Jonas Holmberg, the artistic director of Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival, has announced that he will step down after his 10th anniversary with the festival next year. Holmberg took over as artistic director in 2014, succeeding Marit Kapla. During his tenure, he made significant contributions to the festival, including achieving full gender parity in the festival lineup in 2020 by featuring an equal number of films directed by men and women.
Aside from promoting diversity and equality, Holmberg also gained attention for his headline-grabbing gimmicks and social experiments. In 2019, he introduced “coffin cinema,” where viewers were locked into specially designed sarcophagi with films projected onto the inside of the casket. In 2021, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized an event of extreme social distancing where a single film fan spent a week alone watching movies in a converted lighthouse on a rocky island off Sweden’s west coast. In the following year, Holmberg invited a professional hypnotist to perform mass hypnosis on gala audiences, breaking the spell only after the screening ended.
Holmberg has not only brought innovative ideas to the festival but has also transformed Göteborg into a hybrid event. In addition to the traditional in-person screenings, he implemented a digital platform and launched Draken Film, a stand-alone streaming service. Draken Film has now become Sweden’s leading video-on-demand platform for arthouse movies. Under Holmberg’s guidance, Göteborg Film Festival has successfully navigated through the challenges presented by the pandemic, and both the festival and its industry platforms, Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision, are flourishing.
Reflecting on his decision to step down, Holmberg commented, “Next festival will be my tenth as artistic director. It has been a difficult decision, but it feels like a good moment to step aside. We have successfully navigated through the pandemic, and both Göteborg Film Festival, alongside our industry platforms Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision, as well as Draken Film, are thriving.” He expressed his admiration for his colleagues and his gratitude for the knowledge he gained from working with them. Before leaving, Holmberg is determined to organize one last remarkable festival together with his team. The board of Göteborg Film Festival has already begun the search for his replacement.
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Göteborg Film Festival is the largest film festival in Scandinavia and attracts an annual audience of approximately 270,000 people, including around 2,000 industry professionals. The 47th edition of the festival is scheduled to take place from January 26 to February 4, 2024.
Holmberg’s departure marks the end of an era for the Göteborg Film Festival, but his contributions and accomplishments will have a lasting impact on the festival’s legacy. His commitment to gender parity, creative experimentation, and embracing new technologies has propelled the festival to new heights, making it a prominent event in the international film industry. As the search begins for his successor, the festival looks forward to building upon Holmberg’s foundation and continuing to celebrate the best of Nordic and international cinema.
