Belgian director brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who have twice won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival (with 1999’s Rosetta and 2005’s The Child [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
scheda film]), will receive the Honorary Dragon Award at the 40^th Göteborg International Film Festival – the largest film gathering in Scandinavia – which will run between 27 January and 6 February 2017. The presentation of the prize will take place at the Dragon Award ceremony on 4 February.

The Dardennes’ latest feature, The Unknown Girl [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Jean-Pierre e Luc Dardenne
scheda film] – which was launched this year on the Côte d’Azur – will have its Swedish premiere in the showcase ahead of its TriArt Film release, and artistic director Jonas Holmberg has also programmed a retrospective of their films, adding a series of their early, rarely screened documentaries. Starring French actress Adèle Haenel, The Unknown Girl is the story of a young general practitioner who feels guilty for not having opened her door to a girl who is found dead shortly after.

“The Dardenne brothers may be the most influential filmmakers of the last 20 years. Their emblematic fusion of stark social realism, sublime drama and resolute loyalty towards the vulnerable members of society has shaped the style of a whole generation of filmmakers and evoked some of the foremost works of modern film history,” said Holmberg, whose 2017 anniversary catalogue is no smaller than last year’s, when an audience of more than 30,000 watched 450 films from 84 countries, and 21,128 tickets were sold to other film activities.

“We are the top financier of many cool, boundary-breaking Nordic TV drama series. The Göteborg Film Festival introduced its TV Drama Vision platform before others, so it was obvious to choose the festival as our partner in this,” explained Petri Kemppinen, CEO of the Oslo-based Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which will cover Göteborg’s new €20,000 Nordic Prize for Best TV Drama Script, to be awarded for the first time on 2 February (the second day of the TV Drama Vision programme). An international jury will select the winner from among ten nominated series.

For the first time, the event will be headed by Mirja Wester, who started working for the festival in 2001, with an MA in Film Production and a BA in Business Administration. Besides holding different positions in the organisation (most recently festival manager), she has been responsible for short films in the Swedish Film Institute’s International Department; she has also herself produced Swedish director Gabriela Pichler’s short Scratches (2008), which won the top prize at Karlovy Vary and was awarded a Guldbagge, among other films.