07/11/2012 - Call Girl's European premiere opens the festival's 23rd edition

Films are fighting off the cold, the rain, and the night in Stockholm... And winning! The majestic Skandia Theatre last night hosted the crowded opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Stockholm Film Festival, in the presence of the event's director Git Scheynius and Sweden's minister of culture and sports Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth. During her speech, the Swedish government representative stressed that this year's programme contained a significant amount of films reflecting on, in her words, "the power games that can interfere at different levels of society". Both Scheynius and Liljeroth said that they were especially happy that so many films in the programme were directed by women, about a third of the 160 titles to be screened in the Scandinavian capital between November 7 and 18 (read more).

The hosts also highlighted the diversity of the selected projects from up to 40 different countries. The 20 titles in the official competition include productions from countries like Switzerland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Irak. The festival is to host nine world premieres, eight international premieres, and nine European premieres, with films such as Robert Zemeckis' Flight, starring Denzel Washington, Korean film The Land of Hope, and the documentary Love, Marilyn in this last group.

Last night's ceremony ended with the European premiere of Call Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a film co-produced by Sweden, Ireland, Norway, and Finland directed by Mikael Marcimain, starring Pernilla August, and screened last September in Toronto.

The Stockholm Film Festival's programme includes 14 sections, in which appear heavyweight titles such as Michael Haneke's Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile], Andrés Wood's Violeta, Leos Carax' Holy Motors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leos Carax
film profile], Pablo Berger's Snow White [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Berger
film profile], and Kim Ki-duk's Pietà.

The festival is also to hand special awards to octogenarian Swedish director Jan Troell (read more), French director Jacques Audiard, and American actor Willem Dafoe.

(Translated from Spanish)