Ava Lindqvist

10/25/20262 min read

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— ACTORS

Ava Lindqvist

ACTRESS | Stockholm, Sweden

"I don't want to be the next anyone. I want to be the first me, preferably with better lighting."

CANNES OVATION

8min

BREAKOUT SERIES

DAYS TO SHOOT HER FIRST FILM

FURNITURE ROLES TAKEMN

—THE STORY

Scandinavia's most watchable new screen presence.

She still lives in the same studio flat, still takes the subway to auditions, and still turns down anything she calls "furniture roles" — parts written to decorate a man's story.

va Lindqvist was a drama-school understudy in Stockholm when she was handed three episodes of the noir series "Northern Static." By the finale, international critics were writing about her face the way they write about weather systems — something the whole story organises itself around.

Her first feature, a two-hander shot in nineteen days on a frozen lake, earned an eight-minute ovation at Cannes. She spent most of it hiding behind the director.

In conversation with Ava Lindqvist

It was the longest eight minutes of my life. I kept thinking: these people have seen every performance ever given, and they're standing for a film we shot with hand warmers taped to the camera. It didn't feel real. It still doesn't.

FNM — YOU HID BEHIND YOUR DIRECTOR DURING THE CANNES OVATION. EIGHT MINUTES IS A LONG TIME TO HIDE.

FNM — CRITICS DESCRIBE YOUR ACTING AS "MINIMALIST." DO YOU AGREE?

I think they mean I blink less than Americans. Honestly, I just believe the audience is smart. You don't have to hand them the emotion — you leave it on the table and trust them to pick it up.

FNM — WHAT'S NEXT?

A film about two sisters running a failing ferry line in the archipelago. No glamour, no murder, no twist. Just weather and love. Exactly where I want to be.

FNM — WHAT EXACTLY IS A "FURNITURE ROLE"?

Any part where you could replace the actress with a beautiful lamp and the plot wouldn't change. I've read forty of those scripts. I keep them in a drawer as motivation.