Sweden’s Göteborg Movie Competition launches its forty eighth version this Friday, and for the primary time in a decade, it can achieve this with a brand new Creative Director.
Pia Lundberg, previously Counsellor for Cultural Affairs on the Embassy of Sweden in London, changed Jonas Holmberg as Creative Director final March. Holmberg stepped down for a job on the Kalmar Artwork Museum in jap 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 function Protected Home (Før mørket). Different highlights embrace visits from Thomas Vinterberg and Julie Delpy. The pageant may even maintain a uncommon retrospective of works by Swedish filmmaker Mai Zetterling. The pageant will display screen her movies Loving {Couples} (1964), Night time Video games (1966), and The Women (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 depart the pageant. 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 by way of the recruitment course of and it was rigorous.
DEADLINE: What’s your movie background? You’re most likely greatest identified internationally for main cultural efforts on the Swedish embassy in London.
LUNDBERG: I began as a journalist. Top-of-the-line 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 lots about that Stockholm Movie Competition journal. A couple of producers, together with Jakob Abrahamsson and Patrik Andersson at Mylla Movies, informed 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 pageant director at Stockholm on the time would at all times touch upon how I discovered nice movie professionals like Jakob and Patrick. And shortly sufficient, she stole them for her programming division. That occurred a couple of instances. I used to be then the Swedish correspondent for Display screen 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 12 months as Creative Director?
LUNDBERG: It’s been a pleasure and a variety of enjoyable. However all the things is new. I’ve felt a lot like an early newbie with all the things. There’s an exquisite group working right here and one of many biggest issues about this pageant is that individuals maintain coming again they usually keep for a very long time, which is an efficient signal for a pageant.
DEADLINE: And programming-wise. How was that have? What number of movies did you see?
LUNDBERG: The group noticed roughly 3000 movies, which we whittled all the way down to 270 movies. It’s a giant programme, however you simply fall for some movies and at all times attempt to get the most effective ones. It’s at all times a contest, after all, with different festivals. One downside we had this 12 months, which I used to be fairly involved about, was Sundance. We’ve historically taken place the week after Sundance and parallel to Rotterdam. This 12 months Sundance determined to push their pageant per 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 normally go from Sundance to Gothenburg. Doing that in the identical week this 12 months has for apparent causes proved unimaginable 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 at all times competitors. Some movies you don’t get as a result of they get an important slot in Berlin. However for Swedish and Nordic movies, Göteborg can be identified to be a great 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 pageant. 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 great movie to display screen right here. However that had its premiere on the Stockholm Movie Competition.
DEADLINE: I did this similar pre-festival interview with Jonas over the previous few years. He usually stated his job as Creative Director was to develop the pageant. What do you wish to do along with your tenure?
LUNDBERG: Jonas did an incredible job in his 10 years on the pageant. I’ve tried to not change the issues which were working. I feel it’s necessary that the pageant 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 a variety of worldwide professionals. I feel festivals are necessary occasions in at the moment’s society. It’s about extra than simply reaching out to audiences. Movies and festivals might help individuals to assume in another way and be extra open to new views. We dwell in very worrying instances. That’s partly why we selected ‘Disobedience’ as our focus for this 12 months’s pageant.
DEADLINE: Göteborg has turn into well-known for its pageant ‘stunts’. Will these stunts proceed below your tenure? None have been introduced up to now.
LUNDBERG: I really like these stunts. We’ve been engaged on stunts and a few issues shall be occurring in the course of the pageant.
DEADLINE: Are you able to inform us something extra? Maybe the place we needs to be paying consideration.
LUNDBERG: You need to take note of our opening ceremony and what could be stated or launched there.
DEADLINE: After some years away, what’s your evaluation of the present trade? Globally and regionally. What are the developments in Sweden?
LUNDBERG: The development in Sweden has been much less and fewer cash for filmmaking for a couple of years. It’s turn into an actual downside. Sweden beforehand had a powerful movie coverage, nevertheless it’s deteriorated previously decade. The Swedish Movie Institute has far too little cash at hand 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 truly concerned. I used to be appointed earlier than I joined the pageant, so I’ve been working lots on concepts for a brand new Swedish movie coverage with hopefully some more cash.
During the last 6 months, I’ve been very impressed with the Danish and Norwegian tasks. Manufacturing in these nations is blooming proper now. Sweden just isn’t in a really wholesome place, which is unhappy. We’ve so many extraordinarily gifted filmmakers and we danger shedding them — as an example, Magnus von Horn, the filmmaker who made The Lady with the Needle. Magnus is definitely from Gothenberg. He was educated on the nationwide movie college in Poland. So he has one leg in Poland and one other in Sweden. His second movie was a Polish-Swedish co-production. Nonetheless, The Lady with the Needle, was a majority Danish manufacturing, with Sweden as a co-producer. I’d 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 state of affairs the place it’s too arduous for bold Swedish filmmakers to maintain making movies right here. Ali Abbasi is one other one. It’s an actual battle.
