Unveiling the Juries for the 49th Edition of Goteborg Film Festival

Jan. 23, 2026

• Nordic Competition

Eight films compete for five awards: Dragon Award Best Nordic Film, Dragon Award Best Acting, Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award, Audience Dragon Award Best Nordic Film, and the FIPRESCI Award.

Nordic Competition Jury (awarding the first three prizes)

Jury Chair: Joshua Oppenheimer, Director, USA/Denmark
Two-time Academy Award–nominated director, best known for the documentaries The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence. Oppenheimer last visited Göteborg Film Festival in 2025 with his post-apocalyptic fiction debut The End, starring Tilda Swinton.

Fabrice Aragno, Cinematographer and Director, Switzerland

Cinematographer and director who, alongside his own work, has maintained a long and close collaboration with Jean-Luc Godard, contributing to films such as Goodbye to Language and The Image Book. In Göteborg he presents his feature debut Le lac, which premiered at Locarno last summer.

Lia Boysen, Actor, Sweden

An actor with a long and varied career in film, theatre and television, who had her breakthrough in The New Country by Peter Birro and Lukas Moodysson. In 2006, Boysen received a Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Maria von Heland’s Search.

Sanna Lenken, Director and Screenwriter, Sweden

Director awarded the Crystal Bear in Berlin for My Skinny Sister  and Comedy Queen, and widely recognised for the drama series The Thin Blue Line and My Brother, the latter nominated for the Nordic Series Script Award 2026.

Gergely Pálos, Cinematographer, HungaryHungarian cinematographer partly based in Stockholm. He shot Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence and About Endlessness, and visits Göteborg together with Golden Bear–winning director Ildikó Enyedi, presenting Silent Friend.

• Nordic Documentary Competition

Six films compete for the Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary.

Jury Chair: Ragnhild Ekner, Director, Sweden
Documentary filmmaker who debuted with Trafikljusen blir blå imorgon. Her film Ultras, about supporter culture around the world, had its world premiere in Nordic Documentary Competition at Göteborg Film Festival 2025 and was nominated for a Guldbagge Award.

Kaveh Akaber, Editor, Sweden
Editor with extensive experience across Swedish documentary film. His work includes this year’s Guldbagge-nominated Being Bo, and he last appeared at the festival with Historjá.

Ketevan Kipiani, Producer, Georgia
Producer based in Tbilisi, currently festival-relevant with the documentary The Kartli Kingdom, which received the award for Best Directing at IDFA 2025. In addition to her producing work, Kipiani is part of the leadership of The Documentary Film Association (DOCA) in Georgia.

• Ingmar Bergman Competition

Eight directors compete for The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award.

Jury Chair: James Schamus, Producer, USA
Academy Award–nominated producer and award-winning screenwriter, former CEO of Focus Features, where he oversaw films such as Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation and The Pianist. Through his company Symbolic Exchange, he has produced The Assistant, Driveways and Adam. He is currently collaborating on an opera for The Metropolitan Opera while developing new film and television projects.

Lea Glob, Director, Denmark
Graduated from the documentary programme at the Danish National Film School. Together with co-director Petra Costa, she won the Nordic Dox Award at CPH:DOX for Olmo and the Seagull. Her film Apolonia, Apolonia won the main prize at IDFA in Amsterdam as well as the Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary at Göteborg Film Festival.

Jannike Åhlund, Chair, Bergman Center, Sweden
Former editor-in-chief of Chaplin magazine, film critic on SVT’s Filmkrönikan, and Artistic Director of Göteborg Film Festival from 2001 to 2006. Founder of Bergman Week on Fårö and recipient of both the Swedish Grand Journalism Award and the Ingmar Bergman Award.

• Fipresci Jury

The International Federation of Film Critics awards its prize for Best Film in the Nordic Competition.

Jenni Zylka, Film Critic, Germany
Writes about film and music for Der Spiegel and other national newspapers and magazines. Member of the selection committee for the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival since 2005.

Janet Baris, Film Critic, Turkey
Writes for Yeni Film Magazine. Her analyses of films and filmmakers have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines. Member of the Turkish Film Critics Association since 2008..

Jean-Max Méjean, Film Critic, France
Film professor, critic and author of books on directors including Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Pedro Almodóvar, Sergei Parajanov and Emir Kusturica. Writes about film for various publications.

• Swedish Short Award

Eight Swedish short films compete.

Claes Hedlund, Producer, Denmark
Swedish producer based in Copenhagen and one of the producers at Paloma Productions. Previously competed in Startsladden with Qirat and Sky City.

Malin Ingrid Johansson, Director, Sweden
Stockholm-based director and screenwriter. Winner of Startsladden 2023 with Madden and nominated in 2025 with Compartment 5B.

Filip Stankovic, Cinematographer, Sweden
Stockholm-based cinematographer with numerous notable SVT productions and short films to his credit. Most recently festival-relevant with the short film Who the Hell Is Hugo Alfvén? in the Echoes programme.

Nora Rios, Actor, Sweden
Actor known for Kalifat and Heartbeats. Currently appearing as Malin in the new adaptation of Saltkråkan.

• Draken Film Award

Thirty-six Swedish short films compete.

Alecio Araci, Director, Sweden
Director and screenwriter based in Göteborg, educated at HDK-Valand. Currently working on his feature debut Slynglarna, presented in the Work in Progress section at Nordic Film Market 2026.

Nellie Lexfors, Director, Sweden
Director and screenwriter educated at Stockholm University of the Arts and the Alma Screenwriting Programme. Awarded the Draken Film Award in 2024 for 2008 Loves You.

Hanna Ullerstam, Actor, Sweden
Göteborg-based actor with extensive experience in both film and theatre. Known for Call Girl, So Damn Easy Going and The Swedish Torpedo.