“An irresistibly delicious story of community, self-discovery, renewal... and the power of baked goods”
- FILM FACTUAL
S Y N O P S I S :
In this charming feature length documentary, Meg Ray, owner of the beloved San Franciscan Miette pastry empire, embarks on an epic adventure to help save a magical café and bakery located on the remote Stockholm archipelago island of Rödlöga.
A four hour boat ride from Stockholm, far out in the middle of the Baltic Sea, many lessons lay in store for Meg in this irresistible ‘live, bake, love’ story about community, the magical alchemy of sourdough, and the rediscovery of lost joys.
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With no running water or electricity, and only seven days to open Café Truten before the Swedish holiday of Midsummer, Meg and her teenage staff are pushed to their limits. Will they be able to dust off winter to open in time?
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Directed and produced by the award winning filmmaker duo, Sarah Justine Kerruish & Matt Maude, 'Sweet Störy' opens the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 19th, 2025.
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For tickets, please visit:
www.sonomafilmfest.org/festival/schedule/sweet-story
O U R C H A R A C T E R S :
Meg is the founder and chef behind Miette, a patisserie recognized by Condé Nast as one of the top ten pastry shops in the world. A self-taught baker with a taste for adventure, Meg has been making cakes since she was a small child.
Inspired by her lifelong passion for French pastries, Meg began Miette at the Berkeley Farmers' Market in the fall of 2001. Quickly expanding to a large bakery, five shops, and a thriving online business, her journey towards Swedish baking began when she discovered Café Truten whilst sailing throughout the Stockholm archipelago. “When I first walked into that cafe, I really felt destiny. I had met destiny.”
The rest, as they say, is cinnamon-dusted history.
Her experiences making and baking on the island of Rödlöga have culminated in the creation of her memoir and cookbook, 'Cafe at the Edge of the World'.
M E G R A Y
M A R I A A U L É N T H O M M S O N
An islander since 1985, Maria has been the manager of the only store in this remote part of the Stockholm Archipelago for the last seventeen years. The Rödlögaboden (island store), Gammelstugan (island museum), and Café Truten (island bakery) are all owned by an association of islanders, a group of passionate volunteers that play a critical role in the protection and management of the archipelago, tackling the issues of sustainability, climate change, and reduction of pollution, preserve this unique way of life for the next generation.
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“When I first visited Rödlöga I didn’t just fall in love visiting my husband there - I fell in love with the island as well. It captures your heart and soul in a special way.”
Maria seemingly knows everyone in this part of the world, and it was through her unconditional support of the project that we were able to film on the island for multiple summers.
A resident of Rödlöga from birth, Malin has worked at the café since she was twelve years old. Like many teenagers on the island, she began work at the bakery as an apprentice, learning to make sandwiches and cakes, before graduating every year to more complicated breads and pastries.
Now 23, Malin is the manager and head baker at the Café. But to Malin and her friends, Truten is more than just a place to serve coffee and cakes, it is the social hub of the island and the meeting point where youngsters gather together to hang out after the cafe is closed.
Outside of the summer months, Malin cares for young people with special needs in Stockholm.
Fun fact: Malin has two tattoos of Rödlöga on her arm.
M A L I N E L F S T R Ö M
T H E I S L A N D :
Located four hours ferry from Stockholm, the tiny archipelago island of Rödlöga is an oasis of calm and tranquillity. In many ways, much of life here resembles the life of early 1900s. A world in which there is no running water and sparse electricity (power is generated here through solar or propane). Poor mobile reception creates a gentle, uninterrupted harmony where humanity lives alongside, rather against, nature. For eight weeks each year, Swedes from across the country, travel up to their summer homes dotted around the Archipelago, repairing damage from the harsh winters before easing into two months of restorative vacationing.
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Increasingly under threat by the effects of climate change, the Archipelago needs help to survive.
To find out more about Rödlöga, how to visit and to support local causes, please visit The Island section of the website
"There are two types of people that arrive onto Rödlöga.
