Mimmi Spång

Katarina Margareta Spång (born May 4, 1973), more known under the name Mimmi Spång, is a Swedish film producer and production manager. She has been involved with and produced several films, notably the Swedish productions Sebbe and Call Girl.

Education She graduated from the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts (SADA) in 2001 (previously known as University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre).

Career

Spång first accepted a position at Memfis Film. She worked there for three years and participated in projects such as Zozo and Kopps as first assistant director. Spång stated in an interview that she found her time at Memfis to be extremely enlightening, but that she felt that she wanted to work as a producer. She founded her own company and was hired by Garagefilm International in 2007.

Spång and Lafrenz met as students at SADA in 1998. They moved together from their graduation to Memfis Film and Garagefilm. Together they have produced several films, among them being Sebbe, Call Girl and Cockpit. In 2011 Spång and Lorenz were chosen to represent Sweden in European Film Promotions Producers on the Move at the Cannes film festival. In 2011, the duo were awarded the Lorens prize for producers at the Gothenburg Film festival.

"The choice is obvious. Without Garagefilm, their commitment, knowledge and courage, the Swedish film industry would be poorer," commented Swedish Film Institute international chief, Pia Lundberg, about sending Spång and Lafrenz to Cannes.

Some of Spång's films received criticism. Call Girl was critiqued for insinuating that one of Sweden's previous prime ministers, Olof Palme, participated in purchasing sexual favors from minors. Both Palme's son, Mårten Palme, and several other people reacted strongly to this depiction, finding it offensive and "tainting". The director and writers' attempt to explain that everything in the film was purely fiction was rejected as cowardly by Swedish newspaper SvD head of culture, Mårten Jönsson.

In 2012, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish institute arranged a film festival in Bangkok, Thailand. The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (Daily News) later reported that the organization of this festival in part was an attempt to sell military aircraft. Several filmmakers that were involved with the festival were outraged to learn that their work could be connected to the selling of war machines. Spång was among these filmmakers and stated, "We really don't want any of our films to contribute to weapons exports. We find it absolutely appalling."

In 2013, SFI's Film room held a conference called Film Politics 2020, inviting Swedish filmmakers to speak discuss film politics. Spång was a representative for Swedish producers, together with Peter "Piodor" Gustafsson. Spång stated that she believes in quotation for the development of Swedish film production to begin its evolution concerning human variety in the film industry.

Recognition

Spång's career got off to a solid start when her graduation-project Viktor and his Brothers won the Swedish Guldbagge Award for Best Short Film in 2002.

Spång's film Cockpit won the award Best film at QX Gaygala 2013. Blowfly park is another film that Spång produced and its leading role Sverrir Gudnason won award for Best actor att Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2014 and Guldbaggen 2015.

The Giant was awarded with multiple prices, e.g. Special Jury price at San Sebastian Film Festival, Guldbaggen Best Picture, Best Script and Best Make-up. 2016. Spångs company Garagefilm International produced Amateurs and won GIFF 2018, Dragon Award för Best Nordic film. Spång co-produced Congo murder that won Best Actor (Tobias Santelmann) at Amanda Awards 2019.

Filmography