G?teborg Head Jonas Holmberg On His Decision To Step Down, Altering Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Persona’ With AI & This Year’s Competition Lineup: “It’s Maybe The Strongest In My Ten Years

Zac Ntim
·6 min read

Sweden’s G?teborg Film Festival unveiled its 2024 lineup today, featuring 250 feature films set to screen across ten days, with highlights including Handling the Undead, Norwegian filmmaker Thea Hvistendahl’s feature debut, starring Renate Resinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie. Other buzzy titles include the Finish title The Missile from filmmaker Miia Tervo and Morbius director Daniel Espinosa’s return to Nordic filmmaker with Madame Luna.

Handling the Undead opens the festival following its debut bow at Sundance. The pic, an adaptation of a novel by Let The Right One In writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, tells the story of three families recently left in mourning after the passing of loved ones. Suddenly, the power grid goes out, and the deceased begin to move.

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Guests set to pass through Gothenburg include actor Ewan McGregor, who will receive the festival’s honorary dragon award for career achievement. He will also be in town to present the Nordic premiere of Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch. McGregor stars alongside Taylor Russell in the pic, which debuted at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. Elsewhere, Borgen Actress Sidse Babett Knudsen will receive the festival’s Nordic dragon award, Cannes head Thierry Frémaux and filmmaker Ruben ?stlund will host an on-stage in-conversation session, and the festival will debut their AI-altered version of Ingmar Bergman’s landmark feature Persona.

This year’s edition, running January 26 – February 4, will be Jonas Holmberg’s last as G?teborg Artistic Director. After a decade at the helm, Holmberg steps down and will join Sweden’s Kalmar Art Museum as director. Holmberg will be replaced by Pia Lundberg, formerly Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in London. Below, Holmberg chats with us about his decision to step down, how he assesses his lengthy tenure in charge of G?teborg, and what he makes of his successor.

Holmberg also digs into this year’s selection of competition titles, which he described as the strongest in his ten years at the festival.

DEADLINE: This is your last edition in charge. Why have you decided to step down?

JONAS HOLMBERG: This is my 10th festival as Artistic Director, which is quite a long time in a person’s life. It’s also quite a long time in the life of a festival. So it’s been a tough decision to step down because I love this festival and job. But it’s the right decision. I think ten years should maybe be a limit anyway.

DEADLINE: How would you assess your tenure?

HOLMBERG: It’s been a very interesting ten years to be at a film festival because this decade has been so full of change. We’ve had the turn to streaming and digitization of the film world. The changes in audience behavior and industry patterns that have come along with that are maybe the biggest shifts in the film industry for more than 50 years. And, of course, the pandemic. It has been interesting to try and reinvent what a film festival can be in this landscape.

DEADLINE: What do you think are the biggest challenges and strengths your successor, Pia Lundberg, will inherit?

HOLMBERG: She takes over a festival that is in good shape. We have a strong position both in terms of the cultural landscape and financially. I’m very proud of that. Across the decade, we launched and established a streaming service, which is now a big part of our operations. The service has affected how we run the festival and think about the presentation of films. So, I think there is still space to elaborate and experiment with those things. Also, she will enter a festival that holds a key position in the Nordic film landscape, which is very interesting right now.

DEADLINE: Jonas, you were a critic for many years. Pia Lundberg, however, joins the festival after a stint at the Swedish embassy in London. What do you make of the festival being led by a bureaucrat?

HOLMBERG: I wouldn’t call her a bureaucrat. She has been a critic and a journalist for many years and has a festival background. But apart from that, I think she’s a wonderful hire. She is a very popular figure and has done tremendous work in many areas. She will be great.

DEADLINE: Why open the festival with Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead?

HOLMBERG: Thea Hvistendahl has made a really beautiful adaptation of what I believe is John Ajvide Lindqvist’s most interesting novel. It was a turning point for this festival and Nordic cinema when we premiered the adaptation of Lindqvist’s Let The Right One In, so it’s wonderful to welcome a new film adaptation of his work. The film also features Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, two wonderful Nordic actors.

DEADLINE: Now, Another Persona. Jonas, why did you decide to alter Ingmar Bergman’s Persona with Artificial intelligence?

HOLMBERG: There have been a lot of interesting discussions and debates on artificial intelligence and cinema, not least because of the strike in Hollywood, which has raised many important questions about labor, working conditions, rights, and compensation. These are very important issues for artists to fight for. But this technology also brings aesthetic, philosophical, and existential themes into question, and we wanted to explore that. We turned to Persona, which, of course, is a masterpiece from the festival’s former honorary president, Ingmar Bergman. When you watch the film today, so much of it is about acting, masks, and truth of expression. Today, these are the same questions we ask about artificial intelligence.

We went to Helsinki and met Alma P?ysti. We recorded her as she did a character sketch of Elizabeth Fogler, the character in the film. And then through this technology, we blended her performance with the original. The new film will be screened only once during the festival on the first Sunday. It will not be screened again.

DEADLINE: You highlight the legal and ethical questions AI raises in cinema. A lot of people will be wondering, how did you guys work around those issues?

HOLMBERG: We didn’t get around them. SF Studios owns the film and they were immediately very excited about the project. As were the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, which is responsible for his work. So it hasn’t been complicated in that sense. And it’s very obvious that we are not doing this for some commercial reason or that we want to exploit the likeness of Alma. We want to give new perspectives on a pressing issue.

DEADLINE: Have you seen the film? Is it any good?

HOLMBERG: It’s a spooky and slightly uncomfortable watch.

DEADLINE: The Nordic Competition. Can you talk me through your selection and any standout titles?

HOLMBERG: I’m so happy with this selection. It’s maybe the strongest in my ten years. There are so many wonderful filmmakers and a variety of styles and themes. We’ve already discussed Handling The Undead, which is a wonderful film. There’s also The Missile, which is premiering and is a very charming dramedy. There is also Eternal by Ulaa Salim, which is a science fiction film, a genre not always present in the Nordic composition. And it’s interesting to welcome Daniel Espinosa back to Nordic filmmaking after many years in Hollywood. He’s back to smaller-scale, personal filmmaking with this very strong story, Madame Luna, about human smuggling.

DEADLINE: One of the hottest tickets at the festival this year will be the conversation between Thierry Frémaux and Ruben ?stlund. Why was that talk organized?

HOLMBERG: Leaving after ten years put me in a reflective mode. What are we doing? What have we achieved? What could we have done differently? We wanted to create a discussion about the changing role and the future role of film festivals and who is better to learn from than Theirry, the person who has been at the center for a very long time and probably has the most important position in the film festival world. And Ruben is now the festival’s honorary president. He is also great at making provocative statements and creating fresh perspectives. It will be a wonderful discussion.

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