Swedish film industry veteran Pia Lundberg is to succeed Jonas Holmberg as the new artistic director of the Gothenburg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s leading film and TV event.
Lundberg has spent the last five years as Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Swedish Embassy in London. A former journalist, Lundberg was also head of the international department at the Swedish Film Institute between 2007 and 2018. She will take over as artistic director of the Gothenburg Film Festival on 1 March.
“I have been to hundreds of film festivals and now I finally have the opportunity to help create one,” says Lundberg. “Sometimes I wish that significant film experiences could be prescribed by doctors. At a time when more and more people in power see art as an instrumental tool, it is more important than ever to elevate film as an independent artistic expression,” she continued.
Carina Lindberg Glavå, president of the Göteborg Film Festival board, said Lundberg was chosen as artistic director “after an extensive recruitment process with many highly qualified candidates”. “Pia Lundberg has broad and varied experience in the film industry, where she has held several positions and developed a large network that will contribute to strengthening the film festival,” Lindberg Glavå continued.
Mirja Wester, CEO of the Göteborg Film Festival, said, “There are few people in Sweden with such extensive experience in international film festivals and a deep connection to the Nordic film world”.
“I look forward to working with Lundberg to further develop the Göteborg Film Festival as the hub of Nordic film culture,” said Wester.
Lundberg began her career as a writer and editor for various Swedish and international media, including Variety and Screen International. She was also editor-in-chief of the Swedish film magazine Cinema for four years.
