The Swedish film Mamy Blue was a Bermuda International Film Festival favourite but crafting the film that the Swedish Film Institute said should never see the screen often seemed crazy even to its creators.

"We were in a little boat taking the sofa that the couple in the film make love on out to the island where most of the film takes place and it was raining and we had no money and we were cold. We were asking ourselves `why are we doing this?','' said Mamy Blue director Martin Lima de Faria.

His wife and partner Anette Skahlberg wrote the film which tells the story of a woman who loses her family and then tries to recreate it -- flying in the face of the law and all reason in the process.

The couple were so committed to their movie that when they could not find a distributor for it, the formed a distribution company themselves.

"Sixteen cinemas in Sweden screened it and in the end it was some kind of a success,'' said Ms Skahlberg.

But getting it on to the screen was the end rather than the extent of their battle. "We were told we couldn't do this movie. The Swedish film board told us they hoped it would never see the screen,'' said Ms Skahlberg.

"One reason was they thought the actress who played Lena was a little too old. They said we should try a young sexy girl, maybe 25 years old. But we couldn't compromise on that. We would not deal with that. But also there were objections that it wasn't a traditional story. It doesn't fit easily into a genre.'' And the film was challenging an important symbol in Sweden -- the picture perfect family.

"The family ideal is so powerful in Sweden. Everywhere you look you are presented with these images of happy, happy families,'' said Ms Skahlberg.

"Every other thought and feeling is that you have to try to get it. What we tried to show in the story is how far Lena (the lead character) will go to get it.'' And it was very important to the film makers that Lena be the driving character of the film.

"With American and Swedish film all the stories are so male dominated,'' said Ms Skahlberg. "We wanted to tell the story of a strong woman, a heroine or anti-heroine who could be a little crazy too.'' "It was a role reversal for the male and female characters,'' said Mr. Lima de Faria. "Torben (Lena's love interest) takes so much at face value and Lena is so well written. She can be so funny one minute and so evil the next.'' The two film makers say both men and women in the audience often do not know what to make of the Torben. Although he is constantly confronted with Lena's nuttiness, he overlooks the signs and falls in love.

"Men sometimes just hate him,'' said Mr. Lima de Faria. "And some woman say `oh I would love a man like that' while others say they would hate a man like that.'' The film represents the couple's first feature although they have paired up on many shorts in the past.

"We cooperate a lot,'' said Ms Skahlberg of how the pair work and live together. "We argue a lot but the solutions that we come to tend to work out very well.

"Often its like we have a telepathic instinct and we just think the same thing about something in the film and don't even have to discuss it.'' They are presently working on a series of five short films called Empathy and Prejudice which they hoped to screen collectively as a feature film. "It's sort of a drama, psychological thriller,'' said Mr. Lima de Faria. "We wanted to give the feeling of traveling.'' And the pair said they had enjoyed Bermuda so much they'd be happy to travel back here again. Perhaps to show Empathy and Prejudice at BIFF 2002.

Matching wits: Swedish filmmakers Martin Lima de Faria and Anette Skahlberg's "Mamy Blue'' was a favourite at this year's Bermuda International Film Festival. The flim explores traditional Swedish notions of family life and was produced despite the country's film board's reservations about its appeal.

Central to its appeal is the focus on an older woman's trials in life, setting the film apart from Swedish and Hollywood fare. The couple distributed the film after not getting any takers. It is de Faria and Skahlberg's first feature film