The Swedish Affair with Hollywood

”Swedish Affair” Event Celebrates the Tradition of Swedish Creatives in Los Angeles!

Coinciding with Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles organized a stylish two-day event at the Lloyd Wright-designed Sowden House in Los Feliz. The event was held to celebrate the love affair between Swedish creatives and the city of Los Angeles.

The special event called The Swedish “Affär” (affär meaning business-deal in Swedish) gathered prominent Swedish and American companies and talents within film, television, games, music and advertising industries, along with investors and Hollywood agents.

“This event is all about celebrating creativity, innovation and building cross-Atlantic bridges. We want to further businesses and ‘affärer’ (business-deals in Swedish) while building new relationships. In essence, we want to facilitate a creative love affair between the US and Sweden,” according to Lotta Alsén, President and Chair of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce.

Highlights from the two-day event included panel discussions and keynotes with several notable guest speakers: David Polfeldt, managing director at Massive Entertainment, doing Far Cry 3; Kwasi Asare, CEO of We are Fighter, the mastermind behind Sean ”Diddy” Combs’ new media empire; Julia Dilts, Co-founder and CEO of the international angel investment network Maverick Angels; Gudrun Giddings, acclaimed feature film producer and Mai-Li Hammargren, the founder of Mutewatch who managed to impress on Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak with their innovative silent watch. Live performances were held by live top 10 act Theresa Andersson and Jennifer Åkerman. DJ´s the Swede Beat and Victoria Bergsman (Taken by Trees), the former front woman of The Concretes, played.

“It is very significant that we are hosting this event during E3,” says Per Strömbäck, spokesperson for the Swedish Games Industry and a founding member of The Swedish Affär. “Swedish-developed games such as Minecraft and Battlefield are a global phenomena and the Swedish gaming and creative communities are in higher demand now than ever before,” he added.

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, Swedish Games Industry and Media Evolution organized the event together with private companies, the Swedish Institute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish trade organizations for gaming, music, fashion, film, television and communication/advertising.

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Written by: Camilla Westman, SACC Greater Los Angeles Area