Ruben Ostlund thinks awards recognition adds 'pressure' on directors

Ruben Ostlund admits that winning awards piles the "pressure" on filmmakers.

The 50-year-old director has won two Palme d'Or awards at the Cannes Film Festival for his films 'The Square' and 'Triangle of Sadness' but saw the recognition as a curse rather than a blessing.

Speaking in conversation with writer-director Niclas Larsson for Interview magazine, Ruben said: "It makes you more insecure, I would say. For me it was a hundred per cent like this. Winning one Golden Palm put more pressure on me, but winning two Golden Palms took away a lot of pressure because that means I wasn't a one-hit wonder. But then I also need pressure in order to perform."

The Swedish filmmaker has set himself the target of becoming the first person to win the Palme d'Or award for three consecutive movies.

Ruben said: "So that's why the goal with the next film is to win another Golden Palm. It's going to be the first time in the history of filmmaking that a director wins three Golden Palms in a row.

"For me, the goal is to create a bar that is pushed up and to create a goal. I think a lot of people consider me very cocky in a way, but for me, you say it because it creates something that makes it possible to push something."

Ostlund explained that his sense of "self-confidence" has grown from his success in the film industry as well as other social situations.

He said: "I think also true creative confidence and managing to achieve something and working with feature films and travelling the world and meeting people also developed my self-confidence.

"So it's something about getting confidence in a profession and then through that, experiencing the world and being put up in different social situations that makes you even more confident."