ABOUT US
Pipeline
Swedez will be the first feature film produced by Lotus Lane Films. Release is planned for 2026. Swedez is a political thriller and psychological horror film seasoned with comedy. It is based on real-life events that begin in October 2011. These real-life events suddenly become deadly terror in May 2012 and devolve into pure hell from October 2012. After survival, recovery, and finally exit from hell in early 2015, serious crimes resume. These new crimes remain unsuspected throughout the consequent Kakfaesque ordeal that ensues in August 2016. In fact, these crimes are not solved until December 2020.
Up until the film's climax, Swedez could be billed as a docudrama if not for the high entertainment value. Only the resolution and denouement are fiction.
Lotus Lane Films has backing for Swedez. Well-known directors and actors have expressed an interest in the film project. Investors seem eager to invest. Aside from cinematic art and entertainment, the powerful sociopolitical dimensions and relevations in Swedez are of standalone interest and value. They validate and reinforce the storyline. Swedez is a scathing indictment. Mark Twain wrote, "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, truth isn't." Some films, sci-fi films in particular, do not always stick to possibilities. Nevertheless, the criminal psychopathy, narcissism, ubiquitous corruption, sadism, and pure evil portrayed in Swedez cannot be made up. Indeed, it is all documented.
Lotus Lane’s first film project, Indian Easy Rider, was hatched in November 2011. Clearly, the inspiration was Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969). Another inspiration, which prompted development of Indian Easy Rider, was the short film The Hunter (2010), produced and directed by Basil who is based in London. Lotus Lane’s managing director played a part in this profound short. He also assisted the cameraman. Basil was to be director of Indian Easy Rider. India John is credited with the launch of the film project, its working title, and some of the storyline. Due to events depicted in Swedez, Indian Easy Rider was cancelled in October 2012, though not before having generated quite some buzz. The Times of India, the world’s largest English-language newspaper, published an article on Indian Easy Rider. Leading actresses in Bollywood (Mumbai) wanted parts. Bollywood’s leading cinematographer was also on board. He purchased a cutting-edge, top-of-the-line motion-picture camera to be mounted on a motorcycle. The setting for Indian Easy Rider was to be a road trip by bike (Royal Enfield) from Anjuna to Varanasi.
Pippi Large Rack, Agent 66 was hatched and developed in June 2012 in the midst of ongoing danger in Pokhara, Nepal. It is Lotus Lane’s second film project. Swedez and to a lesser extent Pippi Large Rack are regarded as reality cinema, which is a new film genre proposed by India John. As part of the development of Pippi Large Rack, some reality cinema was acted out via email, mail, and Skype from two 5-star maximum-security hotels cum life-saving sanctuaries in Pokhara. Feedback from these engagements critically impacted the screenwriter's life and are thus elements of Swedez. Due to events depicted in Swedez, Pippi Large Rack was suspended in October 2012. Development resumed in June 2016, albeit slowly. Pippi Large Rack is now an integrated sequel to Swedez. Development of Swedez first began in May 2019.
“May we exist in muddy water with purity, like a lotus.” - Zen verse
“The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud.” – Buddhist Proverb
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.”
Lotus Lane Films rises above the mud and is in full bloom.
Leadership
Lotus Lane Films is founded and managed by Pete Willenhag, whose multifaceted career has included 20+ years in financial services: Lehman Brothers, Smith Barney (Citigroup), Nordbanken (Nordea), VPC AB (Euroclear), and UC AB.
Willenhag developed, founded, and managed Global Liquidity Monitor Limited (GLM) for twelve years. GLM was an equity-strategy consultancy based in London with operations in Stockholm and Bangalore. GLM pioneered a successful insider-trading strategy for pan-European and Asia-Pac equity markets. Clients were proprietary-trading desks at leading investment banks and equity strategy at major fund managers. Primary clients were Goldman Sachs International (GSI) and Barclays Global Investors (BlackRock) in London.
Geoeconomics, a business project with a primary focus on emerging capital markets, was suspended in late 2018 and cancelled in April 2022 due to events depicted in Swedez. The businesses are still viable.
Willenhag taught and researched economics at Stockholm University. He co-authored a seminal research paper (355 citations) based on his own observation, which was published in Economics Letters, a top-ranked academic journal for economics. Professor Mats Persson, his teacher, colleague, and friend, wrote the paper, which was also published at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES), a leading research institute. He holds a MSc and BSc in Economics and a BSc in Economic History from Stockholm University. Prior to this, he studied astronomy at San Francisco State University.
He spent three summers commercial salmon fishing in Alaska: two summers on seiners (fishing boats) around Kodiak Island and along the Alaskan Peninsula, the first summer with a crew of 125 on a processing barge at sea, mostly in Bristol Bay. He served in both the Swedish Army and the U.S. Army. He worked at Gundlach-Bundschu Winery in Sonoma, California, the second-oldest winery in the USA, where he operated the crusher, pumps, hydrometer, and lees filter during harvest. He was offered a teaching position at Peking University in Beijing when he was twenty-one but opted for a full range of teaching in Taipei: kids, high school, university, businessmen, politicians. He has had 50+ jobs including retail, roofing, and research. He even worked for the Swedish National Police Board or Rikspolisstyrelsen. Two of his jobs in Hong Kong would probably be considered controversial by most. He has been in three films: in Taiwan, Hong Hong, and Goa, India.
He has lived in seven countries on three continents and visited 50+ countries on five continents. He has run marathons in Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. He has been to hell and back a few times and he should be dead. He should have died many times. In October 1987, he was detained and interrogated by the KGB in Moscow but he outsmarted them and was released. But he was in jail in Marin County (Larkspur), Bakersfield, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Pokhara. Not very smart!
In July 2012 after having survived much "excitement," he was taken from Pokhara to Kathmandu by an immigration officer with a police escort. He was detained for eight days together with 15-20 men in a holding cell at the Department of Immigration. One more day of Swede delay in issuing an emergency passport would have led to his transfer to prison - the notorious Central Jail in Kathmandu. Despite the name, it is a prison, not a jail. It takes 1-3 days to issue a Swedish emergency passport. The consul who saved him from incarceration in prison neither understood nor liked what the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (UD) in Stockholm or the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi were doing.
After returning to Stockholm towards the end of July 2012, his situation soon became worse than prison. He survived. He now understands and dislikes everything every Swede did...and tried to do.
Film is the best medium through which to portray all the crimes, all the corruption, all the hate, all the sadism, all the evil. Swedez is a new and brutal variation of familar themes. These themes and the Swede practitioners of these themes are met with contempt, humor, and ridicule. Indeed, the humiliation of the sad, sick Swedes is a fait accompli. These cowards have disgraced themselves. They have shamed themselves but have no shame. The three main antagonists in this true story are by no means the only perpetrators. Swedes are firm believers in solidarity. Indeed, the deeds of Swedes do need some heed.
location
Lotus Lane Films Ltd. is based in Mumbai, India.
Our team is currently located in Stockholm, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Mumbai.