Ruben Östlund named Honorary President of Göteborg Fest under homecoming theme

Östlund who studied filmmaking at HDK Valand University of Gothenburg, will attend the 2023 Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF) and deliver a speech at the opening ceremony January 27, 2023, which no doubt will set the tone for the festivities.

“After meeting with the festival, it was both an easy and a joyful choice to accept this heavy title. We share the vision of a more vital cinema culture, free from nostalgic throwbacks. We will have to do this work in many different areas, but I can reveal that the first one for us to lecture is the cinema audience. They must learn the difference between scrolling for dopamine on individual screens and to take part of a show”, said Östlund.

The director of Triangle of Sadness’ very first film screening at GIFF was in 2001 with his documentary short Let the Others Deal with Love. Jonas Holmberg, artistic director said “with two Palme d’Or wins and many unforgettable cinematic moments, the Gothenburg-born and loyal visitor of the festival Ruben Östlund has the artistic integrity, the intellectual playfulness and the international luminescence that make him an excellent Honorary President for Göteborg Film Festival. He is a critical sociologist, a passionate visual creator and a charming provocateur. It will be both joyful and challenging for us to search for the future of the festival together.”

Scandinavia’s biggest film event attracting more than 160,000 visitors will be set in 2023 under the theme of ‘Homecoming’.

Through stories about coming home, the festival will explore what home really means, at a time of global political and social turmoil, as explained by Holmberg: “In a time when Europe is dominated by war and the return of fascism, the notion of coming home takes on a new meaning. As the nostalgic longing for an imagined long-lost home becomes increasingly present in contemporary political rhetoric, many are forced to leave their homes in search of new ones.”

“From a broader perspective, the acceleration of globalism has changed what we imagine a home to be and it has provided new conditions for telling cinematic stories about coming home. More people have homes in different places worldwide, or no home at all, both as a consequence of increasing migration as well as how the cultural and economic ideas of our time affect creativity, flexibility and mobility.”

The first four films part of the programme are:

• Godland by Icelandic-born Hlynur Pálmason, in which a Danish priest with a coloniser’s narrow views, travels to Iceland in late 19^th century. The film world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and was Denmark’s entry at the Nordic Council Film Prize 2022.
• The Future Tense by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor about identity and being Irish in England,
• R.M.N. by Romanian Palme d’or winner Cristian Mungiu, about a Romani worker in Germany who returns to his xenophobic Transylvanian village,
• Pamfir by Ukrainian-born Dmytro Sukholytky-Subchok, about a father’s homecoming to his village, dragged back into crime to support his family and make ends meet.

The full ‘Focus-Homecoming’ slate will be unveiled January 10, 2023, with the rest of the festival’s programme.

The 46^th Göteborg Film Festival is due to unspool January 27-February 5, 2023.

The must-attend industry sections TV Drama Vision will take place February 1-2 and the Nordic Film Market February 2-5, 2023.