In a dreamy montage, we try to follow the trail of refugee Tariq. A young man who's managed to stay naive through his hellish journey.

Viktor Johansson, born 1983 in Lidköping, is a Swedish writer and film director. Since 2007 he has published six books, the latest being Bonsaikatt (Bonsai Kitten). He is the director of three feature films, Under Gottsunda, Himmel över Flogsta (Flogsta Heaven) and Inuti diamanten (Inside the Diamond).

Stranded rises like a mirage in a landscape of social realism. A short film about insane hope. Sometimes it doesn't matter what exactly is keeping you moving forward. In a dreamy montage, we try to follow the trail of refugee Tariq. A young man who's managed to stay naive through his hellish journey.

In contrast to Tariq we meet Nathalie, hardened and cynical she's on the run from her own family.


She doesn't believe in anything amazing at all, her cold north is what it's always been, and it certainly doesn't harbour some promised land island. Who's helping whom? Who can afford to dream?

There are similarities between the Swedish emigrants' letters and the text messages of modern-day refugees. It turns out that both paint a glorified picture of their country of arrival, America and Sweden. No one wants to worry about their families.

This is where the myth of a promised land in the Gulf of Bothnia comes from. A myth about a no man's land, or more accurately, an all man's land, where refugees can't be deported. Like America, immigrants can cultivate the land and create a community.

Cast: Arman Cho & Lovisa Justusson Lahti