Incident by a Bank
2010 · 12m · Sweden
Directed by Ruben Östlund
Tones: contemplative, darkly comic
A meticulous single-take reconstruction of a failed bank robbery in Stockholm, where 96 performers re-enact the chaotic 2006 incident in real time, capturing robbers, bystanders, and passersby with equal weight to reveal the absurdity of real-life crisis.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Östlund stages a real bank robbery for 96 extras in a single static shot — the bystanders get equal frame as the robbers, which is the whole point. Page is dead because Coproduction Office hates joy, but the concept alone earns it.
Östlund's choreographed re-enactment in a single take is a Tati-grade comedy of misdirected attention, and a key transitional work before Force Majeure. Vimeo has pulled the upload, alas.
One continuous real-time take, fixed wide-angle, 96 choreographed performers re-enacting a real Stockholm robbery - that's the entire film and the entire feat. Vimeo took it down on copyright grounds on March 13 2026, so the URL is dead.
Reviews
When you do it in a real-time shot, then guns going off is just as dramatic as those two main characters who are complaining about the cameras on their mobile phone.
A metafictional experiment that challenges true crime conventions and interrogates the ethics of filmmaking and documentation alongside criminal activity itself.
Festivals
- Berlin International Film Festival 2010, Golden Bear for Best Short Film
- Tampere International Short Film Festival 2010, Grand Prix, Audience Award, Best Fiction
- Cork International Film Festival 2010, Best European Short Film
- Aspen Shortsfest 2010, Special Jury Award
- Krakow Film Festival 2010, Best Short Film