Today we're revealing the festival's focus and announcing the first four films from the programme for 2013! For its 36th year, Göteborg International Film Festival has decided to spotlight Chilean film. 40 years after Pinochet's military coup d'état, Chile's film industry is once again blooming with a wave of young Chilean filmmakers finding success abroad.
During the military dictatorship, many people were persecuted and killed as a result of their political opinions. The o...
It is with great pleasure that the European Film Academy and EFA Productions announce the titles of the 47 films on this year’s selection list, the list of films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards 2012! With 31 European countries represented, the list once again illustrates the great diversity in European cinema.
In the 20 countries with the most EFA Members, these members have voted one national film directly into the selection list. To complete the list,...
Dragon Awards to Company Orheim and Corpo Celeste
This year's winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film is Kompani Orheim (Company Orheim), directed by Arild Andresen. Since 2011 the prize is worth the full sum of one million SEK and is thus one of the filmworld's biggest...
Tonight the 35th edition of Göteborg International Film Festival was inaugurated. Opening film was the award-winning Swedish drama Avalon with Johannes Brost in the lead role. The audience can now look forward to ten days full of film screenings, seminars and parties!Sweden's Minister of Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth held an opening speech before the curtain went up, as did the Festival’s managing director Michael Fellenius and artistic director Marit Kapla. The Mai Zetterling scholarship w...
The focus for the 35th Göteborg International Film Festival is the Arabic-speaking region. The idea for an Arabic focus was already born at the festival in 2011, during which the demonstrations at Tahrir Square in Cairo proceeded at full throttle. Eight films within this theme are currently ready for the coming festival in 2012.
Since December 2010, country after country in the Arab world has undergone political upheaval. International observers agree that the Arab Spring is...
Scandinavia's largest film festival's new CEO is Mikael Fellenius. He has 13 years experience from the Göteborg Opera, where he has worked as a Project Manager, Finance Manager, Sales Manager and Sponsorship Manager. He also has a background as a percussionist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and most recently Gothenburg Wind Orchestra, where he has worked as CEO since 2007.
- It is with great enthusiasm I look forward to lead one of the largest, most beloved and respected cult...
When the 34th Göteborg International Film Festival now enters its last day new records have been set once again. More than 130 600 tickets have been sold to 750 screenings of 443 films from 76 countries. This year the number of visitors is 32 620, an increase of 1.4 percent from last year.
- The increase of the number of tickets sold may seem marginal, with 220 more tickets and 435 more festival passes. But given the extremely high occupancy, and the record years we have behin...
The word ”Presence” will be the main theme for the 34th Göteborg International Film Festival taking place in January 2011. The theme influences the choice of film programme, seminars and the surrounding activities. “Presence” has been chosen to reflect upon contemporary currents, both in the society and in films and film-making.The Festival Director, Marit Kapla, about the theme:”In our digital era, the word presence has an extended meaning. You meet your friends more often on interne...
Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma celebrates its 39th edition from October 13 to 24. Once again this year, the Festival will delight you with a spectacular lineup, more than ever in tune with real-life changes in the film landscape and new technologies. Features and shorts, fiction and documentary, animation, retrospectives, tributes, professional panels, outdoor interactive installations and events will be served up over 12 days, for all audiences. Over 295 films from 51 countries, inclu...
“I love to be able to co-create this important film event,” says Festival Director Marit Kapla. “Göteborg International Film Festival is as important to the audience as to the filmmakers and film industry.”
Marit exudes positive energy when we meet for a chat at Hotel Riverton; the classic festival hotspot. And she has good reason to be happy: the first weekend was a success and there is much more to come before wrapping time.
“There are so many highlights,” ...
The documentary The Extaordinary Ordinary Life of José Gonzalez by Fredrik Egerstrand and Mikel Cee Karlssons opens the 33:rd Göteborg International Film Festival and is the first film in the Nordic Competition.
With a combination of video diary, surveillance camera, concert and tour footage as well as animations the filmmakers Mikel Cee Karlsson and Fredrik Egerstrand have followed one of Swedens most interesting artists - José Gonzalez.
- It is a fantastic film. Not only a portra...
During Göteborg International Film Festival 2010 we will take a closer look at the African continent. Among the highlighted films is Soul Boy from Kenya, produced by Tom Tykwer.
- There are so many things going on in the countries on the African continent and it is important to find and screen films portraying it, created by the people who live and work there, says Marit Kapla, festival director at Göteborg International Film Festival.
Last winter a Swedish delegation with repr...
Göteborg International Film Festival intensifies its search for new interesting filmmakers. The new competition Dragon Award New Talent is already up and running online. And the first competing films are uploaded.
