Emil Jonsvik: “I wanted to bring out Marie’s enormous energy”

We had the chance to interview Emil Jonsvik, the director of Marie’s latest video “Sista sommarens vals”, taken from her latest album “Nu!”. Emil told us about his career and the shooting of the video with Marie.

Judith: To start with, could you tell us about you? When and how did you get into filming and directing films?

Emil_Jonsvik_01_Emil: I was born in Gothenburg, Hisingen 1978. I started producing my first films at the age of 12. This was for Swedish television (ZTV) and the film was “Gold”, which was a skateboard movie. When I look back on it I see that I already then wanted to create drama in film. I used scenes with actors walking through smoke in slow motion with strong cinematic music. After that I produced the Award winning break dance documentary “Shindig” and two other dance movies, “The Book” and “No One Knows Our Thoughts”. They were about winning over your inner fears. In 1998 I went to a film school, “Film I Väst” (Trollywood), and started working with blockbusters as “Santa is the father of all the children” and “A Witch in the Family” as a lighting designer and set lights along with being the cinematographer on location. I met the director Daniel Fridell which started a long cooperation, among others I became a cinematographer on his award winning TV series “A Class Apart” as well as the movies “Sökarna 2” and “Blood Brothers”. After that I directed the very popular television program (with over 1.5 million downloads on YouTube) “Late Night with Pierre” with little Al-Fadji for Swedish television (SVT). After that came my debut as a feature film director with “7X / Seven Bullets”. This movie was about seven kids that find a gun with seven bullets. This is a multiple award winning film including awards for “Best film” and “Best director”. Now I’m in the final cut with my new feature film “Krigarnas ö” (The Name of the Game) with the great actor Kim Bodnia known from TV series “The Bridge / Bron”. An exciting drama / thriller.

J: What do you like about being a director?

E: I love the creating process. To take a idea, put it down on paper and then manage to make these scenes come alive, that’s where my drive comes from. I get inspired by many different kinds of films in different ways. I love movies like “City of God” and “La haine” but I can also find inspiration in films like “The Last Samurai” and “The Driver”.

Emil_Jonsvik_02_J: You started mentioning inspiration, but what do you want to tell with your videos? what do you think is your “trademark” and what makes you different from other directors ?

E: I get inspiration from people’s energy, music and films. In meetings with actors and artists, I often feel what they want to create together, it is important that I together with the team create the best energy on location for the shoot. Because of my broad experience with film production it’s easier for me to decide what to focus my energy on which makes my work very efficient.

This ultimately results in me laying my energy on the right stuff. I want to get the artist and the actors to have trust and feel secure with me in order to create magic together. That’s what makes every difference, and that’s my “trademark”.

 

 

Emil_Jonsvik_03_J: Now about the video you did for Marie:  how come you ended up doing the video? Did Marie or her management ask you?

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Marie Fredriksson & Mikael Bolyos interview on TV4

This morning at 10:15 am CET there was a short interview with Marie and Micke in Nyhetsmorgon on TV4. The interview took place at Marie’s & Micke’s home in Stockholm. Marie was talking about how grateful she is for everything and they both said they learned how to live in the present. Marie said she learned to live with the fact that it takes her more time to write and also that she can’t remember the lyrics sometimes.

It means a lot to both of them that they could make this new album, ”Nu!”, however, it took a long time to release it. When she wrote ”Sista sommarens vals” of course she was thinking about Micke and when Micke wrote ”Vad vore jag utan dig” he thought about Marie. Marie says this latter song is so beautiful. That’s her favourite off the album and it feels fantastic to sing Micke’s words. Watch the video how Marie is “touching” Micke when they are talking about these 2 songs. So lovely! 😉 Both Marie and Micke were in a very good mood and relaxed, Marie was smiling all the time during the interview.

They were also talking about the kids, how fantastic it is to have them and that they are also interested in music and they are talking about music each day. They also told the story of their meeting in Sydney and how they became a couple right after that.

While touring with Roxette she felt better and better, she got strength and she gained her self-confidence back. Marie – besides her family – is grateful also to Per who was writing new material for Roxette and believed so much in Marie.