The first walk around for an hour, check their watches, have some cake, a coffee and never come back.
The other type of people arrive and never want to leave".
- M A R I A A U L É N T H O M M S O N
On the idyllic island of Rödlöga, at the farthest end of the Stockholm archipelago lies Café Truten. A summer café where the focus is on homemade and handmade food in a unique range, in a unique location, on the outermost edge of the sea.
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Managed and run by the island's youth, Café Truten also acts as a summer school, offering paid apprenticeships for the island's young people.
The money generated by the Café Truten is essential to the Rödlöga's survival, funding local repairs, taxes and charity work.
To find out more about Café Truten, please visit their website:
T H E C A F E :
T H E F I L M M A K E R S :
Sarah is a great believer in the power of stories to heal and to help bring change in our world. She has directed and written several films and TV shows, which have been distributed worldwide and won many awards, including a Peabody award and an Emmy nomination. Her last feature documentary, ‘General Magic’, a Showtime, National Geographic and Canal+ Release, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2019 and 2020, General Magic was the number #1 best selling documentary on iTunes.
In addition to completing and sharing Sweet Störy, Sarah is currently working with producer / director Matt Maude on a top secret documentary about UK politics.
S A R A H J U S T I N E K E R R U I S H
D I R E C T O R / P R O D U C E R / S T O R Y C R E A T O R
M A T T M A U D E
Matt is a multi award-winning director, producer, cinematographer and screenwriter. After starring in the UK ITV soap Crossroads in his teenage years, Matt moved behind the camera, directing commercials, films and projects for TV. Previously a member of the UK’s regional screen agencies ‘Super 8’ - one of eight filmmakers to watch, Matt is the winner of twelve best feature documentary awards and three fiction awards. At the Tribeca Film Festival, Matt was nominated for the Best New Director Award for his directorial debut film ‘General Magic’.
A part time lecturer, Matt is the founder of Write Club - the writer's development program for Soho House x Soho Works, The House of Koko and The Royal Academy of Arts.
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D I R E C T O R / P R O D U C E R / E D I T O R / D O P
Graduating from high school in 2021, Cameron has accumulated two feature film editor credits and three best documentary awards in the last four years. Heading up the post-production department at Left Eye Blind Productions, Cameron is working with Sarah and Matt on their next documentary feature series.
An accomplished screenwriter in her own right, Cameron has written several feature scripts and is currently co-writing an animated television series, ‘New Jiji’ alongside the British & Nigerian filmmaker, Bola Olashore.
C A M E R O N J A I M E S
E D I T O R & C I N E M A T O G R A P H E R
V K J A R R E T T
V is the writer-director of several award winning short films. After beginning her career as the production assistant for the Gracie Allen Award-winning producer Lisa Quijano Wolfinger, V is currently studying Creative Writing at the American University of Paris whilst writing her first debut novel. ‘Sweet Störy’ is V's first feature-length project.
A S S O C I A T E P R O D U C E R & C I N E M A T O G R A P H E R
Michael is a journalist, literary critic, political activist and Silicon Valley lawyer with a focus on how storytelling can be used to create a more just and inclusive world. Before co-founding Spellbound Productions, Mike was a long time partner at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto, where he worked on some of the most interesting cases in recent history, including spinning General Magic out of Apple, helping set up The Intercept, working on Pixar movie deals, and settling Cisco’s lawsuit against Huawei.
His varied background includes teaching at Harvey Mudd College as an English professor, co-endowing a chair in Dickens studies at UC Santa Cruz, reporting for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, reviewing books for national newspapers and magazines, being a contributing editor of The American Lawyer and serving as the chairman on the board of The American Prospect.
As the film’s executive producer, Mike works closely with the creative team on finessing the narrative and connects the legal dots with the financial tees.
M I C H A E L S T E R N
E X E C U T I V E P R O D U C E R
