Summary
Artax Film is a Swedish film production company known primarily for documentaries and music videos. Its latest feature film was the critically acclaimed Adam the Apostate (2020) which depicts the life of Nergal: frontman of Behemoth, Poland’s biggest musical export. Artax can now unveil its latest major project.
Soul in Flames: The Adversarial Fires of Cold Meat Industry is a feature documentary chronicling the rise and fall of a legendary Swedish underground label. The film is told from the perspective of CMI’s enigmatic founder – Roger Karmanik, the eternal antagonist – and the artists whose achievements across multiple music scenes still, decades later, garner worldwide interest.
The groundwork has all been laid: research, interviews, and filming. Buried deep within this mountain of material waits an epic tale that will captivate an audience ranging from lifelong Cold Meat fanatics to anyone with a casual interest in music or human ingenuity. Bringing it to fruition will require colossal resources, so the film’s scope and depth are entirely dependent on the financial means available.
What we need / What you get
About 30 interviews have been conducted, including the label’s founder, former artists, and partners – plus prominent contemporary musicians and music journalists. We have obtained a wealth of flyers and catalogues, scans and analogue photos, as well as boxes of VHS tapes with live recordings and various behind-the-scenes footage.
All vintage material must be digitised and indexed, but random samples indicate a veritable treasure trove of Cold Meat relics. We also have countless hours of in-depth interviews waiting to be transcribed and evaluated. And then there is the whole editing and post-production process.
We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Soul in Flames has the potential to carve the name of Cold Meat Industry into the bedrock of musical history. The tools we have at our disposal will determine the depth and intricacy of the etchings.
What we need from you are the resources to complete this project with the level of ambition it deserves. Besides pre-orders for the film, you can show your support through a range of exclusive merch – shirts, patches, pins – and other custom items and offers available only via the crowdfunding campaign.
Cold Meat Industry
In 1987, Roger Karmanik – a veteran musician of the Swedish industrial scene – founded Cold Meat Industry. Over the next decade, CMI grew from a bedroom passion project into a world-renowned record company. As a testament to Karmanik’s expert curation, many of the previously unheard-of artists he signed rose to the top of their respective genres. Despite vastly different artistic expressions, the core roster is believed to share a common essence. In fact, the moniker “Cold Meat Industry” became an umbrella term for bands associated with a certain atmosphere.
Whilst the label grew exponentially, Karmanik’s underground mindset and work methods remained largely unchanged. Come the 2000s, many of the artists who started out on Cold Meat had left. Plagued by setbacks in both his personal and professional life – as well as deteriorating mental health – Roger Karmanik eventually hit a wall. CMI was declared bankrupt in 2011. And then there was silence.
In the frozen furnace of Cold Meat Industry, there is a vast darkness to explore. With your help, Soul in Flames will chronicle the adversarial fires that once tore through the underground music scene.