Thomas Vinterberg, Goteborg's Artistic Director Pia Lundberg Address Controversial Remarks of Swedish Minister of Culture: ‘Fight Back'
Lundberg admitted she was 'surprised' by the Minister's statement during the opening ceremony Jan. 24, which made for a 'tumultuous' start of the event.
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'The Swedish film industry [which has around $50.5 million a year in state support] is comparing itself to Denmark and Norway a lot. Denmark has twice as much money for local filmmaking production than Sweden. Norway has even more. Sweden is really far behind. Do you think Denmark could adopt Sweden on the film side?,' Lundberg asked Vinterberg during a public discussion.
'It was horrible, I heard,' he said. Vinterberg came to Sweden to pick up the Nordic Dragon Award.
'Ministers of Cultural Affairs… You quickly get rid of them. It's a maximum of four years. She'll vanish soon.'
According to Lundberg, Swedish industry is sometimes 'jealous' of Danish films. But Vinterberg added: 'I don't think you have anything to learn from us. I think you have a lot of strength here and if you don't, then you'll find it soon. These are currents, these are waves that come and go.
'I think Danish film suffers from the same problem as your film industry right now, which is that amazing movies are being made – by young talents – and nobody goes to see them,' he added. 'And that makes it easy for the Minister of Cultural Affairs to piss on them. But if these films weren't made, we wouldn't be winning Oscars,' he said, mentioning Oscar-nominated 'The Girl with the Needle,' made by Goteborg-born Magnus Von Horn.
'Show faith in it. Fight for it and give its space, and then it'll grow. What we have in common is state support and great film schools. This combination is incredibly powerful. The fact that this is an art support system, where you can allow yourself to make movies about these kinds of topics, makes our film tradition super strong. 'It's with four white, semi-fat, sweaty guys teaching their students to drink alcohol.' [Making it] without financial support from the state? Good luck,' he said, referencing his own Oscar-winning 'Another Round.'
'We are very lucky. My American colleagues keep telling me how lucky we are that we have this support system. If your support system is being strangled by ministers who don't know anything about art, then you'll have to fight back,' said Vinterberg.
During her Göteborg festival opening speech, Liljestrand tried to remind the festival audience that film is not only art but also a business, a business which also needs monitoring.
'There's a red carpet, gala dresses and jokes about cultural budgets. And so you clearly distance yourself from commercial film. …but the film industry is actually commercial. Everyone knows that,' she said before adding in a defiant tone that upset the festival audience: …'Sometimes you can get the impression that all politics should do is count up funds, and otherwise not ask any questions. But that is really not the job of politics.'
'I know that many culture ministers before me have wanted to portray themselves as the best friends and foremost representatives of the various industries in the government.,' she went on. 'You might get a lot of appreciation for it, not least at galas and festivals like this one? What do I know? But I know in any case that it is not the job of politics.
It is also not the job of politics to demand more and more tax money from citizens because they cannot stand up for their priorities…The job of politics , and my job as Minister of Culture , is to implement the policy that a majority of the Swedish people have voted for. In the field of film, this means, among other things, the following:
To ensure that artistic freedom is protected,' she said, referring to a law that the Swedish government intends to introduce later this year to fight piracy and illegal downloading.
Commented on the controversy, Mikael Fellenius, head of Scandinavia's largest regional film fund Film i Väst told Variety: 'Our Cultural Minister probably was clumsy in her opening speech. She wanted to underline that film is an industry, which needs to be supported, not only with public coin but also with a wider film policy and reflection. She does want to support film and for the film supply chain to play a bigger part in the financing structure of the sector. But addressing this complex topic at the opening of the Göteborg Film Festival was the wrong place to do this,' he said.
The Swedish government is meant to publish late February a full research paper and a list of recommendations on how to make Swedish film more competitive. The recommendations will address the Swedish tax rebates introduced in 2023, which has been criticised in the industry for being underfunded (its annual budget is SEK 100 million ($9 million) whereas SEK SEK 300 million ($27 million) would be needed according to professionals) and using an inadequate first come first serve funding process.
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