Handling the Undead Opens Göteborg Film Festival

On January 26, the 47th Göteborg Film Festival will open with the European premiere of Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead, an adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s acclaimed novel of the same name. The film competes in the Nordic Competition at the festival, with the opening ceremony taking place both in Gothenburg and in cinemas across Sweden. Additionally, Handling the Undead will be part of the festival’s online offering, available for streaming on the opening night in the festival’s digital cinema.

With emotional depth, visual power, and a perfectly tuned tone, director Thea Hvistendahl tells the story of three families recently plunged into grief after the loss of loved ones. But when a sudden power outage occurs, the deceased begin to move. Norwegian stars Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie (both praised for The Worst Person in the World) portray complicated reunions and interrupted mourning processes, alongside Bahar Pars and Bjørn Sundquist, in a haunting, thought-provoking, and extraordinary horror drama.

“It’s incredibly exciting to open the festival with such a stunningly beautiful, intimately philosophical, and profoundly moving film, which also brings together some of the finest actors in the Nordics. We’ve never opened the festival with a zombie film before, and it’s going to be festive, thrilling, and terrifying. I can’t wait!” says Jonas Holmberg, Artistic Director of Göteborg Film Festival.

Director Thea Hvistendahl has directed several short films and made her feature debut in 2017 with Adjø Montebello. Handling the Undead is her second feature film, produced by Kristin Emblem and Guri Neby.

“It’s a great honor to open Göteborg Film Festival, which I consider one of the world’s best festivals. The festival has meant so much to me and feels like the perfect place to premiere Handling the Undead. We first pitched the film there in 2019, and my previous film Adjø Montebello was screened there in 2018. It’s amazing to be one of the select films in the Nordic Competition. I’m thrilled that Gothenburg will be one of the first places where the film meets its audience,” says Thea Hvistendahl.

Göteborg Film Festival opens simultaneously in cinemas across Sweden and in the festival’s digital cinema. The opening ceremony is arranged in collaboration with Västra Götalandsregionen.