EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaking duo Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja found international acclaim with their debut feature Aniara (2018). Seven years later, the pair are back with Egghead Republic, which debuts at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Check out a first look clip from the film above.
Set in an alternative reality where the Cold War never ended and an atomic bomb has struck Soviet Kazakhstan, the film follows Sonja, a 22-year-old Swedish club kid working at one of the world’s hippest magazines. She’s mysteriously invited into the radioactive zone to confirm—or debunk—rumors of mutated centaurs living there.
The film is based in part on Kågerman’s experience working for Vice Magazine and the novel Die Gelehrtenrepublik by Arno Schmidt.
Starring in the film are Ella Rae Rappaport, Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale vs Evil, Escape Room), and Arvin Kananian (Triangle of Sadness, Opponent). It was produced by Nina Lund and Pella Kågerman for YouSavedMe and co-produced by Nonstop Winning Formula, Film Stockholm, Film på Gotland, Film i Dalarna, with support from the Swedish film institute and SVT/Moving Sweden. Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to the film.
Kågerman and Lilja have described the feature as a chance to reframe a cultural moment that was as chaotic as it was absurd.
“Our protagonist, Sonja, ventures into a dreamlike wilderness where myths bleed into reality, confronting dangers both absurd and real,” Kågerman and Lilja said in a statement. “Her journey circles a question that has followed us our entire careers: What does it mean to speak the truth in a time when no one trusts reality?”
Kågerman and Lilja’s Aniara premiered at TIFF in 2018 and was released by Magnolia Pictures, while their short film Reckless premiered at Sundance in 2022. Currently, they are also working on TV-Series Wallander starring Gustaf Skarsgård (Oppenheimer, Vikings) for Banijay Entertainment.
Check out the clip above. TIFF runs until September 14.
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