Victor Danell, the director of "See Heaven", about Swedish tarts and looking for UFOS

When the Swedish science fiction adventure film “Watch the Skies” by Xyz Film has its American debut on May 9, 2025, Hollywood and the fans will also get a remarkable look at the AI managed by the British startup company Fleece Ai.

This nostalgic feature film takes place in 1996 and focuses on a young girl with a small town named Denise, whose father disappeared years ago in mysterious way when he examined a flying saucer view in the nearby forested hills. Determined to puzzle the reality behind his disappearance, the lively girl connects with a group of anti-social enthusiasts in a local UFO club called UFO Sweden, who help her to search the truth about her father in true “X files”-like fashion.

Directed by Victor Danell for his Crazy Pictures Production Shingle, “Watch the Skies” will be the first film to demonstrate this immersive technology in which the original Swedish-speaking occupation of the film has re-recorded its lines in English for AI tools to achieve the lip movements. As soon as foreign films leave your home area, there is an immediate language barrier. This pioneer of the new AI technology of “visual synchronization” opens up a completely new way to publish and present her Swedish film (and countless others) to a much wider audience and to maintain the screens of the actors.

Watch the sky – official trailer (2025) – YouTube

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Part of the originality and warmth of the film results from the natural inclusion of cultural customs that are unique for the Swedish people, and that means the mandatory sipping of coffee and the munk of tartlets.

“It is a traditional Swedish thing that we called Fika where you have a kind of coffee break,” explains Danell Space.com. “Especially in such volunteer associations, they have meetings where they have coffee and have fika and eat rolls and tarts. And we wanted to bring that to the film because it is a number of outsiders who want to solve this big secret, but they also want to have fika, coffee and tarts together.”

A man and a young girl are scared in an office

Are the coffee and the tarts ready for Fika for the time? (Photo credit: XYZ films)

The Misfit Ufo cult, which forms “Watch the Skies” 'Kern, is based on an actual flying saucer society in the country called UFO Sweden, which gives the project an appealing authenticity.

“We all grew up as a basis in our filmmaking in the 80s and 90s with these old-fashioned science fiction films,” he adds via project influences. “Who loves the early Steven Spielberg and films like this? So we inspired ourselves from these films and we heard of this group in Sweden, a real association called UFO Sweden. We saw a documentary about them and knew that we had to look up. Are they really?

“Not only that, but also her headquarters opposite my apartment on the other side of the street. So we just went down the street and knocked on the door and asked if we could come to learn something about their work. So we all sat down with Swedish Fika, and they told us that they are a UFO examination group, and if they can call something in the sky. The greatest UFO archive in the world.

A teenager and a man stare up with awe in the night sky

A scene of director Victor Danell's “Watch the Skies” (Photo credit: XYZ films)

“Watch the Skies” is penetrated by a warm reality, although its history is rooted in paranormal events and its striking cinematography improves a certain retro appeal.

“The cameraman is Hannes Krantz, one of our partners in crazy images. In fact, I built the lenses for this film myself. It is a mixture of old contx photography objectives with the anamorphic block of an old projector that is together.

“Sweden does not make many genre films. In this thinking, we agreed that it would be quite difficult to make a Swedish science fiction film. It was actually not. I think the Swedish audience was ready for you, so it was pretty easy. But it is still difficult to make a good sci-fi film. We are excited to see what happens to this film.

“Watch the Skies” stars Inez Dahl Torhaug, Eva Melander, Jesper Barkelius, Sara Shirpey, Håkan Ehn, Isabelle Kyed, Niklas Kvarnbo Jönsson and Mathias Lithner.

Victor Danell, the director of “See Heaven”, about Swedish tarts and looking for UFOS

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