Göteborg makes splash at 30th jubilee
by Annika Pham
The Göteborg International Film Festival the biggest public festival in Scandinavia, which attracts some 115,000 visitors each year, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with 450 short, feature and documentary films from 65 countries, to be screened from January 26-February 5.
Finnish filmmaker Klaus Härö (Mother of Mine [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) will open the festival with his new drama The New Man, on the controversial subject of forced sterilization in Sweden in the 1950s. The film is one of eight competing for the Nordic Film Award, which comes with a SEK 100,000 (€11,000) cash prize.
The other contenders include four directorial debuts: Danish filmmaker Peter Schønau Fog’s The Art of Crying [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Swedish filmmakers Nanna Huolman’s That Special Summer (Kid Svensk) and Johan Kling’s Darling [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and Danish director Juha Koiranen’s Rock’n Roll Never Dies [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Rounding out the selection is Prague by Denmark’s Ole Christian Madsen and The Bothersome Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jens Lien
interview: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
film profile] by Norway’s Jens Lien.
As Sweden’s biggest film platform and display of its yearly production output, Göteborg will present seven world premieres, including Mind the Gap, the directorial debut of Swedish star actress Helena Bergström, Fishy, and Leaps and Bounds (Hoppet), Norwegian director Petter Næss’s new film, which was shot in Sweden and will close the festival.
Some 16 other sections are on the menu and stars announced include Stellan Skarsgård, Milos Forman, Saul Zaentz and Jean-Claude Carrière, who will introduce Goya’s Ghosts as part of the Gala programme, and Andrea Arnold (Red Road [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Joachim Trier (Reprise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
interview: Karin Julsrud
film profile]), who will compete for the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award.
Business will be conducted in parallel from Feburary 1-4 at the Nordic Film Market.
The red carpet will start to unfold tonight for Ylva Gustafsson and Catti Edfeldt’s film Kidz in Da Hood [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Förortsungar), which will receive the Göteborg Big Film Award (Audience Award) at the Guldbagge awards ceremony in Stockholm.
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