Things are moving. On Saturday, November 12th, we’re going to pitch our idea for Filmkontakt Nord. It’s a meeting where we’ll get to know if our project has potential to reach the Nordic audience and if so, we’ll get some coaching about how to proceed and where to look for financing.

Read more about Filmkontakt Nord.

This meeting is being held during a filmfestival for documentaries in Stockholm. Tempofestivalen takes place 9th-13th November and we’re going there to get inspired and to get in touch with producers, film makers and other people that can help us with our project.

We’re also waiting for the answear from Film i Västerbotten if they’re going to be able to take part in the financing.

Cross your fingers for us on Saturday!

We’ve been working on our film project for almost two years.

From the start it was just Mikael and Johanna, but now we have enlisted two new members to our team. Ingela Hjulfors-Berg is a journalist and filmmaker and she’s going to be our photographer and editor. Carl Larsson is a business school graduate and web consultant and he’s going to take care of the marketing and financing of our film.

We’re happy to have Ingela and Calle on our team, they have given our project a new start and they contribute with lots of knowledge and good spirits.

We’ve also decided to divide the project into two parts. We’re now planning to make two films that will be shown together, hopefully both on television and on movie theatres.

Mikael is responsible for the part that is going to capture Bruce Springsteen’s visits in Sweden, from 1975 until today. This part will give the perspective of the fans and some swedish music journalists on Springsteen’s career.

Johanna will be responsible for the part that will show the swedish fans, who they are, how the music affects their daily lives and how much time and love the fans put down to see their favourite artist.

The reason for this is mainly practical, it gives us better possibilities to work effectively and share the responsibility. This will give us the strength we need to complete the project. Film making is a time consuming business and sometimes it’s very tough, but this will make it easier for us.

We’re working hard now, writing story board, manuscript and preparing the rest of the shooting. We’ve made a new pilot film and we’re planning a meeting with Film i Västerbotten to discuss the financing of our films. If you have any ideas or want to sponsor our project, yo are very welcome to contact us.

Keep an eye on this site and the Swedish Springsteen forum where we’ll tell you about the progress of our projects!

Johanna, Mikael, Calle, Ingela

During the past week there has been a lot of attention on our film project.

The interview from last month has resulted in an article in the Asbury Park Press, the local newspaper in New Jersey. Apart from that the film is Mikael’s idea and that he asked me to join the project, it was a good article by swedish journalist Anders Mårtensson.

There’s also been an article in Metro and a longer version of it in Helsingborgs Dagblad.

We’re also very qurious, yesterday Film i Västerbotten was going to decide if they want to support our project and help us with the financing. So far we haven’t heard anything, but we expect some news from them later this week.

This has been a weekend that won’t fade away easily!

It started on Thursday, Mikael and I were travelling in different cars to Gothenburg. Due to traffic jam we got there too late to film and we had some trouble with the tape to Mikael’s camera. We ended up being regular audience only, with no shooting except fore some still pictures.

Anyway, the show was ok, but sitting on the balcony was not. It’s too far away and for me it was like watching tv. No matter how hard Bruce was pelasing the audience it was difficult to be moved by the performance. Afterwards we had to rush for Stockholm and we didn’t get much sleep that night.

Back in Stockholm on midsummer’s eve we went to the cellar vault in the Old town to prepare it for the Saturday party. It took a while and we didn’t have time for that much celebrating, we were too tired.

Saturday started out nicely, after a quick look at the cellar vault, checking that everything was ok, we went to the pub Backstreets were we were to film. Ingela arrived from Umeå shortly after and her friend Lars, our sound tecnichian, had come too. As people started to come to the pub we interviewed them. We were really busy up to the point where Mikael and I had to go inside to see the concert.

It was fabulous, light years better than the show in Gothenburg with a lot of new songs. We got Downbond Train, Walk like a Man, and Blinded by the Light! After the concert we took a taxi to the Old town and it wasn’t long before people started coming to the party. Ingela and Lars kept on filming while Mikael were standing at the door and I was tending bar. We had some hundred people over and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. It wasn’t until 3 a.m that people started to leave.

It had been a long day, but a very beautiful one and we had succedeed in raising some money for the film. Today we also had the time to talk about the film and the future of the project. It’s all looking very good!

We’ll get an answer from Film i Västerbotten next week if they’re prepared to finance our film and we keep our fingers crossed. It would be nice to have their support!

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So, it’s just 24 hours before Bruce Springsteen will play in Sweden again.
Our preparations for a hectic weekend with concerts in Gothenburg tomorrow and Stockholm on Saturday seems to be in order.

We’re going by car to Gothenburg tomorrow and we will be there in time to do some shooting outside the arena and to meet with our fans that we have interviewed before.
After the show it’s straight back to Stockholm, another 480 kilometers in the car…

Things are looking good for our party in the Old Town, after the Stockholm show on Saturday. 80 persons have announced that they’re coming, and there will probably be some late arrivals too.

After corresponding with the Jon Landau Management who told us Bruce was already booked for interviews and didn’t have time with us, we decided to invite the tour crew for the party, we’ll see if any of them will turn up.

Preparations for filming i Stockholm looks good too, Ingela is coming down from Umeå and she has involved her friend Lars who will be our sound technician. We will be a bit pressed for time, but we’ll have about three hours to film before the concert and we will also film at the party afterwards. So hopefully we’ll get some good shots.

