Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the largest film event in Scandinavia. When it was launched on February 8, 1979, it showed 17 films on 3 screens and had 3,000 visitors.

Göteborg Film Festival
The Draken (Dragon) cinema, the main venue of the festival.
LocationGothenburg, Sweden
AwardsDragon Award Best Nordic Film, The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, etc.
No. of filmscirca 450 films from 70 countries (in 2012), 10 theaters, and many other venues
Websitehttps://goteborgfilmfestival.se/

Today, the film festival takes place over 10 days each year at the end of January and beginning of February. In recent years an estimated 450 films from 60 countries annually have been screened for 115,000 visitors.[1] The film festival is an important market place for contractors in the movie industry.

Awards

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As of 2022 the following prizes were awarded:[2]

Dragon Awards

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  • Dragon Award Best Nordic Film (Nordiska filmpriset)
  • Dragon Award Best Acting (since 2019)
  • Audience Dragon Award Best Nordic Film – (Nordiska Filmpriset – Publikens val)
  • Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary (since 2013)
  • Dragon Award Best International Film
  • Honorary Dragon Award
  • Nordic Honorary Dragon Award
  • Dragon Award Best Swedish Short

Other awards

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  • FIPRESCI Award
  • Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award, named for Sven Nykvist
  • The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, named for Ingmar Bergman
  • Draken Film Award (since 2022, for a Swedish short film)
  • Audience Choice Award for Best Swedish Short
  • Angelo Award, the Swedish Church's award
  • Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, awarded by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, secretariat to the Nordic Council[3]

Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film

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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:[4][5]

Year English title Original title Director Country Ref
1989 David or Goliath David eller Goliath Anne Wivel Norway
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky Regi: Andrej Tarkovskij Michal Leszczylowski Sweden
1990 A Handful of Time En håndfull tid Martin Asphaug Norway
1991 Dolly and Her Lover Räpsy ja Dolly eli Pariisi odottaa Matti Ijäs Finland
1992 Freud's Leaving Home Freud flyttar hemifrån Susanne Bier Denmark
1993 Russian Pizza Blues Michael Wikke and Steen Rasmussen Denmark
1994 Spring of Joy Glädjekällan Richard Hobert Sweden
1995 Cross My Heart and Hope to Die Ti kniver i hjertet Marius Holst Norway
1996 The Atlantic Atlanten Kristian Petri, Jan Röed and Magnus Enquist Sweden
1997 Body Troopers Jakten på nyresteinen Vibeke Idsøe Norway
1998 Tic Tac Daniel Alfredson Sweden
1999 Yearning for a Life Lusten till ett liv Christer Engberg Sweden
2000 My Mother Had Fourteen Children Min mamma hade 14 barn Lars-Lennart Forsberg Sweden
Knockout Agneta Fagerström Olsson Sweden
2001 Cool and Crazy Heftig og begeistret Knut Erik Jensen Norway
2002 The Bricklayer Muraren Stefan Jarl Sweden
2003 Noi the Albino Nói albínói Dagur Kári Iceland
2004 Med kameran som tröst, del 2 Carl Johan De Geer Sweden
2005 Frozen Land Paha maa Aku Louhimies Finland
2006 Dark Horse Voksne mennesker Dagur Kári Iceland
2007 Darling Darling Johan Kling Sweden
2008 Let the Right One In Låt den rätte komma in Tomas Alfredson Sweden
2009 The Visitor Muukalainen Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää Finland
2010 R Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer Denmark
2011 She Monkeys Apflickorna Lisa Aschan Sweden
2012 The Orheim Company Kompani Orheim Arild Andresen Norway
2013 Before Snowfall Før snøen faller Hisham Zaman Norway
2014 Letter to the King Brev til Kongen Hisham Zaman Norway
2015 In Your Arms I dine hænder Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm Denmark [6]
2016 Land of Mine Under sandet Martin Zandvliet Denmark [7]
2017 Sami Blood Sameblod Amanda Kernell Sweden [8]
2018 Amateurs Amatörer Gabriela Pichler Sweden [9]
2019 Queen of Hearts Dronningen May el-Toukhy Denmark [10]
2020 Beware of Children Barn Dag Johan Haugerud Norway [11]
2021 Tigers Tigrar Ronnie Sandahl Sweden
2022 As in Heaven Du som er i himlen Tea Lindeburg Denmark
2023 Unruly Ustyrlig Malou Reymann Denmark
2024 Mother, Couch Mother, Couch Niclas Larsson Sweden

Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary

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Year English title Original title Director Country Ref
2013 Finnish Blood Swedish Heart Laulu koti-ikävästä Mika Ronkainen Finland
2014 Pine Ridge Pine Ridge Anna Eborn Denmark
2015 The Look of Silence The Look of Silence Joshua Oppenheimer [6]
2016 Don Juan Jerzy Sladkowski Sweden [12]
2017 The War Show Obaidah Zytoon, Andreas Dalsgaard Denmark/Finland/Syria [13]
2018 The Distant Barking of Dogs Olegs krig Simon Lereng Wilmont Sweden [14]
2019 Transnistra Anna Eborn Denmark [15]
2020 Colombia in My Arms Jenni Kivistö, Jussi Rastas Finland, Norway, Denmark, France [16]
2022 A House Made of Splinters Будинок зі скалок Simon Lereng Vilmont Finland, Denmark, Ukraine, Sweden [17]
2023 Apolonia, Apolonia Lea Glob Denmark, Poland, France [18]

Festival program

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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 nontraditional love or non-heterosexual roles.

Nordic Competition focusing on new Nordic feature-films competing for the festival's Nordic Film Prize (100,000 SEK).

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.

Notes

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  1. ^ "Göteborg International Film Festival". Filmfestival.org. Archived from the original on 2008-01-24. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  2. ^ "Here are the winners at Göteborg Film Festival 2022!". Göteborg Film Festival. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  3. ^ "About us". Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  4. ^ "Previous winners of Dragon Award Best Nordic Film". giff.se. Gothenburg Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2011-03-19. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  5. ^ "Dragon Award Best Nordic Film". Göteborg Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  6. ^ a b "Best Nordic Film går till In Your Arms | Göteborg Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2015-02-02.
  7. ^ Dragon Award winners GIFF 2016
  8. ^ "Dragon Award winners GIFF 2017". Archived from the original on 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  9. ^ "Amateurs Wins Dragon Award Best Nordic Film 2018!". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  10. ^ "Dragon Award Best Nordic Film". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  11. ^ "Barn (2019)". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  12. ^ "Don Juan (2015)". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  13. ^ "Sámi Blood bags the world's largest film award at Göteborg". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  14. ^ "Amateurs wins the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at Göteborg". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  15. ^ "Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  16. ^ "Göteborg picks Beware of Children as its winner". Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  17. ^ "Här är vinnarna på Göteborg Film Festival 2022!" [Here are the winners at the Gothenburg Film Festival 2022!]. Göteborg International Film Festival (in Swedish). 5 February 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  18. ^ "The winners at Göteborg Film Festival 2023". Göteborg International Film Festival. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
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