The Swedish Torpedo
Directed by: Frida Kempff
With: Josefin Neldén, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lisa Carlehed, Ivar Forsling
Release date: 13 August 2025
Inspired by a true story. Southern Sweden, summer 1939. World War II is imminent. Sally Bauer, a 30-year-old single mother, is determined to break the record for swimming across the English Channel. Faced with social pressure and punishment from her family, who threaten to take her son away from her, she defies convention to try to achieve her dream.
Awards
Photos
Press
“In Josefin Neldén, Kempff has found the perfect actress, versatile enough to play the loving, if far from ideal, mother, the lover of her son’s already married, and therefore adulterous, father, and the downright steam-punk daredevil, covered in oil and mud, with big swimming goggles over her eyes – in short, an emancipated woman of the 1930s who has truly perfected her technique in her discipline.”
Jan Lumholdt – Cineuropa
Reviews
“I deeply identified with her. This film is my way of giving her a voice, but also of talking about myself, and so many other women. Sally Bauer is a metaphor for the dream we carry within us, and the challenge of not letting that flame go out.”
Frida Kempff – Europe by Europe
“This film also addresses the way mothers are viewed. Being a mother means being subjected to the gaze of others and having a role that demands perfection. And yet, we also have other dreams, a life to lead. How can we make all of this coexist?”
Frida Kempff – Europe by Europe
Photos from the event
Credits
- Frida Kempff Director(s)
- Rolf Siig Assistant Director(s)
- Frida Kempff, Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten Screenwriter(s)
- Jeanette Klinberg Casting Director(s)
- Hannes Krantz Director(s) of Photography
- Markko Helde, Peter Soldan Sound design
- Elle Furudahl Decoration / Artistic Director
- Eugen Tamberg Costumes
- Kalle Penttilä Chief Electrician / Gaffer
- Julie Naas Editing
- Hector Mora Colorist(s)
- Sami Haartemo Special Effects / VFX Supervisor(s)
- Martin Dirkov Original Music
- Pietu Korhonen Sound mixing
- Erik Andersson, David Herdies, Michael Krotkiewski Producer(s)
- Momento Film, Adomeit Film, Inland Film Company, Amrion Production companies
- Scandinavian Film Distribution, Kim Magnusson, Godfred Hanssen-Nord, Marcus Clausen Distribution companies
- Sweden / Denmark / Finland Countries of Origin
- Sweden Countries of Filming
