Metropia takes place in the not-so-distant future. The world is running out of oil and the undergrounds have been connected into a gigantic subway network beneath Europe. Whenever Roger from Stockholm enters this system he hears a stranger's voice in his head. He looks to the mysterious Nina to help him escape the disturbing web of the Metro, but the farther they travel, the deeper he's involved in a dark conspiracy.

Jury motivation: Reminiscing about already well-known stories and visual worlds, Metropia creates a tradition-conscious but entirely singular animated vision of an imminent future.  Tarik Saleh depicts a Europe in darkest dystopian black, where seasons have ceased to exist and fossil fuels have run dry. He portrays how both inner and outer communication systems have been integrated under the control of the powers that be.  In his "animation noir" the film technique runs hand in hand with the dangerous game about a little man in love trouble, a femme fatale with a gun in her purse and the figures of power.  At the same time recognizable and deeply surprising, hard to catch and catching; Metropia is a film with singular visual strength and long-term effect.

Swedish Jury: Eva af Geijerstam & Tony Forsberg.