Redoubt

Denis Lavant brings a beautiful tragicomic expressiveness worthy of the great Buster Keaton to this filmic recreation of the true story of Swedish farmhand Karl-Göran Persson obsessively fortifying his house into a community haven from what appears to be an imminent global conflict in the 1940s. Shot in rich black and white Persson’s selfless magnificent obsession resonates with today’s fractured times. - Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator

Denis Lavant delivers an astonishing physical performance in John Skoog’s beautiful and inventive story of community and obsession, inspired by true events.

Skoog immerses us in the remarkable true story of Karl-Göran Persson (Lavant), a Swedish day-labourer who, inspired by a government Cold War pamphlet, spent decades fortifying his home against nuclear attack. Exquisitely shot in black and white using a recreation of the home bunker that Persson created, Skoog shows us the lengths he went to in order to secure scrap for his project, not to keep out his local community but in a bid to protect them. 

This measured and meticulous (and compellingly bizarre) cinematic triumph is a celebration of eccentricity and determination.

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