The 49th edition of the Göteborg Film Festival concluded on Sunday 1 February after ten days of lively activity. Saturday night’s awards ceremony brought the lucky winners to the forefront, and poised at the very top, The Last Resort was anointed Best Nordic Film and was consequently the recipient of the Dragon Award together with a sum of SEK 400,000 (€37,000) – a film prize among the world’s larger ones, provided by Region Västra Götaland and the City of Gothenburg.

The highly anticipated third feature by renowned Norwegian director Maria Sødahl (after Limbo [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] and Hope [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Maria Sødahl
fiche film]), the Danish-Norwegian co-production The Last Resort stars Esben Smed and Danica Curcic as a middle-class Danish couple on a Canary Islands holiday with their two young daughters. Here, their plans for some quality carefree time get severely disrupted, as do their lofty Scandinavian humanitarian ethics, when they (literally) run into an Afghan refugee and a chain of unsettling events ensues. “With pitch-perfect performances, a razor-sharp yet nuanced script and not a trace of sentimentality, the film is a mirror in which we see ourselves with devastating clarity: if we refuse to confront our own complicity in the cruelty unfolding around us right now, the love we claim to live by cannot save us – because the compassion that underpins it is conditional.” Thus concluded the heartfelt motivation by the Nordic Competition jury, headed up by British-US director Joshua Oppenheimer, who was ably abetted by Swiss cinematographer-director Fabrice Aragno, Swedish actress Lia Boysen, Swedish director Sanna Lenken and Hungarian cinematographer Gergely Pálos.

Another instance of “third time lucky” was the opening film of the festival, as Swede Marcus Carlsson’s third feature, The Quiet Beekeeper [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Marcus Carlsson
fiche film], scooped both the Audience Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film and the Dragon Award for Best Acting for Adam Lundgren’s lead and indeed quiet performance, offering “a delicate yet profound catharsis [involving] love and grief”, as per the jury’s declaration. Sweden also landed the Best Nordic Documentary Dragon Award for Malando Moon, Iván Blanco’s portrait of Douglas Leon, the immensely influential leader of the pioneering early-1990s Swedish hip-hop group Latin Kings, at that time operating under the moniker Dogge Doggelito.

The Danish coming-of-age drama Weightless [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Emilie Thalund
fiche film], premiering and winning the New Director Award at San Sebastián last year, won the Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award for DoP Louise McLaughlin as well as the FIPRESCI Award, accepted in person by director Emilie Thalund. The Ingmar Bergman Debut Award went to the animated title Bouchra [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], directed by Morocco’s Meriem Bennani and Israel’s Orian Barki, and enjoying a successful festival journey ever since its Toronto premiere last September. The Dragon Award for Best International Film again went to Morocco and Maryam Touzani’s Calle Málaga [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Maryam Touzani
fiche film], Touzani’s second win here, after getting the same award in 2023 for The Blue Caftan [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film].

Earlier during the festival, honorary awards were presented to Swedish actress Noomi Rapace and Polish director Agnieszka Holland, who both travelled to the Swedish west coast to get their splendid spoils, getting splendidly spoilt in the process.

Here is the full list of award winners at the 49th Göteborg Film Festival:

Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film
The Last Resort – Maria Sødahl (Denmark/Norway/Spain)

Dragon Award for Best Acting
Adam Lundgren – The Quiet Beekeeper [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Marcus Carlsson
fiche film] (Sweden)

FIPRESCI Award
Weightless [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Emilie Thalund
fiche film] – Emilie Thalund (Denmark)

Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award
Louise McLaughlin – Weightless

Audience Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film
The Quiet Beekeeper – Marcus Carlsson

Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary
Malandro Moon – Iván Blanco (Sweden)

The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award
Bouchra [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki (Italy/Morocco/USA)

Dragon Award for Best International Film
Calle Málaga [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Maryam Touzani
fiche film] – Maryam Touzani (France/Spain/Germany/Belgium/Morocco)

Youth Jury Dragon Award
My Father’s Shadow [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Akinola Davies Jr.
fiche film] – Akinola Davies Jr (UK/Nigeria/Ireland)

Draken Film Award
Uncle Ali and I – Sharab Mehrabi (Sweden)

Honorary Dragon Award
Agnieszka Holland

Nordic Honorary Dragon Award
Noomi Rapace

Mai Zetterling Grant
Peter Larsson

Startsladden Award for Best Short Film
All That Remains of Me – Christer Wahlberg (Sweden, short film)

Startsladden Audience Award
All That Remains of Me - Christer Wahlberg (short film)

Angelospriset (Swedish Church Film Prize)
The Patron – Julia Thelin (Sweden)