It’s that time of year again. As the darkness begins its annual assault, there’s not much left to do than to light up the big screen in Stockholm’s movie theatres and indulge in an around-the-world voyage through high-quality films.
From Ingmar Bergman to Lukas Moodysson, film has always been a high point of culture for Swedes. Our tiny Nordic country has made a long-lasting impact – from lighting and cinematography to dialogue – that will live on as framework for modern film. In Hollywood, the Swedes are taking over one Skarsgard at a time, with Alexander currently the most coveted leading man (or vampire), and with the recent rise of actress Alicia Vikander to international screens and magazines, there is no sign of Swedish influence slowing down.
Enter Git Scheynius, founder and director of the Stockholm International Film Festival. When I meet and greet Git at the door to the Stockholm Film Festival headquarters she’s sitting down for a very late lunch, talking among some of her staff about details of a project. With her piercing blue eyes and fire-engine red hair she looks like a retired ingénue from the glamorous days of cinema, akin to someone who would star along side Warren Beatty and wear a petticoat and a flapper hat.
I wait around for less than a minute while she finalizes the last bite of her sashimi before taking me around the office in a whirlwind five-minute tour of the office without missing a beat. She clearly has no time to waste. Showing off her various departments and listing the facts like a seasoned pro, she is elegant and all business at the same time. Every room has a story, every person has a function and Git thrives on it all, pouring the information forth in a stream of consciousness.
“Here is the department for festival TV, we do ten TV programs a year, here is the volunteer department, they are in charge of the 400 people, 14 people working year round and 58 during the festival… here is Rebecca in charge of the ticket department, here is Adam and Alexander, who are part of the technical department, they check all the technical material with films. A couple of years ago this room was just a room with 35 millimeter film from floor to ceiling.”
Between intervals she checks computer screens, answers questions and signs off on papers being shoved in her face. “Here is the Marketing department, Malin and Christel are our producers, Here is the event team. There is a room for extra workers since we get busy during the year. Here is the guest department in charge of getting 80 directors here in Stockholm, the press department for the 1,500 journalist covering the festival,” she says, rounding off the first floor of the tour.
Upstairs, there is no let-up. “Upstairs is the quiet department,” she says whispering, “because they have a deadline in 78 hours. We do everything in-house, artwork, editorial, catalogue magazine, industry guide, plus website and so on. Here are Malin and Lars,” she gestures towards two people huddled frantically in front of a computer who barely look up at the gawking reporter. ”Here is the money room, dealing with sponsorships, the distribution company, called Edge, The Face To Face department – they organize the directors and moderators talking to the audience within the chosen field – and here is the film department….” Is your head spinning yet?
This is the film festival’s 26th year. Within the first decade it quickly climbed to the top of the festival ranks in terms of prestige and reputation, with no less than Quentin Tarantino saying it was his favourite film festival. Actors and directors like Uma Thurman, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, Susan Sarandon, Lauren Bacall and Dennis Hopper have been esteemed guests here.
The festival is mostly known for supporting upcoming directors and films and giving a platform to international audiences and filmmakers. Git likes to think of the festival as director-driven festival, interested in the creation of films and passionate about creating a platform for the audience and directors to meet.
“We are very passionate and driven towards modern technology as well, we were the first festival to organize “Festival on Demand with simultaneous premieres”, we did that long before the industry. We are trying to find quality films to reach a new audience, we are open minded and we want more film to be seen by as many as possible. We have industry days with buyers and sellers because we want these films to be bought and distributed in all of Scandinavia, the directors and producers need to survive and they want their films to be seen.”
If pretty much every film festival boasts a packed agenda, Stockholm very much lives up to the hype.
“The other level is new cinema,” Git goes on. “A third of our program is first-time directors, we are very interested in female directors, a third of our program is also female directors which makes us the highest figure in the world for all festivals that aren’t specialized in that area.”
Git started with the festival after she spent years as a culture journalist traveling around the world visiting other festivals and interviewing actors.
“Instead of having 200 premieres in a year, we can release 200 films in a week during a festival and have the whole world there. That attracted me so much, as well as having quality films available to as many people as possible,” she says.
“We proudly present 200 films at the festival each year coming from 60 different countries. At Stockholm Film Festival there is a return to films being the focal point. The international films that are selected truly shine with artist integrity and stories that spin your mindset that are usually missing from the movie screens of the day. We are an international film festival but also local here, we are in contact with over 60 countries and cultures. That’s also the beauty of it, if you screen a film from India and suddenly you see a lot more Indians. To see the audience visually change depending on what you are screening is an exciting thing. I’m very proud to have built, with all these beautiful people, a platform where people can meet and discuss and experience together projects like this.”
Growing up in Sweden Git was raised by an artist father and a gallery-owning mother, culture was relevant to her daily life, she says, “I was constantly surrounded by art and artists. It was very natural for me to get into art. I always wanted to work with something that is very close to people’s hearts, that you really feel like you can touch them with something, for me art, film and culture is a very important part of peoples lives. I wanted to be in an area where you could create something interesting that means something,” she says.
Film is something she knew in her heart she always wanted to do and since she was a child movies have made a lasting impression on her. “It’s always the earliest experience with film that really shakes you. The first time I was at a movie theater alone without my parents I was 12 and I was seeing *The Exorcist*. I told my mother I was going to se a film with Max von Sydow who is playing the father, Elen Burstyn was playing the mother, and I thought she was an amazing actress and I admired her greatly. But when I watched the movie it was a shock that film could have such an impact me. I had nightmares for years after, I was far too young to see that kind of horror movie but that was the beauty of film, she explains.
“You can travel with film, you can experience new things that you aren’t adult enough to experience, and so on. It was that film and a lot of movies I saw at school that really impacted me. I think children should be exposed to film at a very early age, it’s very good for them, that’s one reason I started the Junior Festival. I believe very much in film, maybe it can’t change the world but definitely have an impact on you as a human being and the world as it is,” she explains.
Each year the festival is driven by themes that are thought-provoking and encouraging cultural and social change.
“This year we have migration as a theme, the reason for that of course is the current refugee situation. I’m very happy and proud that the film community really took the situation and questions to their heart and made a lot of good films and brought a dialogue to the spotlight of the world.”
We will be watching.
words: Koko Ntuen
