15/11/2007

The 18th Stockholm Film Festival, which opens tonight with Josef Fares’ drama Leo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and closes on November 24 with the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, will have its biggest programme ever according to festival director Git Scheynius.

The 12 sections feature over 170 films from 40 countries, and over 40 filmmakers and talents will be on hand for “Face 2 Face” post-screening discussions.

A total of 13 awards will be given out, including the Bronze Horse for Best Film. Twenty international films are competing for the prestigious statuette, including Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Oleg Mutu
film profile] (released in Sweden by NonStop Entertainment), Marjanne Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile] (Sandrew Metronome), Anton Corbijn’s Control [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Atlantic) and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Scanbox Entertainment).

New this year is the Best Music Award, to be presented on November 24 by Howard Shore. The renowned film composer will then conduct a performance of the music of The Lord of the Rings in the Stockholm Concert Hall. Other great names celebrated this year are Ingmar Bergman, to whom the festival is dedicated; US filmmaker Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums), who will receive the Stockholm Visionary Award tomorrow Friday; and his compatriot Paul Schrader (scriptwriter of Taxi Driver), recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Several seminars will discuss current trends and the future of filmmaking. As Swedish films are struggling these days to find financing, cinemas and audiences, an interesting debate will be held on November 23 on “The future of quality films in Sweden and the new structures of ownership and forms of subsidy”.

Keynote speakers will include Cissi Elwin (Swedish Film Institute), Peter Possne (Sonet Film), Git Scheynius (Stockholm Film Festival), Rose-Marie Strand (Folkets Bio), Eivor Zimmerman (Sandrew Metronome) and Sture Johansen (SF Bio).