EXTRA SCREENING FRI 14.30 @ CAPITOL LILLA – small venue, come early to secure a seat! 

Jawbreaker is a documentary about Anti Cimex – the band that defined Scandinavian hardcore punk and became one of Sweden’s most influential musical exports. From their first recordings in a chicken coop on the plains of Västergötland to the global punk scene, marked by their uncompromising d-beat, the film paints a portrait of a band that continued to break boundaries long after they had called it quits.

Spanning four decades of music, chaos and retold myths, the film moves between the past and the present. Here we encounter not just a band, but an attitude – a force of nature. Tomas Jonsson’s iconic voice, the band’s political charge and raw dynamics form the backdrop to the story of how Anti Cimex shaped both a sound and a subculture. Through international filmmakers, archive material and newly recorded fragments, Jawbreaker takes us from Skaraborg to Kuantan in Malaysia, from DIY scenes to the Swedish Music Hall of Fame. It is a film about creative friction, about a band that refused to follow the rules – and about the resonance their music has in a contemporary world that is disturbingly reminiscent of the doom and gloom of the 1980s.

Directors Tomas Haglund and Oskar Sjödin portray Anti Cimex with humour, tenderness and a dreamlike energy that reflects the band’s own unpredictability. The result is a film about a musical legacy as dirty as it is influential – and as alive today as when it started out in a chicken coop over forty years ago.

Directed by: Tomas Haglund, Oskar Sjödin

Cast: Nils Andersson, Charlie Claesson, Jean-Louis Huhta, Tomas Jonsson, Cliff Lundberg, Joakim Pettersson, Mats Skånberg
Spoken language: Swedish
Subtitles: English