Goteborg Film Festival Isolates Film Enthusiast for 7 Days on Remote Lighthouse Island

Jan. 04, 2021

The global pandemic has forced the world’s cinemas to close down. The biggest film festival in Scandinavia is therefore creating The Isolated Cinema on the lighthouse island of Pater Noster. One film enthusiast will be able to enjoy the festival in total isolation on a rock far out at sea, with film as his or her only companion. There will also be exclusive one-person film screenings at two iconic venues in Göteborg.

Our world looks very different today, and so too does Göteborg Film Festival. The 2021 festival will be digital, with audience having access to all the films, premieres and talks via a digital platform. Some participants will also get a real-life experience with the opportunity to watch the films in total seclusion: The Isolated Cinema.

Göteborg Film Festival is looking for someone keen to take on the challenge of spending one week in social isolation on the remote lighthouse island of Pater Noster, a secluded spot out at sea, far away from family, friends and mobile phone. The only company will be the noise of the sea – and the festival films. Everyone is welcome to apply for the spot on Pater Noster via the festival website. The festival will also be offering isolated film screenings for one person at a time at the Scandinavium arena and the Draken cinema.

The 2021 festival focus, Social Distances, examines the new world that has emerged in the wake of the pandemic, and the role of film in this new world. The creation of isolated film experiences for single-person audiences at iconic sites is a way of ensuring entirely safe festival screenings, but it is also an attempt to process how the pandemic has changed people’s relationships with film. On Pater Noster it’s all about the total isolation experienced by so many people the world over this past year. The sensation of being utterly alone in the Scandinavium arena or Draken cinema ties in with the altered relationship people now have to all those places that normally buzz with activity but are now deserted, says Jonas Holmberg, Artistic Director at Göteborg Film Festival.

Pater Noster is a lonely lighthouse in the North Sea perched at the very edge of the archipelago in one of Sweden’s most barren, windswept locations. That’s where a solitary film enthusiast will be secluded for an entire week, with only the film festival programme for company. Every day he or she will provide a report about the films and the experience of being alone on an isolated rock in a vast sea.

Scandinavium is one of Sweden’s most well-attended arenas, home to the World Ice Hockey Championships and live concerts with artists such as the Rolling Stones and Whitney Houston. During the festival the isolated visitor will sit completely alone in a cinema seat at the centre of the rink while the massive stands gape empty.

The Draken Cinema is the very heart of Göteborg Film Festival and its chosen premiere venue. Every year enthusiastic audiences gather there to enjoy the latest films. This year the gala premieres will each be attended by just one viewer. Sitting alone in the theatre, the visitor will get a personal introduction from the filmmakers before the curtains rise and the film begins.

Tickets for the festival’s isolated film screenings at Scandinavium and Draken will be raffled among visitors who register via the festival website. Registration begins on January 4th. For the single spot on Pater Noster, interviews with selected applicants will take place on an ongoing basis. The chosen one will be announced on January 19 and will be isolated for one week from January 30.