Gothenburg Film Festival


Göteborg Film Festival is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the largest film event in Scandinavia. When it was launched in 1979 it showed 17 films on 3 screens and had 3,000 visitors. Today, the film festival takes place over 10 days each year at the end of January and beginning of February. In later years around 450 films from 60 countries are screened for 115,000 visitors. The film festival is also an important market place for the contractors in the movie industry.

Awards

Dragon Awards
Other Awards at the Göteborg International Film Festival
The festival's main award is the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film, which can be won for feature film productions from the Nordic countries. The following films have received the award:
YearEnglish titleOriginal titleDirectorCountryRef
1989David or GoliathDavid eller GoliathAnne WivelNorway
1989Directed by Andrei TarkovskyRegi: Andrej TarkovskijMichal LeszczylowskiSweden
1990A Handful of TimeEn håndfull tidMartin AsphaugNorway
1991Dolly and Her LoverRäpsy ja Dolly eli Pariisi odottaaMatti IjäsFinland
1992Freud's Leaving HomeFreud flyttar hemifrånSusanne BierDenmark
1993Russian Pizza BluesMichael Wikke and Steen RasmussenDenmark
1994Spring of JoyGlädjekällanRichard HobertSweden
1995Cross My Heart and Hope to DieTi kniver i hjertetMarius HolstNorway
1996The AtlanticAtlantenKristian Petri, Jan Röed and Magnus EnquistSweden
1997Body TroopersJakten på nyresteinenVibeke IdsøeNorway
1998Tic TacDaniel AlfredsonSweden
1999Yearning for a LifeLusten till ett livChrister EngbergSweden
2000My Mother Had Fourteen ChildrenMin mamma hade 14 barnLars-Lennart ForsbergSweden
2000KnockoutAgneta Fagerström OlssonSweden
2001Cool and CrazyHeftig og begeistretKnut Erik JensenNorway
2002The BricklayerMurarenStefan JarlSweden
2003Noi the AlbinoNói albínóiDagur KáriIceland
2004Med kameran som tröst, del 2Carl Johan De GeerSweden
2005Frozen LandPaha maaAku LouhimiesFinland
2006Dark HorseVoksne menneskerDagur KáriIceland
2007DarlingDarlingJohan KlingSweden
2008Let the Right One InLåt den rätte komma inTomas AlfredsonSweden
2009The VisitorMuukalainenJukka-Pekka ValkeapääFinland
2010RTobias Lindholm and Michael NoerDenmark
2011She MonkeysApflickornaLisa AschanSweden
2012The Orheim CompanyKompani OrheimArild AndresenNorway
2013Before SnowfallFør snøen fallerHisham ZamanNorway
2014Letter to the KingBrev til KongenHisham ZamanNorway
2015In Your ArmsI dine hænderSamanou Acheche SahlstrømDenmark
2016Land of MineUnder sandetMartin ZandvlietDenmark
2017Sami BloodSameblodAmanda KernellSweden

Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary

Festival program

The festival is made up of several film sections. Films are chosen in each category with the advice of a committee of film experts. Categories have included:
Animation featuring short and long animated films.
Documentaries
Debuts where debutees can be discovered.
Focus featuring a region or theme in focus for that year. In 2012 focus was on Arab film and the Arab Spring.
Festival Favorites is a selection of the most liked and prized films that have been shown at festivals throughout the world during the past year.
Five Continents showing films from all categories and unconditionally traveling the globe to find the best films.
Gala featuring great films, great directors, red carpets and Oscar nominees.
HBTQ – a collection of various films that all depict untraditional love or non-heterosexual roles.
Nordic Competition focusing on new Nordic feature-films competing for the festival's Nordic Film Prize.
Nordic Light including the best of the Sweden's four Nordic neighboring countries.
Swedish World Premiers with feature-films and documentaries being shown to general audiences for the first time.
Swedish Pictures often including circa 100 Swedish short-films.