Ruben Östlund’s Bold New Film Journey

A Swedish director named Sigge Eklund is working on a feature documentary called Ruben. The film follows the famous filmmaker Ruben Östlund as he plans his next big project, a movie titled The Entertainment System Is Down. The new film was shot over several years and is now being edited. It will likely appear in the main competition at next year’s Cannes Film Festival. Eklund says the project is about a huge goal: to become the first director ever to win three Palme d’Or awards. The documentary starts in 2022, after Östlund’s hit Triangle of Sadness premiered. He is at the top of his game, but he wants to push even farther. The question becomes: what will his next film be about, and how much will he sacrifice to reach that aim?The answer is a story set on a long‑haul flight where the in‑flight entertainment stops. To make this work, the crew built a full airplane inside a big hangar in Budapest. The production turned into a risky experiment, testing technical limits, budgets, and emotions. The film is produced by Stockholm Syndrome and Tiisch Film, with co‑production from Swedish TV SVT and the regional company Film I Väst. SF Studios will distribute it. Film i Väst announced this news at its annual Cannes press event. The company is also behind two other movies in the main competition this year: Fjord, by Christian Mungiu, and Gentle Monster, by Marie Kreutzer. Kristina Börjeson, head of production at Film i Väst, highlighted the studio’s decade‑long streak of entries in Cannes’ main competition and expressed excitement about eight new co‑productions being shot or edited in Västra Götaland, hoping they will reach festivals and audiences soon.