With no immediate danger, the people try to return to their normal lives by building their own society within the spaceship. However, the technology of the ship allows its 8,000 passengers to continue to live luxuriously for several decades within the spacecraft.

Unfortunately the evacuation flight gets pushed off track by a collision with an asteroid, and due to a technical error it can’t return back to its original course: the ship is lost in space, floating around with no hope of ever reaching its target. I mean, how hard can it be to read about space travel in Swedish? (Answer: Hard, but so bloody worth it.)Īniara begins with the launch of one of the gigantic ships that are transporting people from the no longer inhabitable Earth to Mars to begin a new life there. The only copy available in my local library was in Swedish, but I decided that it would have to do. However, the name stuck in my mind and about a month later I checked the book out from the library. The response was immediate – Aniara by Harry Martinson –, so much so that at first I thought he making a joke. Once upon a time, in a far far corner of a nice Irish pub I asked my reader friend to recommend me a good science fiction book (he’s an expert, you see). It has been translated into seven languages and adapted into a popular avant-garde opera. Aniara is a book of prophecy, a panoramic view of humanity’s possible fate. A malfunction knocks the craft off course, taking these would-be Mars colonists on an irreversible journey into deep space. Aniara is the story of a luxurious space ship, loaded with 8,000 evacuees, fleeing an Earth made uninhabitable by Man’s technological arrogance. Magnolia intends to release the film on May 17, where it will serve as counter-programming to blockbusters like John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (which open the same day) and Detective Pikachu (which arrives a week earlier).The great Swedish writer Harry Martinson published his masterpiece, Aniara, during the height of the Cold War – right after the Soviet Union announced that it had exploded the hydrogen bomb. The Aniara trailer was made available today, as you can see in the space below. Related: Midsommar Trailer: The New Nightmare From the Director of Hereditary Magnolia Pictures is now getting its marketing for the film underway, ahead of its theatrical run this May.

The project, which marks the feature debut for writer-directors Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja, premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival last September and has screened at a few more festivals since then (including, the Göteborg festival in Sweden).

Aniara, like the original poem, follows a spaceship of human settlers headed to Mars as it loses its way, sending its consumer-minded passengers spiraling into despair as they try and understand their place in the universe.

Aniara martinson