Marie is longing for the tour. It will be fantastic to tour in Sweden with a great band she’ll have with her. Besides new songs, there will of course be old ones, too on the setlist.

Watch the video HERE! Don’t forget to check the wonderful old pic of Marie in front of Micke!

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“Sista sommarens vals” video premiere and chat with Marie tomorrow!

mf1-560x315Tomorrow at around lunch time the video to “Sista sommarens vals”, the second single off “Nu!” will have its premiere on Aftonbladet.  The video is directed by Emil Jonsvik and was partly recorded in Stockholm Hotel Diplomat.

“It is important for me to create a feeling on the set that makes the artist, cast and the team feel calm,” says director in a press release. “For me, the song is a celebration of life where both ups and downs will make you stronger as a person,” Emil Jonsvik goes on, “I wanted to create a cinematic black and white video with a strong sense of drama.

Emil also explains it was “very fun and challenging to work together with Marie, we created the magic that goes straight to the camera,” says a similing Emil.

But that’s not all the fun! You will have the chance to chat with Marie tomorrow at 14:00 on Aftonbladet.

And last but not least, a short film showing Marie and Micke talking about the song will also be available on the newspaper’s website tomorrow.

Photo: Pernilla Pettersson.

Update November 29: The video can be seen here!

Marie Fredriksson’s new single

As Warner Music Sweden informs, ”Sista sommarens vals” is Marie’s 2nd single off “Nu!” and it will premiere in Skavlan this Friday. Skavlan is a Norwegian-Swedish television talk show hosted by Norwegian journalist Fredrik Skavlan. The show will be on air on SVT and it will also be available on SVT Play. The show with Marie starts at 21:00 CET, 22nd November.

Not sure the video clip, which we’ve already informed you about will appear in the show, too or if there is an interview as well, but Marie will surely sing the song. Woohoo!

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Lyrics to track 4 and 5 on Nu!

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Today we got 2 new beautiful songs from Marie’s album. One of them is Längtan”. We had the info that Marie has written only one song for this album and we knew it was another one, but still, having the same title as an earlier song of hers made us think it might be a remake of “Längtan” (written by Marie Fredriksson and Lasse Lindbom) from Efter stormen album.  Now it turned out it’s a completely new song.

The other song for today is “Sista sommarens vals”. A real gem! This is the song written by Marie. The one that will also have a video clip. The whole waltz is so soft and the lyrics are so touching. I really hope to hear this one live next year.

 

 

 

Längtan Sista sommarens vals
(Mikael Bolyos) (Marie Fredriksson)
Har du någon vän, som längtar Jag ville så gärna skriva nåt vackert till dig
Har du någon vän, som längtar, som längtar efter Du var den som jag höll så kär
De vackraste orden var bara till dig
Stjärnorna i vinternatten I en tid som var enkel och ljus
Som fyller dig med minnen
Haven som kan ge dig vatten Du min älskade vän
Svalka dig Du var den som höll i min hand
När det blåste så kallt
Har du någon vän, som längtar Du var den som kände som jag
Har du någon vän, som längtar, som längtar efter Du var min vän, det bästa som fanns
Kärleken som ger dig vingar Minns du hur tiden
Tro och visar vägen Var svår och förändrade allt
Lyckan av att bara finnas till Minns du hur tiden gav oss kraft att se
En stund på jorden Du var den som alltid stod brevid mig
Vara fri, att längta Du var den, den bästa jag haft
Har du någon vän, som längtar Du min älskade vän
Har du någon vän, som längtar Du var den som höll i min hand
När det blåste så kallt
Du var den som kände som jag
Du var min vän, det bästa jag haft
Våren kom
Det kändes som
Allting blev nytt
Ljuset kom och allting slog ut
Sommarn kom
Det kändes som midsommartid
Vi dansade sista sommarens vals
Du min älskade vän
Du var den som höll i min hand
När det blåste så kallt
Du var den som kände som jag
Du var min vän, det bästa jag haft