NEW YORK -

Director Tomas Alfredson receives a cash prize of $25,000 and extra marketing power for his coming-of-age film "Let the Right One In" by winning the Founder's Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival that concluded here in New York City this past weekend.

The film, which features a song recorded by Per Gessle, will not be released in Sweden until October. "The distributors in Sweden felt that this was not a 'summer film'… that the mood matched a colder time of year," he told The Daily Roxette.

During a question-and-answer session, we asked Alfredson about the Gessle song "Kvar i min bil," which – as Per had told TDR – is given a prominent place in the film. In one scene, the lead actor is shown putting the the 45rpm single on a record player so as to listen to it.

"Do you know Roxette?," he asked us (obviously not knowing what newspaper we represented). He then proceeded to explain that the male half of that group (Per) had had a popular group (Gyllene Tider) back in the '80s, the time period in which this movie is set. Looking for a song that fit that era, but not wanting to use an instantly recognizable song, he asked Per (who he said he was an acquaintance of), if he could write a new song in the same style as those earlier GT hits.

Novelist John Ajvide Lindquist adapted his best-seller for the screen to tell the beautifully touching tale of the first romance of 12-year-old Oskar and the girl next door, Eli (who also happens to be a vampire). The Tribeca jury commented that the film was exceptional "for its mesmerizing exploration of loneliness and alienation through a masterful reexamination of the vampire myth."

The film already has North American distribution in place.

Variety also writes that a US version is in the works. Horror film company Hammer Films and indie company Spitfire Pictures have bought the rights.