12/01/2012

Eight Nordic films, including three from native Sweden, are contenders for the top prize – a Dragon trophy and a million Swedish crowns (€113,000) – at the 35th Göteborg International Film Festival, which runs between January 27-February.

Austrian director Jessica Hausner will chair the Nordic jury, and both the festival and the competition will be launched by Swedish director Patrik Eklund’s Flicker (pictured). The selection includes Swedish director Ester Martin Bergsmark’s She Male Snails, Norwegian director Arild Andresen’s Company Orheim and Jens Lien’s Sons of Norway [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Danish director Mads Matthiesen’s Teddy Bear [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Finnish director Saara Cantell’s Stars Above and Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson’s Either Way.

The largest showcase in Scandinavia (with 200,000 admissions), Göteborg’s 2012 programme lists 429 films from 80 countries, 750 screenings, 40 master classes, seminars, conferences, and exhibitions. Thisyear’s festival focus illuminates Arabian cinema, with 13 new films (plus nine in retrospective series), and Hidden Histories from China, organised in collaboration with the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos will be head of the jury for the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, which will find its winner among Liza Johnson (USA), Gust Van den Berghe and Nicolas Provost (Belgium), Yulene Olaizola (Mexico), Marjane Satrapi (France), Alice Rohrwacher (Italy), Andrew Haigh (UK), and Slava Ross (Russia). First prize is a visit to the 2012 Bergman Week and an engraved stone from his Fårö beach.

Lanthimos will show his new film, Alps: "He and Hausner are among the large contingency af international guests we are expecting, also US director Alexander Payne (with The Descendants, and UK director Michael Winterbottom, who will receive the Honorary Dragon Award after screening Trishna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Freida Pinto and Michael Wi…
interview: Riz Ahmed
film profile],” said the festival’s Artistic Director Marit Kapla.

The Chinese sidebar comprises a package of new independent documentaries from China, as well as old and recent films by Chinese director Ai Weiwei, who was arrested and imprisoned by the government last spring. Three Chinese directors will meet the audiences: Ji Dan, Xu Tong and Zhang Zanbo. Göteborg will not miss the presentation of Sweden’s complete film year, nor the traditional Northern Lights, this time unspooling 30 films from Denmark.