Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 is a bold archival documentary by Göran Hugo Olsson, maker of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 and Concerning Violence. This exhaustive work draws from the vaults of Sweden’s public television network SVT to assemble decades of raw news footage providing a cold war-era account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Featuring official interviews with statesmen like Abba Eban and David Ben-Gurion, to broadcasts with Yasser Arafat, to ordinary civilians grappling with conflict, the film forgoes commentary and lets the footage do the heavy lifting.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, and has gone other to play other festivals, including BFI and Busan. The U.S. theatrical release is currently set for October 10, 2025 opening at the Film Forum in New York City.
Here is the synopsis:
Israel Palestine on Swedish Television 1958–1989 is the definitive cinematic account of the background to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through unique and immersive footage. Long buried in the vaults of the Swedish Broadcast company/SVT archives, the film demonstrates how one country’s media perceived one of the world’s longest conflicts.
There is no other search entry that gives an equal amount of hits when searching the Swedish Broadcast company/SVT archives as “Israel/Palestine.” From 1958 to 1989, there was a public-service monopoly in Sweden, and the public broadcaster SVT’s reporting from Israel and Palestine was unique. Their reporters were constantly present in the war-affected region, documenting everything from everyday life to international crises.
This extensive footage makes up the material for the archival chronicler Göran Hugo Olsson’s (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Concerning Violence) new film, where footage of the rise of the Israeli state is interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. SVT follows Prime Minister Tage Erlander and his younger colleague Olof Palme on an official visit to Israel in 1963, a country they see as a social democratic ideal society. David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir receive them. The world-famous Israeli leaders show off their modest homes with impressive book collections. Strong ties are bound between Sweden and Israel, and to a large extent this is through the Swedish Social Democrats and the Israeli Labor Party.
While the reporters are guided by neutrality, it is evident that for the first ten years the perspective skews to overwhelming praise for the wonders of Israel. After the Six Day War in 1967, this begins to change. And in 1969, the word “Palestinian” appears for the first time.In subsequent years, much of the reporting focused on the “Palestinian Question”. In the ‘80s, attention is shrouded in disillusionment by war in Lebanon.
Reportage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden are parts of an exclusive archive material that have not been shown since first broadcast. Combined, they tell the story of a changing media landscape, providing tools to understand a conflict that has affected our time like few others.
“This is by far the most painful film that I – we – have ever done and five years in the making, it has unfortunately become heartbreakingly timely. While the material has been an absolute delight to work with, beautiful images with incredibly interesting characters mixed with human testimonies and geopolitical events—the course of history becomes increasingly agonising. We have really tried to show respect to both the originators of the footage and the participants, with the perhaps outmoded intent to promote notions such as peace and understanding,” said director Göran Hugo Olsson.
He added, “People ask me if the project or I changed after October 7. But it hasn’t. I still dislike both Hamas and Netanyahu as much as I did a year ago.”
Watch the official trailer for Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989, above.
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