Frida Kempff

• Born — 1977 • Birthplace — Sala, Sweden • Occupation — Film director, screenwriter

Kempff was born in 1977 in Sala, Sweden.

After graduating from the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Kempff directed the documentary short film Bathing Micky about an elderly woman who is a member of her local bathing club. The short won the Prix du Jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Kempff's fiction short While You Were Gone about a young man's changing relationship with his father premiered in 2011, followed by the 2015 documentary short Circles about a man's return to Stockholm after serving through Doctors Without Borders. In 2015, Kempff's feature-length debut, Winter Buoy, premiered at that year's Gothenburg Film Festival. The documentary highlighted a public health program in Toronto supporting at-risk pregnant women. Kempff next directed two more fictional short films: Dear Kid (2016), about a mother who suspects a swimming coach is abusing one of his pupils, and Wolf (2017), about a young woman who encounters a wolf that threatens her family's sheep. Kempff's feature fiction film debut Knocking, based on a novella by Johan Theorin, debuted at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The Swedish Torpedo, Kempff's biographical period drama about Swedish woman Sally Bauer swimming the English Channel, will premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

• Year — English title — Original title — Notes — Ref. • 2010 — Bathing Micky — Micky Badar — Short film • 2011 — While You Were Gone — Medan du var borta — Short film • 2015 — Circles — Circlar — Short film • Winter Buoy — Vinterboj • 2016 — Dear Kid — Älskade unge — Short film • 2017 — Wolf — Varg — Short film • 2021 — Knocking — Knackningar • 2024 — The Swedish Torpedo — Den svenska torpedoen