Pernilla August is set to direct her first feature, an adaptation of Swedish bestseller and award-winning novel Svinalangorna.

According to Variety, the film is budgeted at $3 million, and will be produced by Helena Danielsson and Ralph Karlsson for Heppfilm and Drak Film.

"I've always been interested in directing, ever since I did my first film part when I was 16," said the actress, who has played the mothers of Darth Vader, Jesus and Ingmar Bergman. Her well-received 2005 short Blindgangare led to her feature debut.

"Svinalangorna," written by Susanna Alakoski, is a semi-autobiographical story set in the 1970s that deals with growing up in a home riddled with abuse and alcoholism. In Sweden alone, it has sold more than 400,000 copies and won the August Award, Sweden's most prestigious literary prize.

The film stars Noomi Rapace.

Production starts at the end of August for an expected delivery in the fall of 2010.