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The 25th Stockholm International Film Festival has come to an end. This year’s festival set several records, including the number of films in the program, countries represented, and visitors. 2014 is also the year for female award winners. 

It has been a record breaking year for the Stockholm Film Festival - 201 films, 60 countries, and a grand total of 141 000 visitors throughout the year. The number of female directors and actors who won awards is also greater than ever before. 8 out of 17 awards presented at the Award ceremony on November 14 were given to a woman, and it’s the third consecutive year that the Bronze Horse for Best Film goes to a woman.

This year’s winning film was the French director Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood. The film is a tale of class identity and belonging. It fills a gap among the stories that are traditionally told about Paris. The award for Best First Film went to July Jung for A Girl at my Door. Ninja Thyberg won the 1 Km Film scholarship with her short film Hot Chicks. The price enables the director to make a new short film which will be screened during the 2015 Film Festival.

For the second year running, the Festival collaborated with the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. This year, he designed two ice sculptures inspired by the lions guarding the Forbidden City in Beijing. The sculptures received a lot of attention; directors, festival visitors and the public showed their support for the artist.

The Telia Film Award went to Carlos Marques-Marcet’s 10 000 km. The prize sum is 100 000 SKR to promote Swedish distribution of the film.

Canadian director Xavier Dolan visited the festival with his latest feature, Mommy. The film won the Silver Audience Award on November 16.

This year’s Stockholm Visionary Award went to Roy Andersson and the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Mike Leigh. Uma Thurman visited the Festival, and was presented with a Bronze Horse for the Stockholm Achievement Award.

Next year’s Stockholm Film Festival will be November 11 through 22, 2015