Winter Buoy

Frida Kempff (2015)

Winter Buoy is Cannes-awarded Frida Kempff’s first feature documentary, a poetic and intimate story that portrays life in all its fragility. It is a film about trust and the courage to never stop hoping.

In icy mid-winter Toronto, a group of pregnant women desperately strive to regain control of their lives. They have insurmountable forces against them: homelessness, drug addiction, violent relationships. But following these particular individuals are the attentive eyes of their guardian angels, the social workers of a unique public health initiative. If these expectant mothers can only manage to break free of the vicious cycles dogging their steps, they have a chance to keep their newborns.

 

Info & Credits

Directed by
Frida Kempff
Produced by
David Herdies
Co-produced by
Katja Adomeit/Adomeit Film (DK), Estelle Robin You/Les Films du Balibari (FRA)
Cinematography by
Catherine Lutes
Edited by
Erika Gonzales and Erik Andersson
Editing Consultant
Nicolas Chaudeurge
Sound Designer
Thomas Jaeger
Composer
Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen
Genre
Documentary
With support from
The Swedish Film Institute/Cecilia Lidin, The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, MEDIA Development, Film i Väst/Sofie Björklund, Filmregion Stockholm-Mälardalen/Beata Mannheimer, CNC, Procirep, Région Pays de la Loire, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Utbildningsradion
Festival distribution
Sara Rüster, saru@sfi.se

Winter Buoy | 2013/2014 | 86 min | English | English, Swedish subtitles |

Awards and nominations

Best Doc at Nordic International Film Festival, New York 2015
Nominee for Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary, GIFF 2015
Nominee for Tempo Documentary Award, Tempo 2015
Nominee for First Films International Competition, Cinéma du Réel 2015

Festivals in selection

Gothenburg Film Festival, 2015
Tempo Documentary Festival 2015
Cinéma du Réel, 2015
Nordic International Film Festival, 2015
La Rochelle, 2015
ITSRA – Traces de Vies, Clermont Ferrand, 2015
Escales Documentaires, 2015
Filmer le travail, 2016

Reviews

DN 4/5
SVD 4/5
Göteborgsposten 4/5
Kommunalarbetaren 5/5
Metro 4/5
Nöjesguiden 4/5
Upsala Nya Tidning 4/5
Västerbottens-kuriren 4/5

Press mentions

Director Frida Kempff and the nurses Doris Floding and Talia Singer interviewed by Cicci Renström Suurna in TV4  (in Swedish)
Director Frida Kempff and the nurse Talia Singer interviewed by Jenny Strömstedt and Steffo Törnquist in TV4 program Nyhetsmorgon (in Swedish)