Dragon Award for New Talent is the latest addition to the prestigious awards of Göteborg International Film Festival. It is an international short film competition and award. Everybody can join the competition and upload their films on the special competition site. The maximum l...
Göteborg International Film Festival intensifies its search for new interesting filmmakers. The new competition Dragon Award New Talent is already up and running online. And the first competing films are uploaded.Dragon Award for New Talent is the latest addition to the prestigious awards of Göteborg International Film Festival. It is an international short film competition and award. Everybody can join the competition and upload their films on the special competition site. The maximum length...
The word "Sharing" will be the main theme during the 33rd Göteborg International Film Festival.
- The idea came to mind when a political party called The Pirate Party got 7% of the Swedish votes in the election fo the EU Parliament and it became obvious that the immaterial rights on the Internet is a thing that really concerns people. Another source of inspiration is of course the Copenhagen Climate Conference, where the subject is the sharing of natural resources, says Fes...
Göteborg International Film Festival will be highly noticeable during the Cannes festival 2009: Nordic Film Market celebrates ten with the most heartful beach party at the Croisette, the film fund celebrates ten with "fund film" Min Ye screening in the official programme and festival director Marit Kapla will be one of five members in the jury of Un Certain Regard.
In a few days it is once again time for the most important film festival in the world.
This time with the festival d...
The Jury Un Certain regard 2009 will be presided by the Italian director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino, awarded the Jury Prize in 2008 for il Divo.
He will be surrounded by Julie Gayet (actress, France), Piers Handling (director of the Toronto Festival, Canada), Uma Da Cunha (journalist and festival programmer, India) and Marit Kapla (journalist, Göteborg Festival, Sweden).
The opening film of Un Certain Regard, programmed for Thursday May 14th in the Salle Debussy, will be Nobody...
The 32nd edition of The Göteborg International Film Festival broke a new record. In total of 124 500 tickets were sold for 700 screenings of 450 films from 65 different countries. 31 000 member ship cards were sold. This means that the festival manifests its strong position, and once again increases both ticket and membership sales. Over a three year period the memberships have increased by 29 %.During the closing press conference today Marit Kapla summed up her second year as festival director...
During the Göteborg International Film Festival 2009 we look in an eastern direction and focus on the film country Turkey. In the Turkish close up we see 10 new, exciting, Turkish films, counting 2 documentaries and 8 fiction films, ranging from thrillers to action to every day realism to poetic tales and roadmovies. On top of that: a retrospective devoted to Nuri Bilge Ceylan and his work.Turish film is full of vitality. The country produced the impressive sum of 40 films during the year of 20...
Gus Van Sant's Milk heads massive gay section – the countdown to Scandinavia's most important film festival can begin It has now been confirmed that Milk by American director Gus Van Sant, starring Sean Penn, will get its Swedish première at Göteborg International Film Festival 2009. Milk tells the story of the first openly gay politician Harvey Milk, who lived in San Francisco and was murdered in the end of the seventies by a conservative opponent. Others actors in the much spoken about hot...
The last day of the 31st Göteborg International Film Festival is here and time has come for som facts and figures. This year 124 000 tickets were sold for 750 screenings of 450 films from 67 different countries. 30 488 member ship cards were sold. This means that the festival manifests its strong position on the high - and even increases ticket sales with 6000 and memberships with 3 488.During the closing press conference today Marit Kapla summed up her first year as festival director. ”We ar...
The late Ingmar Bergman was very close and important to the Göteborg International Film Festival. He was the festival’s honorary president and showed great interest in the activities of the organisation.The festival is represented in the council of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation. – In the first place you feel very sad because a human being has passed away. It is always sad when a person dies, and it always comes unexpected. Of course my thoughts go out to his family, nearest and dearest. Per...
Yesterday was the last day of the fourth Bergman Week, the small and intimate festival, on the island of Fårö, co-arranged by Göteborg International Film Festival. Among this year’s guests were British actor and director Kenneth Branagh, Swedish Bergman actress Bibi Andersson and Swedish pianist Käbi Laretei. Branagh screened his film version of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute and introduced his Bergman favourite Fanny and Alexander. – My friends sometimes ask me if I am influenced by t...
When the 30th Göteborg International Film Festival counted its last day a new sales record was beaten again. This year 122 400 tickets were sold for 700 screenings of 450 films from 68 different countries. 27 000 member ship cards were sold. This means that the festival manifests its strong position on the hight level reached last year – and even increases ticket sales with 6400 and memberships with 2000. At the closing press conference festival director Jannike Åhlund announced that the suc...
