary art scene.
Theatrical distribution in Sweden, Folkets Bio
Television broadcast | SVT2, URplay
Selected press
Dagens Nyheter (Swedish)
Modern Times Review (English)
Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish)
Göteborgsposten (Swedish)
Bon (Swedish)
POV Filmdagbok (Swedish)
Stream Shapeshifters
Vimeo on demand | 75 min, english subs
UR Play | 58 min, Sweden only, swedish subs
Production facts:
Year of production: 2017
Year of production: 2017
Format: HD/16:9
Running time: 75 minutes (58 min TV version)
Language: Swedish, English, Serbo-Croatian (English subtitles)
Director: Sophie Vuković
Producers: Tobias Janson & Göran Hugo Olsson
Cinematography: Iga Mikler & Sophie Vuković
Editing: Britta Norell, Sophie Vuković & Hannah Reinikainen Bergenman
Music: Ana "Gnučči" Rab & Erin "Nire" Cooney
Colorist: Nanna Dalunde
Sound editing & mix: Mario Adamson
Graphic Design: Bastion - Studio Agency Lab
With:
Marija Knežević Vuković
Ratko Vuković
Milena Dawit
Fatima Fined
Vanessa Gashi
Hoodo Mohamud Harbi
Nergz Mohedin Jarwalli
Teodora Kraljević
Vendela Noyan
Produced by Story AB
With support from
The Swedish Film Institute/Antonio Russo Merenda
The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
DR-K/Fleming Hedegaard
UR/Susanne Folkesson
Film Stockholm/Filmbasen Anne-Marie Söhrman Fermelin
Co-production: Monica Hellström/Final Cut For Real
Film stills
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