Editor

The 32nd edition of The Göteborg International Film Festival broke a new record. In total of 124 500 tickets were sold for 700 screenings of 450 films from 65 different countries. 31 000 member ship cards were sold. This means that the festival manifests its strong position, and once again increases both ticket and membership sales. Over a three year period the memberships have increased by 29 %.

During the closing press conference today Marit Kapla summed up her second year as festival director. "For me the 32nd festival has been charactherized by a warm atmosphere and the meeting between the fantastic audience and the generous filmmakers. But also by a seriousness that was highlighted already at the opening ceremony by new Honorary President Roy Andersson. As well as the filmmakers have a responsability, so does a festival. We look upon this responsability as an inspiration to keep on being an place for an ongoing discussion – not only concerning film but also about today’s society with its burning issues.”

The seminar programme, Cinemix, was a success as well, with more than 5000 visitors during 46 seminars. The crowds lined up for example for the master class with animator Bill Plympton who made drawings for everyone.

At the bustling meeting point – the big Festival tent – over 20 000 visitors enjoyed the seminars, the talk show Studio Draken, food, bands and dj:s.

Of great interest was also the project Magic Bullet – a 49 hour long film, by artist Markus Öhrn, consisting of all cut out scenes by the Swedish censorship authorities.

Among the most popular films in the programme were titles like the opening film The Queen and I by Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road and Valdis Oskarsdottir’s Country Wedding.