“A quiet but forceful meditation on fear and obsession” OVERLY HONEST REVIEWS

“A gently affecting Denis Lavant performance” HIGH FILMS

“Compellingly bizarre” THE FILM VERDICT

"The production design is nothing short of a triumph" EYE FOR FILM

Sovereign is proud to announce the release of John Skoog’s timely, absorbing Swedish drama Redoubt in select UK cinemas on 27th March 2026. The film received its UK Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and will be showing at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival as part of the Country Focus strand.

Based on an extraordinary true story, Redoubt is the debut feature by artist and documentarian John Skoog (Ridge), building on his award-winning 2014 short film, with a script by Skoog and Kettil Kasang. Produced by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness) through Plattform Produktion, Redoubt stars celebrated veteran actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors, Beau Travail, Mister Lonely) as Karl-Göran Persson, a Swedish farmhand, who, at the height of Cold War paranoia, attempted to turn his house into a ‘redoubt’ - a fortification - to protect his community should conflict break out.

In these uncertain times Skoog’s film hits hard, and has a poignant urgency, with its tale of a lone man scavenging anything he can find, in the face of indifference and ridicule, for what he believes will help his people - reminiscent of Michael Shannon digging a storm bunker in Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter; and the dogged determination of the hero of David Lynch’s The Straight Story. It’s a David vs Goliath situation, as the scene where Karl tries to single-handedly saw down an enormous tree illustrates.

The beautiful monochrome cinematography by Ita Zbroniec-Zajt (Woman on the Roof) - that recalls the forbidding bucolic imagery of Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon - contrasts shots of tolling bells and threshing machines with Karl’s attempt to shore up his home against a very modern, devastating threat. In a part that was written with him in mind, Levant fully inhabits this gentle, possibly misguided eccentric.

SYNOPSIS
At the peak of the Cold War, farm worker Karl-Göran Persson starts fortifying his house. He gathers scrap-metal and casts it into the walls to build a fortress meant to protect him and his neighbours. His efforts are met with puzzlement by everyone but the children. As the construction progresses, so does a conflict with the people in the village.

Redoubt will be released in selected UK cinemas on 27 March 2026

REDOUBT: FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Redoubt was nominated for the New Directors Award at the 2025 San Sebastian International Film Festival; was screened at the 2025 London Film Festival; and will be showing at the 2026 Glasgow Film Festival

ABOUT SOVEREIGN
Sovereign releases auteur-driven feature films in the UK, from emerging and established international talent. Our carefully curated titles have played to strong critical and audience acclaim, often premiering at renowned international film festivals, including Cannes, Berlinale, Toronto, Venice and many more.

Previously acquired titles include Peru’s entry into the Oscars Song Without A Name, which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival; Philippine crime drama Verdict, which received the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize at the 76th Venice Film Festival; historical drama Malmkrog, which won Best Director in the Encounter section and opened the 70th Berlin Film Festival; Argentinian psychological thriller A Common Crime, which received its world premiere at the 70th Berlin Film Festival; Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, which won the Golden Bear at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival; and Kirill Serebrennikov’s Petrov’s Flu, winner of the prestigious CTS Artist award at last year’s Cannes Film festival, and also nominated for the Palme d’Or; Memoria, from Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring Tilda Swinton, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2021; Bolivian director Kiro Russo’s The Great Movement, winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons strand at the 2021 Venice Film Festival; Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, starring Woody Harrelson, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival; Bent Hamer’s award-winning The Middle Man starring Pål Sverre Hagen and Paul Gross; Francisca Alegría’s The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival; the thriller Inside, from writer/director Vasilis Katsoupis and starring Willem Dafoe; Laurent Nègre’s World War two drama A Forgotten Man, starring Michael Neueschwander as a Swiss diplomat; Kirill Serebrennikov’s astonishing biopic Tchaikovsky’s Wife; Sonia Kronlund’s conman documentary The Man With A Thousand Faces; Radu Jude’s satire Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World; and Christopher Murray’s mystical drama Sorcery; Viggo Mortensen western Eureka; the extraordinary documentary A Wolfpack Named Ernesto; the powerful, award-winning Red Path; and the action thriller Son of the Soil.

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