Abstract
New film training programs emerging in the western Gothenburg region of Sweden illustrate assumptions and logics structuring the contemporary Swedish film industry as it operates on regional, national, and international levels. These training programs illustrate a productive tension between market- and economic development-oriented regionalization efforts and a focus on arts/auteur/noncommercial film education. This productive tension has effectively contributed to a vibrant, heterogeneous, and diverse film culture. Building on dozens of interviews with directors, producers, film instructors, educational program coordinators, and film practitioners undertaken during the past two years, as well as on analyses of curricular and policy documentation, this chapter presents a prismatic account of a previously overlooked component of contemporary Swedish film culture and industry. Combining representative practitioner perspectives and analyses of curricular assumptions and practices, the chapter also includes brief case-study career trajectories of some recent film program graduates.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Film i Väst AB, Årsredovisning, 2011, www.fiv.se (accessed May 12, 2012). FiV includes a description of its aims and mission on its website: “Film i Väst has directly contributed to the growth of the industry, the education of film workers, and the development of new talent in the region. Now involved in 30–40 feature film coproductions each year, it is one of the most significant regional film funds in Europe and the most significant source of funding for films in Sweden, after the Swedish Film Institute. It acts as a co-producer, part owner and financier of feature, short and documentary films, drama for TV, and offers many additional resources for film production.”
Several recent reports discuss these aspects in more detail. See, for example, Olsberg SPI, Building Sustainable Film Businesses: The Challenges for Industry and Government(London: Olsberg SPI, 2012) and
Ib Bondebjerg and Eva Novrup Redvall, ed., A Small Region in a Global World: Patterns in Scandinavian Film and TV Culture (Copenhagen: Filmthinktank, 2010).
Ref Jenny Lantz, Om kvalitet. Synen på kvalitetsbegreppet inom filmbranschen (Stockholm: Wift, 2007).
Several recent publications and reports have investigated prevailing gender discrepancies in the Swedish film industry, especially in A-functions such as pro ducer and director. These include Svenska Filminstitutet, 00-talets regidebutanter och jämställdheten (Stockholm: SFI, 2010), http://sfi.se/sv/om-svenska-filminstitutet/Publikationer/Omvarldsanalys-och-uppfoljning/ (accessed May 7, 2012); Karin Högberg, “Kvinnor som producenter,” in Att göras till filmarbetare, ed. Margareta Herrman (Stockholm: Nya Doxa, 2011), 142–172;
Jenny Lantz, The Fast Track: Om vägar till jamstalldhet i filmbranschen (Stockholm: Wift, 2011) and Om kvalitet;
and Svenska Filminstitutet, Hur svårt kan det vara? Filmbranschen, jämställdheten och demokratin (Stockholm: SFI, 2004).
See also, Annika Wik, Inför nästa tagning: kontaktytor för unga filmskapare (Stockholm: Svenska Filminstitutet, 2012).
For accounts of these developments, from multiple perspectives, see articles in Transnational Cinema in a Global North: Nordic Cinema in Transition, ed. Andrew Nestingen and Trevor Elkington (Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2002).
Film i Väst AB, Årsredovisning 2011 (Trollhättan: Film i Väst, 2012). http://www.filmivast.se/finans.
A recent collaborative research project has analyzed some of these competing demands, including student learning outcomes, industry engagement expectations, and underlying assumptions of a professionally oriented academic university educatio that also should include, as per higher-education standards in Sweden and the European Union, emphasis on critical reflection, impartial research inquiry and methodology, and analyses of context assumptions. Herrman’s and colleagues’ findings are collected in the informative volume Att göras till filmarbetare, ed. Margaretha Herrman (Nora: Bokförlaget Nya Doxa, 2011). See especially Margareta Herrman and Carina Kullgren, “Studentpitchen: iscensatta normer,” 233–253, and Maj Asplund Carlsson et al., “Att göras till filmarbetare i den nya kulturekonomin,” 280–291.
Gorki Glaser-Müller, et al., “Manifesto för vår film.” Formulated February 2009. Submitted via e-mail to chapter author on May 9, 2012.
Paula Wahlbom, research interview by the author (Gothenburg, May 17, 2012). See also Gothenburg International Film Festival, Statistik, Publik och Media (Gothenburg: GIFF, 2012) and
Eva Novrup Redvall, “More than films and dragon awards: The Göteborg International Film Festival as a meeting place,” in Journal of Scandinavian Cinema 2.2 (2012): 135–142.
Kultur i Väst, Fokus: Filmteknik för tjejer. Rapport från ett genusprojekt, Skriftserie 2012: 1. Västra Götalandsregionen.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2013 Mette Hjort
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stenport, A.W. (2013). “We Train Auteurs”: Education, Decentralization, Regional Funding, and Niche Marketing in the New Swedish Cinema. In: Hjort, M. (eds) The Education of the Filmmaker in Europe, Australia, and Asia. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137070388_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137070388_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34427-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-07038-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)