Swede director wants viewers to join the show

STOCKHOLM

Swedish director Ruben Ostlund is aiming to get his famously straight-faced compatriots out of their seats with a special screening of Palme d'Or-winning satire "Triangle of Sadness."

Spectators will be asked to provide the provocateur filmmaker with details about themselves in a form before the showing later this month, and will be pushed to interact with the movie.

"Compared to countries like France and the US, the Nordics have a more passive audience culture", the two-time Palme d'Or winner said in a statement.

"Here we hide in our seats, taking less responsibility for the show," he said, adding that "after screenings we go home without discussing what we've seen."

The screening is set for Jan. 28 at the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden.

Ostlund, 48, said that watching a film together "intensifies the experience and sets a higher standard for what's shown on the screen."

"For cinematic culture to flourish and reach its full potential, the audience must understand the part they play," he said.

"Triangle of Sadness," a sharp satire about class conflict, won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

In the film, Ostlund turned his gaze on fashion models and the ultra-rich, who find their status suddenly undermined when disaster strikes a cruise ship.

The win put Ostlund among a select group of two-time winners of the top prize at Cannes. He first scooped the Palme d'Or in 2017 for "The Square."