Sweden’s Göteborg Movie Competition launches its forty eighth version this Friday, and for the primary time in a decade, it’s going to achieve this with a brand new Inventive Director.
Pia Lundberg, previously Counsellor for Cultural Affairs on the Embassy of Sweden in London, changed Jonas Holmberg as Inventive Director final March. Holmberg stepped down for a job on the Kalmar Artwork Museum in japanese Sweden. Earlier than her stint in London, Lundberg was Head of Worldwide on the Swedish Movie Institute from 2007 to 2018. Initially a journalist, she started her profession as a author and editor for numerous Swedish and worldwide media retailers specializing in movie and tradition. She served because the editor-in-chief of the Swedish movie journal Cinema for 4 years.
Lundberg’s first version opens with the debut screening of Norweigan filmmaker Eirik Svensson’s newest characteristic Protected Home (Før mørket). Different highlights embrace visits from Thomas Vinterberg and Julie Delpy. The competition can even maintain a uncommon retrospective of works by Swedish filmmaker Mai Zetterling. The competition will display her movies Loving {Couples} (1964), Evening Video games (1966), and The Ladies (1968).
Beneath, Lundberg digs into programming her first version as Göteborg head, competitors with Sundance and Rotterdam, and what she described because the “monetary disaster” that’s forcing “bold” Swedish filmmakers to make their work elsewhere.
Göteborg runs from January 24 to Feburary 2.
DEADLINE: Pia, how did your appointment come about?
PIA LUNDBERG: I heard Jonas was on the brink of go away the competition. On the time, I used to be residing in London. I returned to Sweden and was inspired to use for the place. So I did. I went via the recruitment course of and it was rigorous.
DEADLINE: What’s your movie background? You’re in all probability greatest identified internationally for main cultural efforts on the Swedish embassy in London.
LUNDBERG: I began as a journalist. Among the finest jobs I ever had was editor-in-chief of a movie journal printed by the Stockholm Worldwide Movie Competition, a competitor of Goteborg.
DEADLINE: I’ve heard loads about that Stockholm Movie Competition journal. Just a few producers, together with Jakob Abrahamsson and Patrik Andersson at Mylla Movies, advised me they began their careers there.
LUNDBERG: Sure, I employed them. I used to be their editor. They have been a few of my greatest writers. The competition director at Stockholm on the time would all the time touch upon how I discovered nice movie professionals like Jakob and Patrick. And shortly sufficient, she stole them for her programming division. That occurred just a few instances. I used to be then the Swedish correspondent for Display Worldwide and the Nordic correspondent for Selection. I used to be then recruited to function head of worldwide on the Swedish Movie Institute. I did that for 10 years earlier than transferring to London.
DEADLINE: How have you ever discovered your first yr as Inventive Director?
LUNDBERG: It’s been a pleasure and plenty of enjoyable. However the whole lot is new. I’ve felt a lot like an early newbie with the whole lot. There’s a beautiful staff working right here and one of many biggest issues about this competition is that folks preserve coming again they usually keep for a very long time, which is an effective signal for a competition.
DEADLINE: And programming-wise. How was that have? What number of movies did you see?
LUNDBERG: The staff noticed roughly 3000 movies, which we whittled all the way down to 270 movies. It’s an enormous programme, however you simply fall for some movies and all the time attempt to get one of the best ones. It’s all the time a contest, after all, with different festivals. One downside we had this yr, which I used to be fairly involved about, was Sundance. We’ve historically taken place the week after Sundance and parallel to Rotterdam. This yr Sundance determined to push their competition every week forward. So we’re now parallel to Sundance and Rotterdam shall be after us, which created much more competitors. However we’ve been working carefully with Sundance. Nordic filmmakers often go from Sundance to Gothenburg. Doing that in the identical week this yr has for apparent causes proved unattainable for some. However we’ve managed with a few movies.
DEADLINE: Are there any titles you’re nonetheless burning about since you couldn’t lock them?
LUNDBERG: There’s all the time competitors. Some movies you don’t get as a result of they get an incredible slot in Berlin. However for Swedish and Nordic movies, Göteborg can be identified to be a very good launch platform, which is nice for us. I used to be unhappy about Alicia Vikander’s The Evaluation. We work carefully along with her on a movie lab she launched with the competition. I noticed The Evaluation in Toronto and was very a lot hoping to get it since Alicia is from Gothenburg. It might have been a very good movie to display right here. However that had its premiere on the Stockholm Movie Competition.
DEADLINE: I did this identical pre-festival interview with Jonas over the previous few years. He usually mentioned his job as Inventive Director was to develop the competition. What do you wish to do along with your tenure?
LUNDBERG: Jonas did an incredible job in his 10 years on the competition. I’ve tried to not change the issues which have been working. I feel it’s vital that the competition clings to its Nordic focus as a result of that’s what brings within the worldwide crowd. Additionally, now we have a really vibrant and robust trade part, which attracts plenty of worldwide professionals. I feel festivals are vital occasions in as we speak’s society. It’s about extra than simply reaching out to audiences. Movies and festivals can assist individuals to assume in a different way and be extra open to new views. We reside in very worrying instances. That’s partly why we selected ‘Disobedience’ as our focus for this yr’s competition.
DEADLINE: Göteborg has turn into well-known for its competition ‘stunts’. Will these stunts proceed beneath your tenure? None have been introduced up to now.
LUNDBERG: I like these stunts. We have now been engaged on stunts and a few issues shall be occurring in the course of the competition.
DEADLINE: Are you able to inform us something extra? Maybe the place we ought to be paying consideration.
LUNDBERG: It’s best to take note of our opening ceremony and what could be mentioned or launched there.
DEADLINE: After some years away, what’s your evaluation of the present trade? Globally and domestically. What are the developments in Sweden?
LUNDBERG: The development in Sweden has been much less and fewer cash for filmmaking for just a few years. It’s turn into an actual downside. Sweden beforehand had a robust movie coverage, however it’s deteriorated previously decade. The Swedish Movie Institute has far too little cash handy out to filmmakers. Inflation and the recession have additionally exacerbated issues. There’s a actual monetary disaster within the Swedish movie trade. The Swedish authorities has appointed a specialist floor to look into this. I’m really concerned. I used to be appointed earlier than I joined the competition, so I’ve been working loads on concepts for a brand new Swedish movie coverage with hopefully some extra money.
Over the past 6 months, I’ve been very impressed with the Danish and Norwegian initiatives. Manufacturing in these international locations is blooming proper now. Sweden isn’t in a really wholesome place, which is unhappy. We have now so many extraordinarily proficient filmmakers and we threat shedding them — as an example, Magnus von Horn, the filmmaker who made The Woman with the Needle. Magnus is definitely from Gothenberg. He was educated on the nationwide movie faculty in Poland. So he has one leg in Poland and one other in Sweden. His second movie was a Polish-Swedish co-production. Nevertheless, The Woman with the Needle, was a majority Danish manufacturing, with Sweden as a co-producer. I might like to see filmmakers like Magnus being well-financed in Sweden and making their movies right here. However we’re at the moment in a scenario the place it’s too laborious for bold Swedish filmmakers to maintain making movies right here. Ali Abbasi is one other one. It’s an actual wrestle.
