For the first time since 1975, the Platinum Egg is being awarded not to a creative individual but rather to a creative collective. This year, the Platinum Academy gains five directors and a producer: Patrik von Krusenstjerna, Sam Larsson, Mats Lindberg, Pontus Löwenhielm, Ole Sanders and Richard Ulfvengren (Ulf Johansson was also a cofounder, but moved on at the turn of the millennium). The following is a brief sketch of a unique success story...Read more.

Traktor got their start when Sweden – the last country in Europe save for Albania – finally got nationwide commercial television. One might imagine it was the Albanian form of governance that put collectivist fantasies in the founders’ heads when they met in the scriptwriting program at Berghs School of Communication. In fact, it was no more ideologically complicated than that they got on well together – and realized that directing commercials is a complex career, not to mention lonely and risky. They decided to set aside their egos and share everything equally: income, expenses, successes and failures. (They are eternally grateful to their head teacher, film producer Anne Otto, who recognized the potential in their approach and supported them.) The boom was on in Tirana and in Stockholm. Traktor’s first office was Sam Larsson’s kitchen in Old Town Stockholm. Here they clipped together sketch films for agencies to use in pitches, usually for free. Soon, their classmates from Berghs began taking over at leading agencies and hiring them: Linus Karlsson, Paul Malmström, Jesper Kouthoofd … Sweden was not infrequently too cold and dark when compared with California, which offered warmth and light – and a wealth of actors. When American clients began to take notice of them, they packed a container with everything in their office on Storgatan, bundled up their families, babies and all, and moved to Santa Monica. There they remain today, over thirty years later. They earned a global reputation as “The Crazy Scandinavians” – who spoke offbeat English, called themselves a filmmaking collective and hired in goofballs in wooden clogs and Y-fronts to appear in their films. Over the years, Traktor has twice been named “the most award-winning director in the world” by The Gunn Report, and the number of Cannes Lions, D&AD Pencils and Swedish Golden Eggs they have won would probably fill another container. They have made a feature film (available on Apple TV) and music videos for Madonna, Fatboy Slim and Basement Jaxx. All six still read all the scripts, everybody contributes ideas and everybody reviews edits. If everybody gets excited about the same project, it’s rock, paper, scissors time. Ask them how long they plan to continue, and the response is a puzzled look.

– L.F.