The Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden launches its 48th edition on Friday, and for the first time in a decade, it will do so with a new artistic director.
Pia Lundberg, former advisor for cultural affairs at the Swedish Embassy in London, replaced Jonas Holmberg as artistic director last March. Holmberg stepped down from his job at the Kalmar Art Museum in eastern Sweden. Prior to her time in London, Lundberg served as Head of the International Department at the Swedish Film Institute from 2007 to 2018. Originally a journalist, she began her career as a writer and editor for several Swedish and international media outlets focusing on film and culture. She served as editor-in-chief of the Swedish film magazine Cinema for four years.
Lundberg's first edition opens with the premiere of Norwegian director Erik Svensson's latest film Safe House (Før mørket). Other highlights include visits by Thomas Vinterberg and Julie Delpy. The festival will also hold a rare retrospective of the work of Swedish director May Zetterling. The festival will screen her films Loving couples (1964), Night games (1966), and Girls (1968).
Below, Lundberg delves into programming her first edition as head of Gothenburg, competition with Sundance and Rotterdam, and what she describes as the “financial crisis” forcing “aspiring” Swedish filmmakers to do their work elsewhere.
The Gothenburg Festival takes place from January 24 to February 2.
DEADLINE: Pia, how did your appointment come about?
Pia Lundberg: I heard that Jonas was preparing to leave the festival. At the time, I was living in London. I returned to Sweden and was encouraged to apply for this position. So I did. I went through the hiring process and it was rigorous.
DEADLINE: What is the background to your film? You are perhaps best known internationally for leading cultural efforts at the Swedish Embassy in London.
Lundberg: I started as a journalist. One of the best jobs I ever had was as editor-in-chief of a film magazine published by the Stockholm International Film Festival, Göteborg's rival.
DEADLINE: I've heard a lot about the Stockholm Film Festival magazine. A few producers, including Jacob Abrahamson and Patrick Anderson at Milla Films, told me they started their careers there.
Lundberg: Yes, I worked for them, I was their editor. They were some of my best writers. The festival director in Stockholm at the time was always commenting on how great it was to find such great film professionals like Jacob and Patrick. She soon poached them for her programming department. It's happened several times. I was then the Swedish correspondent for Screen International and the Nordic correspondent for Variety magazine. I was then appointed to work as Head of the International Department at the Swedish Film Institute. I did that for 10 years before moving to London.
DEADLINE: How did you find your first year as artistic director?
Lundberg: It was a pleasure and a lot of fun. But everything is new. I felt like an early starter at everything. There is a great team working here, and one of the great things about this festival is that people keep coming back and stay for a long time, which is a good sign for the festival.
DEADLINE: And programming wise. How was that experience? How many movies have you watched?
Lundberg: The team watched approximately 3,000 films, and we narrowed it down to 270 films. It's a big show, but you fall in love with some movies and you always try to get the best one. It's always a competition of course with other festivals. One problem we had this year, which I was worried about, was Sundance. Traditionally, we hold the event the week after Sundance and in parallel with Rotterdam. This year, Sundance decided to postpone its festival by a week. So now we are parallel to Sundance and Rotterdam will follow us, creating more competition. But we work closely with Sundance. Nordic filmmakers usually move from Sundance to Gothenburg. Doing so in the same week this year has proven impossible for some, for obvious reasons. But we succeeded in two films.
DEADLINE: Are there any titles that are still burning because you can't lock them?
Lundberg: There is always competition. Some films you don't get because they get a great location in Berlin. But for Swedish and Nordic films, Gothenburg is also known to be a good launching pad, which is great for us. I was sad about Alicia Vikander Evaluation. We work closely with her in the film lab that she launched with the festival. I saw Evaluation In Toronto and was really hoping to get it since Alicia is from Gothenburg. It would have been a good movie to show here. But it premiered at the Stockholm Film Festival.
DEADLINE: You've done the same pre-festival interview with Jonas for the past few years. He often said that his job as artistic director was to grow the festival. What do you want to do with your term?
Lundberg: Jonas has done an amazing job during his ten years at the festival. I tried not to change things that were working. I think it's important that the festival sticks to its Nordic focus because that's what attracts an international audience. We also have a very vibrant and strong industrial division, which attracts a lot of international professionals. I believe that festivals are important events in today's society. It's about more than just reaching audiences. Films and festivals can help people think differently and be more open to new points of view. We live in very worrying times. That's partly why we chose “Disobedience” as our focus for this year's festival.
DEADLINE: Gothenburg has become famous for its exciting festivals. Will these stunts continue during your term? Nothing has been announced yet.
Lundberg: I love those stunts. We have been working on stunts and some things will happen during the festival.
DEADLINE: Can you tell us anything else? Maybe that's where we should pay attention.
Lundberg: You should pay attention to the opening ceremony and what may be said or said there.
DEADLINE: After a few years, what is your assessment of the current industry? Globally and locally. What are the trends in Sweden?
Lundberg: The trend in Sweden has been for money to be allocated to filmmaking to decrease for a few years. It has become a real problem. Sweden previously had a strong film policy, but it has deteriorated in the past decade. The Swedish Film Institute has little money to offer filmmakers. Inflation and recession also made matters worse. There is a real financial crisis in the Swedish film industry. The Swedish government appointed a specialized body to look into this matter. I'm really involved. I was hired before I joined the festival, so I've been working a lot on ideas for a new Swedish film policy with the hope of getting more money.
Over the past six months, I have been very impressed with the Danish and Norwegian projects. Production in those countries is now booming. Sweden is not in a very healthy situation, which is sad. We have many very talented filmmakers who we risk losing – for example, Magnus von Horn, the director who directed The Girl with the Needle. Magnus is actually from Gothenburg. He was educated at the National Film School of Poland. So he has one leg in Poland and one leg in Sweden. His second film was a Polish-Swedish co-production. but, The girl with the needlewas a majority Danish production, with Sweden as co-producer. I would like to see directors like Magnus get good funding in Sweden and make their films here. But we are currently in a situation where it is difficult for aspiring Swedish filmmakers to continue making films here. Ali Al-Abbasi is another person. It's a real struggle.
