Four Weeks in June

Sandra knows it was wrong to have attacked her jerk of an ex-boyfriend with a pair of scissors. But now she must while away four midsummer weeks doing "community service" by sorting clothes in a remote Swedish factory. To make matters worse, the noisy Polish construction workers renovating her dilapidated apartment building keep ogling her (sure, one of them is cute, but she just wants to be left alone!), and the cranky old lady upstairs keeps playing scratchy American swing records at all hours. Sandra’s four weeks in June are turning out to be as miserable as she feels. But there’s something unusual about Lilly, the lady upstairs. Before long, Sandra’s curiosity gets the better of her, and a budding friendship between the sullen young woman and her secretive, touchy Jewish neighbor becomes the pulsating heart of this tender, funny and understated drama. Long-buried love letters surface, and they ignite Sandra’s romantic imagination. Lilly finds herself intrigued by Sandra but hides much about her past--some secrets simply shouldn’t be shared... Winner of the prestigious Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Four Weeks in June features outstanding performances by two of Scandinavia’s best actresses. Lilly is played by Danish veteran Ghita Nørby (Freud Leaving Home, SFJFF 1992, which, like this film, was produced by Peter Kropenin) and the striking Swedish sensation Tuva Novotny as Sandra. Novotny was nominated for--and Nørby won--Sweden’s equivalent of the Oscar® for their performances. Equally moving is the work of Lukasz Garlicki as the carpenter with an eye for Sandra and Jessica Zanden as Lilly’s overprotective daughter, who is suspicious of the young girl who has suddenly become her mother’s confidante. Writer/director Henry Meyer, drawing upon a wartime story told to him by his own mother, deftly explores a modern intergenerational friendship set subtly but firmly against a backdrop of Jewish lives and loves ruptured by history.