​Film about young maths prodigy wins Church of Sweden award

X+Y is about a teenager called Nathan who, via mathematics, finds a context in life. Photo: NonStop Entertainment

This evening, the Church of Sweden’s 2015 Youth Film Award was presented to the British film X+Y, directed by Morgan Matthews. The film is about Nathan, a boy with autism, who through mathematics finds a context in which he can be himself and be accepted. The award was presented by Bishop Johan Tyrberg during the International Children and Young People’s Film Festival in Malmö (abbreviated to BUFF in Swedish).

Nathan is a teenager who finds social relationships difficult, but feels at home in the world of maths. A free-thinking maths teacher sees him as both a person and a maths prodigy, which takes Nathan all the way to the Mathematical Olympiad in Taipei.

“The film depicts a grieving process with all the suffering involved. But the story conveys strong hope that we can live our lives even though we don’t understand everything. The nice thing about the film is that love, on various levels, is what breaks the paralysis of grief,” says Beatrice Lönnqvist, chair of the jury for the Church of Sweden’s Youth Film Award.

The jury’s citation:

“The adaptation’s difficult-to-interpret mathematics is conveyed with cutting humour, charm and intelligence. A film about breaking your loneliness and learning to like someone else more than ice cream.”

About the film:

Morgan Matthews is a multi-award-winning producer and director of documentaries and TV productions. X+Y is his first full-length feature film. The leading role of Nathan is played by Asa Butterfield, who has received great recognition for his performances in films such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Hugo, and the film also includes other well-known actors such as Rafe Spall (Life of Pi, Prometheus), Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) and Eddie Marsan (Still Life, War Horse and Sherlock Holmes).

X+Y will come to Swedish cinemas in April.

The jury of the Church of Sweden’s Youth Film Award at the 2015 BUFF film festival

Beatrice Lönnqvist, chair of the jury, priest, Stockholm Annika Nilsson, parish educator, HusieAmanda Adolfsson, director, StockholmAgneta Fagerström-Olsson, director, Stockholm

About the Church of Sweden’s Youth Film Award and BUFF

The Church of Sweden’s Youth Film Award is a collaboration between three Church levels: the national level, Lund Diocese and Malmö Pastorat (group of parishes). The Church of Sweden also organised several programmes during the BUFF film festival: Talk about film, talk about life – a workshop about one of the festival’s films, a musical 15 minutes in the church S:t Johannes Kyrka – film music performed by organist Christian Schultze, After Work with organ music in the church S:t Petri Kyrka on the theme of music from Astrid Lindgren films, performed by organist Carl Adam Landström and including a screening of the film The Book Thief in the night-time programme of activities in the church S:t Johannes Kyrka.

“Film is an important medium for interpretation of life, not least for children and young people, which is why we highly value our collaboration with BUFF. The film award is a way of supporting and highlighting quality films for children and young people,” says Charlotte Wells, the Church of Sweden’s officer for cultural issues at the Central Church Office.

LINKS

The film’s website

SF cinemas’ presentation of the film

The website of the International Children and Young People’s Film Festival in Malmö (BUFF)

About the Church of Sweden’s film work

CONTACT

Charlotte Wells, the Church of Sweden’s officer for cultural issues, the Central Church Office in Uppsala. tel. +46 (0)70 543 71 22

The Church of Sweden’s duty press service can be contacted on +46 (0)18 16 94 75.