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Sweden’s creative talent will be on display at a two-day event Los Angeles in June.

Participants will have a chance to fall in love with some of Sweden’s finest film, e-game and music companies at the event called A Swedish Affär

Sweden is among the world’s top 10 game exporters, with video games Minecraft and Battlefield described as the country’s biggest cultural export since ABBA.

Hollywood has also fallen in love with Sweden’s creative talent. Movies like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Let the right one in”, and the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, who directed “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, are just three examples of Sweden’s impact on the world’s movie capital in recent years.

Added to that, Swedish advertising agencies won a haul of 31 prizes at the prestigious Cannes Lions awards. The bulk of those winners are based in Stockholm.

Per Strömbäck, a spokesperson for one of the organisers of the LA event, Sweden Games Industry, said the main goal is to showcase the depth of Sweden’s cultural exports.

“By collectively showing games, film, advertising, music, fashion and other sectors we will together show a great unity,” he said.

Why are so many creative successes springing from Stockholm and Sweden right now?
“We are very good at working in teams and organising creativity,” Strömbäck said. “That’s important. Creating comes from collaboration; the lone genius does not exist.”

He also joked that Swedes “do not understand how good we are”, in a reference to Swedes’ famed humility.

How did it go last year?
“Very good. More than 40 companies and 600 guests participated at the event. One of the companies even wrote a letter of intent with an investor on the spot,” Strömbäck said.

The two-day event will be filled with activities such as panel discussions, keynote speakers, screenings, match-making and opportunities to make new contacts. The first day of the event will focus on the creative industries and the second day on the gaming and film industries.

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles, Swedish Games Industry and Media Evolution are organising the event together with private companies, government agencies, the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish trade organisations for games, music, fashion, film, television and communication/advertising.

The event described as “A love story between Swedish creatives and the world”.

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This article was published in collaboration with Stockholm Business Region.

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