Facts: Gothenburg Film Festival
Held January 27–February 5. The theme of the festival is homecoming.
Nine films compete for the prize for best Nordic film, including “Exodus” by Abbe Hassan, which opens the festival, and “Dogborn” by Isabella Carbonell, in which Silvana Imam makes her feature film debut.
The honorary award goes to director Jan Troell, 91, who is coming to Gothenburg.
50 films from the program can be viewed on the festival’s online service.
Among the stars coming to the festival are newly appointed honorary chairman Ruben Östlund, Zar Amir Ebrahimi (currently in “Holy spider”) as well as directors Marie Kreutzer (“Corsett”), Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Kaftan”) and Emily Atef (“Hélène & Mathieu “).
Some other films that have a Swedish premiere:
“Empire” – about the Danish slave history in the West Indies.
“Munch” – four different actors portray the Norwegian painter.
“Passengers in the night” – romantic Paris drama with Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“Kungen” – Karin af Klintberg’s documentary about Carl XVI Gustaf.
“Women talking” – Sarah Polley’s drama about oppressing women in a religious sect.
“Aftersun” – Paul Mescal in critically acclaimed father-daughter drama.
The program for the Gothenburg Film Festival 27 January–5 February is presented. This year’s theme is “homecoming”. This is manifested, among other things, with the film that opens the festival, the Swedish director Abbe Hassan’s “Exodus”, about a twelve-year-old girl who is forced to rely on a human smuggler to get to Sweden.
— It’s a classic cinematic motif that has always been part of film history, but which may take on new meanings in our time with global migration and not least with the fact that we have a war in Europe and all the refugees that come from it, says Jonas Holmberg.
Digital platform
But you can also see “homecoming” as a hope that the audience will find their way back “home” to the cinemas after two years of pandemic restrictions.
Jonas Holmberg, artistic director of the Gothenburg Film Festival, is grateful that the audience can be welcomed back without pandemic restrictions. Archive image.
— It was around this time last year that the restrictions came back with omicron. It was terrible. Now it’s the first time with a year behind us without restrictions, so we certainly hope that the audience will want to come back to the cinemas.
The film festival in Gothenburg, however, continues to invest in its digital platform for film lovers who want to view the selection remotely. 50 of the films will be available to watch online. The concept has become too popular to stop.
– There are so many people who contact us from all over Sweden and say that we must continue and in a time when there are many films that have difficulty meeting an audience, we cannot throw it away, says Jonas Holmberg.
Troell is praised
Jan Troell receives the festival’s honorary Nordic Honorary Dragon Award. The 91-year-old director will come to Gothenburg to receive the award and meet the audience.
Jonas Holmberg says that Troell’s film series about “The Immigrants” and “The Settlers” are fundamental homecoming stories and thus fit into the festival’s theme.
— When talking about leaving a home and looking for a new one, that story is the constant reference in all conversations. Therefore, it felt especially appropriate to pay tribute to him this year.