06/10/2022 - The six-episode show follows a mother and daughter who try, in their own different ways, to make life better for one another but keep failing, time and again

l-r: Dodona Imeri, Snežana Spasenoska and Gabriela Pichler on the set of Painkiller (© Anders Nicander/SVT)

The cameras are rolling on the set of Gabriela Pichler’s first TV series, Painkiller. The Huddinge-born writer-director is best known for her debut feature, Eat Sleep Die [+see also:
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interview: China Ahlander
interview: Gabriela Pichler
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film profile]. The picture won the International Film Critics’ Week Audience Award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, and scooped four Guldbagge Awards (for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress in a Leading Role) in 2013.

Currently filming in Gothenburg and Skåne County, the six-part show follows Dijana (newcomer Snežana Spasenoska) and Andrea (Dodona Imeri), a mother and daughter who try, in their own different ways, to make life better for one another but keep failing, time and again. Dijana is a proud working woman from the Balkans whose body is worn out from factory work and cleaning. Incredibly enough, her daughter Andrea – officially a successful artist, unofficially still living with her mum – has convinced her to start attending a class for patients who suffer from chronic pain. When the class is abruptly cancelled, Andrea has an idea. She will subject her mother to things that are guaranteed to take her mind off her pain: Dijana will be the central figure in her new art project. Eventually, what begins as a creative idea takes an unexpected turn when Dijana takes command. The series has been co-written with Eat Sleep Die DoP Johan Lundborg.

The project’s technical crew includes production designer Ellen Oseng (Battle [+see also:
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trailer
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interview: Anna Odell
film profile]) and Markus Hasselblom (X&Y), and editor Andreas Nilsson (Comedy Queen [+see also:
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interview: Sanna Lenken
film profile], Amateurs).

Painkiller is being produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius for Stockholm-based Garagefilm, in co-production with Swedish pubcaster SVT and Film i Väst, and in association with Finnish pubcaster YLE. It has received support from the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg. The executive producers are Mimmi Spång, of Garagefilm, and Amna Maksumic, of SVT. The show is set to premiere on SVT1 and SVT Play in spring 2024. Denmark’s REinvent Studios has picked up its world sales.