New season and project manager at Doc Lounge Stockholm
Tonight Doc Lounge Stockholm kick off their spring season with the film Vessel, and at the helm stands new project manager Ilja Stenberg. We got in touch with her to find out more about her, the film and where Doc Lounge Stockholm is headed.
How did you come to work at Doc Lounge?
I lived in Malmö a couple of years ago and was given the opportunity to do an internship at Doc Lounge. It was a lot of fun and engaging, I most certainly got a taste for it. Once I moved back to Stockholm I helped out putting together Doc Lounge Stockholm’s summer festival in Trädgården and this autumn I worked on some film screenings for younger audiences. When Doc Lounge announced that they were looking for a new project manager it felt like a perfect fit for me. Finally I get the chance to live out my Doc Lounge dreams to their fullest!
What's your vision for Stockholm?
My vision for Doc Lounge Stockholm is to create a welcoming space to which people will want to return, something easy to approach that at the same time challenges you. It will be filled with documentaries, but also with art, music and dialogue, and the space should change depending on the given theme. I also hope it becomes a place for all kinds of different people to meet and where seriousness and partying can co-exist.
What can you tell us about the film you're showing tonight?
We’re opening our spring season with Vessel, an important documentary that we’ve been wanting to show for a long time! In the film we get to follow Women on Waves that help women in countries where abortions are illegal by taking them on their boats and performing the procedure on international waters. Vessel has been praised both at festivals and internationally, but when it was shown at RFSU’s Abortion Rights festival in December here in Sweden the screening was attacked with smoke grenades by pro-life activists. That just made us want to show the film even more.
After the screening we’ve invited the organizers of that festival to hold a speech and during the evening Kompiskören (The Friends Choir) will sing the Swedish song “Ut i vår hage” which according to legend is actually a recipe for an abortion potion. Maybe I’ll also do a light installation in the foyer! You'll find out when you show up!
What's your favorite documentary?
My favorite documentary right now has to be Ghost Rockets, a film about UFO Sweden, that we’re screening in April. I became really happy when I saw it, which I didn't expect! It’s about regular people who at the same time are very odd, I like that! I also like that they look into the existence of UFOs, I find that exciting.
Thank you, Ilja, and good luck tonight!