16/11/2011

Deputy CEO and head of the audience and promotion department of the Swedish Film Institute Bengt Toll has decided to leave Stockholm’s Film House and return to his home city of Göteborg, where he will find another corner of the film industry.

”With the new chief in place, and the institute about to enter a new stage, I think it is time to move on,” said Toll, who has acted as managing director for almost a year between the departure of Cissi Elwin-Frenkel and the arrival of Anna Serner. ”After three years of pendling between Göteborg and Stockholm I look forward to spending more time at home, and I will obviously stay in the film business.”

”I am sorry Toll has taken this decision, and even if it isunderstandable it is a loss for the institute,” added Chairman of the Board Håkon Tidlund. ”He has done a great job here, especially during the last year when as an interim ceo he has had a strong responsibility.”

A genuine Göteborger, Toll made his name as a local pop star, before he joined the opera at the Storan theatre. After eight years with public broadcaster Sveriges Radio, where – among others - he was leader of the Radio Theatre, he went into cinema, launching his own production company. Since the 1990s he was involved in the Göteborg International Film Festival, becoming chairman of the board in 2004.

For six years Toll was head of development and TV production at Swedish regional film centre, Film i Väst, then, in 2009, he moved to the institute to work with audience and promotion. He was chairman of Cine-Regio, the European network of regional film funds.