JONATAN ETZLER is a Student Academy Award®-winning writer and director. Jonatan Etzler is making genre films to explore complex issues for a wide audience. His stories are surprising, original and sometimes provoking or satirical, depicting outcasts, small people struggling against the heavy structures of society. He’s a stylish director with grand visuals and atmospheric musical landscapes.

Jonatan is now in pre-production with the English language feature film BAD APPLES. A satirical comedy with thriller elements, produced by Vice owned Pulse Films and starring Golden Globe Awarded Saoirse Ronan, in addition to four Academy Awards and five BAFTA Awards nominations. The film is written by Jess O’Kane, adapted from Rasmus Lindgren’s debut novel “De Oönskade”.

Jonatan directed the feature ONE MORE TIME for Netflix, written by Sofie and Tove Forsman which premiered in 2023. The story follows Amelia (Hedda Stiernstedt), in the midst of her midlife crisis, she gets hit by a bus on her 40th birthday. When she wakes up she suddenly finds the year is 2002 and she's 18 again - allowing her to right all the mistakes she made the first time round. But as she finds herself stuck in a "Groundhog Day" time loop - waking up every morning on her 18th birthday - she realizes there's something else going on that will need to be fixed before she can leave the past behind forever.

Born in 1988 in Stockholm, Sweden, Jonatan has directed an impressive total of 17 shorts that have won acclaim around the world. His most recent short, SWIMMER, won the Best Comedy award at Clermont Ferrand 2021, the biggest short film festival in the world, and received a rave review in The Guardian. 

Jonatan is a graduate of Stockholm University of the Arts where his thesis film GET READY WITH ME, won Gold at the Student Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 2018 and continued winning top prizes at the prestigious Film School Festivals in Munich and Warsaw and was nominated for Vimeo’s Best of The Year award. The latter award was also nominated to his short film INTERCOURSE after the SXSW premiere.

Jonatan was the second unit director for BEARTOWN at HBO. He is currently working on his first feature film SCREEN TIME at StellaNova, funded by SVT, the Swedish Film Institute and the Sandrews screen play grant.

Jonatan was selected to take part in Nordic Film Lab 2021, Future Frames: Ten New Filmmakers to Follow in 2019, Berlinale Talents in 2015, Fårö Talents in 2014 and has worked as a film teacher, producer, music composer as well as a production sound technician. 

Agent: Gro Janarv

SELECTED WORKS

Bad Apples - (feature film) - director - pre production
One More Time - (feature film) - director - 2023
Screen Time - (working title) feature film - Screenwriter/Director - in development
Björnstad/Beartown - Second Unit Director - 2020 Badaren/Swimmer - short - Screenwriter/Director - 2020
Get Ready With Me - short - Director - 2019 Pinnen/The Stick - short - Screenwriter/Director (in collaboration with Robert Melo) - 2019 Samlag/Intercourse - short - Screenwriter/Director - 2017
De andra barnen/The Less Fortunate - short - Director - 2017
Önskedrömmar/Make a Wish - short - Director - 2016 Jag följer dig/I Follow You - short - Screenwriter/Director - 2015
Åka Utför/Class Trip - short - Screenwriter/Director - 2014

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS:

Screen Time Sandrews screenplay grant 2021 SVT original feature script competition 2020

Badaren/Swimmer Fernand Raynaud Best Comedy Award at Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival 2021 Official selection at AFI Fest 2020, Uppsala International Short Film Festival 2020, Göteborg Film Festival 2020

Get Ready With Me Student Academy Award 2018 Best Production at Munich Film School Festival 2019 Grand Prix at Cinemaforum, Warzaw 2019 Nominated for Best of the Year at VIMEO Staff Pick Premiere at VIMEO Nominated for Best Nordic Short at Nordisk Panorama 2019

Samlag/Intercourse Grand Prix - Best Short at UK Film Festival 2018 Nominated for Best of the Year at VIMEO Staff Pick Premiere at VIMEO World premiere at South by Southwest 2018

Make a Wish Nominated for Best Nordic Short at Nordisk Panorama 2016 Official selection at Aspen Shortsfest, Milano Film Festival, Flickerfest, Lübeck Nordic Film Days

I Follow You Best Short (honorary mention) Brest International Film Festival 2016

Åka Utför/Class Trip Best Children's Short in Oberhausen Short Film Festival 2015