Simon and the Oaks

Nominated for a record 13 Swedish Academy Awards, <strong>SIMON AND THE OAKS</strong> is the picturesque coming-of-age epic about family secrets that entangle two boys from different backgrounds growing up in 1940s coastal Gothenburg.

Intellectually gifted but hindered by his working-class upbringing, Simon (Jonatan S. Wächter) befriends schoolmate Isak (Karl Martin Eriksson), the traumatized son of a wealthy, artistic Jewish bookseller who fled Nazi persecution in Germany. As Swedish anti-Semitism surges, circumstances force the contrasting households to merge into a single makeshift surrogate family that forms and breaks alliances in unexpected ways. Fast forward to after the war, a disastrous romance with a concentration camp survivor (Katharina Schüttler) and a startling discovery send Simon (played as an adult by Bill Skarsgård) on a search for his true identity that will either ruin or redeem him.

Adapted from a 1985 bestselling novel by Marianne Fredriksson and exquisitely directed by Lisa Ohlin, <strong>SIMON AND THE OAKS</strong> is a metaphor for human perseverance, and the ongoing cycle of rupture and renewal.

Teaser

Based on the bestselling coming-of-age novel, an epic drama told from the perspective of a gifted boy growing up in a working-class family in 1940s coastal Gothenburg who befriends the son of a wealthy Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution, and soon learns a startling truth about his own roots. Nominated for a record 13 Swedish Academy Awards.

Premiere Status

Atlanta Premiere