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.
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. The film festival is an important market place for contractors in the movie industry.
Awards the following prizes were awarded:
Dragon Awards 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 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 Nordic Series Script Award (from 2026), funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, secretariat to the Nordic Council, successor to the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize a former award given by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond (until 2025)
Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film 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 title Director Country Ref1989 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 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 2016 Land of Mine Under sandet Martin Zandvliet Denmark Dragon Award winners GIFF 2016 2017 Sami Blood Sameblod Amanda Kernell Sweden 2018 Amateurs Amatörer Gabriela Pichler Sweden 2019 Queen of Hearts Dronningen May el-Toukhy Denmark 2020 Beware of Children Barn Dag Johan Haugerud Norway 2021 TigersTigrar Ronnie Sandahl Sweden 2022 As in HeavenDu som er i himlen Tea Lindeburg Denmark 2023 Unruly Ustyrlig Malou Reymann Denmark 2024 Mother, CouchMother, Couch Niclas Larsson Sweden 2025 When the Light BreaksLjósbrot Rúnar Rúnarsson Iceland
Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary YearEnglish titleOriginal 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 2016 Don Juan Jerzy Sladkowski Sweden 2017 The War Show Obaidah Zytoon, Andreas Dalsgaard Denmark/Finland/Syria 2018 The Distant Barking of Dogs Olegs krig Simon Lereng Wilmont Sweden 2019 Transnistra Anna Eborn Denmark 2020 Colombia in My Arms Jenni Kivistö, Jussi Rastas Finland, Norway, Denmark, France 2022 A House Made of Splinters Будинок зі скалок Simon Lereng Vilmont Finland, Denmark, Ukraine, Sweden 2023 Apolonia, Apolonia Lea Glob Denmark, Poland, France
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 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
External links Official web page English-language podcast (Radio Sweden)