It’s going to be really nice to see the show tomorrow! I’m really looking forward to it.

Things are moving fast now.
Yesterday Johanna was in the papers, the article from TT Spektra is out.
The article has so far been published in the two Stockholm papers City and Metro but it will probably show up in other papers too in the next few days.

We just got word from Jon Landau management that they turned down our request for an interview, but we’re not giving up.

On Thursday next week we go to Gothenburg for the show. It’s really exciting, we’re keen on seeing the concert and meeting the fans. There’s going to be a few busy days until next weekend, but a whole lot of fun too!

Today our project took another step when Johanna was interviewed by TT Spektra.
TT Spektra is a Swedish news agency that produce articles that local papers all over the country can buy.

This feature article will be available from the next week, but it will probably be published in papers close to Springsteen’s two concerts in Sweden on July 23rd and 25th.

We talked a lot about why Swedes love Springsteen’s music so much, what the fans will say if E Street Band is dissolved, who the typical fan is and if you feel like a minority if you are a female fan. We didn’t really talk so much about our film, but the phenomenon of Springsteen.

It was very interesting and a lot of fun. It turned out that the reporter, Erik Helmerson, had been a big Brucefan, but after the BITUSA album he got fed up with the partyrocking bodypumping Bruce and he hadn’t listened to the music since.

We are also in negotiations with SVT, the Swedish national television, about our film. They are interested in the material, but now we have to decide how to proceed. Shall we finish the film on our own or try to get the television company to be our coproducer? We hope for the best and that we’ll get the money we need to finish the project.

In eight days it’s time for the first of the two Swedish concerts on the Devils & Dust-tour. We plan to be in Gothenburg to film and then get back to Stockholm as fast as we can to prepare for the show at Hovet.

There is going to be a gathering at a nearby pub before the concert, we plan to meet our fans there and film. After the show we will host a big party for the fans in a cosy cellar vault in the Old Town. We will show our pilot film and do some more shooting. Read more about the party at this address

We’re busy planning and organizing everything for next week, but stay tuned with us here and you’ll know more about how everything is proceeding.

Two days ago we had our promoparty in a cellar vault in the Old Town.
Mikael had come from Västervik and we spent many busy hours arranging everything for the big night.

This included carrying loudspeakers and other musical equipment across the cobblestones of Old Town. It was hard on our backs, but we made it. Our biggest thanks to Staffan who let us borrow it!

Then Johanna went to meet Hans Ludvigsson who came by car from Jönköping to play for us. Since most of the streets in Old Town are very narrow or oneway, it’s very tricky to drive there. Of course we took the wrong turn, so we spent a lot of time before we finally came to the right address.

But it was really worth all the effort when people started coming. It was so nice to see everybody eating pizza, having a good chat and just enjoying themselves.

Then we showed our pilot film and it was much appreciated. “It should have been longer”, “we want to see more”, were some of the comments we got. That sure was good to hear after all the effort we’ve spent on it!

Then Ludde came on stage and did a few extremely good solo versions of some of our most loved Brucesongs. Drive all Night, Devils&Dust and All I’m Thinking About got some loud cheers. The crowd didn’t want to let him off stage!
But after a lot of laughs, good talking and great music it was time to close our eyes and say good bye. When the time had passed midnight the last our guests left.

Me and my boyfriend Carl spent a few hours on packing everything and cleaning up the cellar vault. I just want to take the time to thank him, if it wasn’t for his contacts and all his work we never would have been able to arrange this party. Thank you, baby!

The first Candy’s Room turned out to be a good night, though we could have had more guests than the twentysome that came. I hope you guys will be there next time!

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It’s only two days until the opening night for Candy’s Room.
the past few days have been very busy, we’ve applied for money from Film i Västerbotten and it was a hard job getting all the papers ready. But now it’s done!

The rest of the time I’ve spent writing a press release, contacting the media about the event and arranging all the stuff we need for the party.

Hopefully we’ll get everything ready in time!

The past few days have been busy. I’ve been working a lot with Candy’s Room, organizing the party, making sure we have all the equipment, updating webbsites and writing pressreleases.

But I got a nice break when I got a phonecall. It was journalist Anders Mårtensson who wanted an interview about our film.

Anders is based in Hässleholm, but with photographer Jörgen Johansson he has been interviewing a lot of musicians on the Jersey shore. This has resulted in the book Local Heroes, Asbury Park, NJ which will be published in Sweden August 25th to celebrate the 30 year releasedate of Bruce Springsteens record Born to Run.

When Anders and Jörgen was in Jersey to do all the interviews, they got a good contact with the Asbury Park Press. The American journalists are much interested in why Springsteen’s music hits home with the Swedish audience, and asked him to write something about it. Anders is going to review Springsteen’s shows in Sweden and write about the swedes love for Bruce at the same time. He figured it would be intresting to write about our film project, so he called me.

We talked about the progress of our film, what we aim to capture, when the documentary will be finished and when we’re going to Jersey. We also talked about the devotion Springsteen shows in concert, his ability to tell stories that people can identify with, no matter what nationality they have and who the typical Brucefan is.

It was a lot of fun and the article will be published in the Asbury Park Press on June 25th.

We are all looking forward to read it!