22/03/2007

The Swedish Film Institute has just announced the appointment of two women at the head of two of its key departments: film journalist Pia Lundberg will head the institute’s International Department as of April 15 and Linda Zachrison (advisor to Sweden's former Minister for Culture Leif Pagrotsky) the Audience Department.

Lundberg (36), who will take over from Staffan Grönberg, will be responsible for promoting Swedish feature films, shorts and documentaries around the world. She has ten years experience as a journalist, writing notably for trade publications Screen International and Variety.

As head of the Audience Department (a new position created following the SFI’s re-organisation last autumn), 33 year-old Zachrison will supervise the following sectors around the country: Information, International, Film archive (Cinemateket), Children and Youth and Film. Zachrison, who will join the SFI on May 1, has held a number of key positions in the world of theatre and entertainment, including artistic director of Stockholm's popular Park Theatre.

Cissi Elwin, CEO of the SFI, commented: "We're delighted and proud to have recruited Linda and Pia, who will now bring their expertise, energy and drive to our organisation. The screening and distribution of films is a hot topic right now, laying down a number of important strategic issues, especially the challenges and opportunities of the new digital technology. The International sector is also one of our top priorities and we have the entire film industry behind us in our objective to really spread Swedish films around the world".