Movies And Specials: 'Quiet In Class'

Synopsis: A shocking three-part docuseries centered on the discovery of child pornography tied to an international school in Karlstad, Sweden.

When the youth leader at the International English School in Karlstad was arrested in 2023, it soon became clear that his abuse had affected hundreds of children—and that it had been going on for a long time. Over eight years, he secretly filmed and photographed children at the school, material he then turned into child pornography and distributed online. In the documentary series Quiet In Class, we hear from the victims and their families about how they repeatedly warned the school about the man’s disturbing and inappropriate behavior—first as early as 2017, six years before he was finally arrested. We also hear from investigating police officers, experts, and the lawyers who represented more than 150 of the victims during the 2024 trial.

Despite the warnings, the youth leader was allowed to keep working at the school, which enabled him to continue secretly photographing minors. After his arrest and conviction for aggravated child pornography offenses, the school leadership has consistently claimed—despite at least seven separate warnings from 2017 onward—that they never received information about the man’s behavior and could not have acted differently. When the scandal erupted, the school hired an external crisis manager to review the case. In Quiet In Class, we hear him explain how he immediately sensed that something was wrong, and how his critical report was never made public.

The documentary series also recounts the unlikely story of how one of the warnings came from another pedophile. This man, an entrepreneur from another city, first warned both the local newspaper and the school about the youth leader. But when his warnings led nowhere, he contacted the youth leader directly. We hear the entrepreneur himself describe how everything then spiraled into a web of blackmail, collaboration, and new abuses. (Courtesy HBO Max, 2025)

The Cast:

Production Credits:
Executive producer for HBO Max is Karin Moreno, and Quiet In Class is produced by Alaska Film & TV. Producer is Stefan Stridh, with Fredrik Öjes as editor.