Aniara

A giant passenger craft bound for Mars from a dying Earth is thrown off course after a collision with space debris, leading to panic and uncertainty in this thought-provoking otherworldly drama. When crew member Mimaroben (Emelie Jonsson) discovers a voyage due to take three weeks may now last several years, her fears for the mental well-being of all onboard brings her into conflict with the ship's increasingly unhinged captain (Arvin Kananian). Based on a 1956 work by Swedish poet laureate Harry Martinson, Aniara dwells on motifs of existential angst along the lines of earlier science-fiction offerings like Silent Running and Solaris ("the utter nonsense of living," as one character puts it), brought into even sharper focus by an intelligent computer that recalls HAL in 2001: a Space Odyssey. Special effects are used minimally, the directors instead concentrating on the fragile human emotions of the disparate travellers, among whom Jonsson especially impresses.