Lilya-4-Ever

Official selection of over 20 film festivals includes: Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Helsinki International Film Festival
Vienna International Film Festival, Sao Paulo International Film Festival
London International Film Festival, Tallin Black Nights International Film Festival
Gijón International Film Festival, Bratislava International Film Festival,
Pusan International Film Festival, Göteborg International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival, Bangkok International Film Festival
Rotterdam International Film Festival, Los Angeles Scandinavian Film Festival
Florida Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival

Awards
Best Film, Best Director, Best Female Lead Part, Young Jury's Best Film Gijón International Film Festival
Best Film, Best Female Lead Part, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Photography Swedish Film Awards
Best Film, Best Screenplay Swedish Critics Award
Nominations
Best Film, Best Female Lead Part European Film Awards
Best Foreign-language Film Swedish Oscar Selection
Best Film, Best Female Lead Part, Best Male Lead Part, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Photography Swedish Film Awards

Nominations
Best Film, Best Female Lead Part European Film Awards
Best Foreign-language Film Swedish Oscar Selection
Best Film, Best Female Lead Part, Best Male Lead Part, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Photography Swedish Film Awards

SYNOPSIS

16 year-old Lilya lives in a poor and dreary suburb somewhere in the former Soviet Union. She dreams of a better life. Her mother has moved to the States with a new man and Lilya is waiting to be sent for. When no letters or money arrive from her mother, it becomes obvious that Lilya has been abandoned. She’s forced to move into a tiny, run-down flat with no electricity or heating. Heartbroken and without money, Lilya’s situation becomes desperate. Her only friend is the 11 year-old boy Volodya, who sometimes is allowed to sleep on her sofa. They hang around together and fantasize to make life a little easier. One day, hope arrives when Lilya falls in love with Andrei. He asks her to follow him to Sweden to start a new life. Little Volodya is jealous and suspicious – but Lilya packs her things. Suddenly she´s sitting on a plane bound for Sweden not knowing what will happen next.

DIRECTOR´S COMMENT
It was meant to be a film about God’s benevolence, but reality reared its head and it became something else. It turned into a film about two children, Lilya and Volodya, who live in a country that was once part of the mighty Soviet empire and which now lies in ruins. It turned into a film about the longing to be elsewhere, about leaving everything behind, about being left behind alone, about rich people who think everything can be bought, about poor people who are forced to sell everything they have (beside their heart), about things that happen far away and things that happen on the street where I live, about cough syrup and glue, about basketball, about Britney Spears, about carving your name into a bench so that everyone can see you exist, about being spat at, about giving up, about death, about a friendship that never ends, about a candle that never burns out. And perhaps it’s a little bit about God’s benevolence as well – despitethe fact that he never answers when Lilya prays to Him.

Screenplay & Director
Lukas Moodysson

MAIN CAST
Lilya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oksana Akinshina
Volodya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Artiom Bogucharskij
Natasha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elina Beninson

Distribution: Golden Scene Company Limited

Date of release: January 22, 2004

Category : III

Running Time : 109 mins

Cinema : Cine Art

Website: http://oebfa.lphalt.com/en/lilja4ever.html