Here are the winners of 48th Göteborg Film Festival
When the Light Breaks wins Dragon Award Best Nordic Film
When the Light Breaks, directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson, won the Dragon Award Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival 2025.
The award of SEK 400,000 (35,000 €) makes it one of the world's largest film prizes. Presenting partner for the competition is Region Västra Götaland and the City of Gothenburg.
Motivation of the jury:
“For its masterfully calibrated mise en scène, its sensitivity and delicate lightness, its director’s unexpectedly uplifting treatment of grief, acutely portrayed by a perfect young ensemble."
Members of the jury: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Director, Greece; JP Passi, Cinematographer, Finland; Ella Lemhagen, Director, Sweden; Philippe Lesage, Director, Canada; Frida Gustavsson, Actor, Sweden.
Heather Millard, producer, was present to accept the award.
Dragon Award Best Acting: Andrea Bræin Hovig
For the seventh year, Göteborg Film Festival presented its acting award. The prize is gender-neutral and all actors in the films included in the Nordic Competition are nominated.
The Dragon Award Best Acting goes to Andrea Bræin Hovig for her role in Love, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud.
Motivation of the jury:
“For a most subtle, complex performance, yet so powerful in its restraint; and for portraying an intricately layered, unapologetic female character.”
The jury selecting the winner of the Dragon Award Best Acting is the same as for the Dragon Award Best Nordic Film.
Dragon Award Best Nordic Film Special Mention: My Eternal Summer
Motivation of the jury:
“For a bravely personal, sensitive and beautifully crafted film that pointedly refrains from forcing drama or sentimentalism - an impressive, greatly promising debut- the Nordic Jury’s Special Mention goes to My Eternal Summer by Sylvia Le Fanu.”
FIPRESCI Award: The Girl with the Needle
The prize from the international federation of film critics, FIPRESCI, goes to The Girl with the Needle by Magnus von Horn. The prize is awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics and goes to one of the movies in the Nordic Competition.
Motivation of the jury:
“The film’s director demonstrates absolute mastery of the form. We award this film for its camerawork, the unusual music, the compelling setting and production design that becomes a character in itself, great performances and dialogs. This film puts into evidence the female situation and the necessity for feministic battle. It also shows us how to remain a person of integrity in devilish surrounding and darkness, emphasised by the black and white images.”
Members of the jury: Jakub Kuba Armata, Poland; Alexander Zwart, The Netherlands; Shahla Nahid, France.
Madeleine Ekman, producer of the film, was present to accept the award.
Audience Dragon Award Best Nordic Film: Safe House
This year's Audience Dragon Award Best Nordic Film goes to Safe House by Eirik Svensson.
The award was accepted by Annika Hellström and Erika Malmgren from Cinenic Film.
Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary: Trans Memoria
This year’s Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary is awarded to Trans Memoria by Victoria Verseau. The prize consists of services worth SEK 250,000 (22,000 €) provided by presenting partner The Chimney Pot.
Motivation of the jury:
“The director tells a personal and brave story in an unexpected and elegant way. The director’s honesty, subtle approach, and work with the characters are captivating from the very first moments, and the visual component does not merely accompany the story but becomes an integral part of it, reflecting the inner world of both the protagonists and the director. The film is a poetic meditation, in which the director explores and re-enacts a traumatic experience in search of love, a lost friend, and acceptance.”
Members of the jury: David Herdies, Producer/Director, Sweden; Svitlana Lishchynska, Director, Ukraine; Andreas Jonsson Hay, Editor, Sweden.
The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award: Hanami
The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award goes to Hanami, by Denise Fernandes. The award is presented together with the The Bergman Foundations, including The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, The Bergman Estate and Bergman Center on Fårö.
The prize consists of a stay at The Bergman Estate on Fårö.
Motivation of the jury:
“We were grateful to witness such a profoundly well curated program—one that stands as a testament to cinema’s enduring spirit, its defiance, and its boundless future. After careful consideration we have chosen to award a bold and beautiful film, that is impossible to fit into the structures of conventional storytelling. Instead it embraces the pure artistry of filmmaking and a singular cinematic language.
With nuance and tenderness, this film captures joy and sorrow of everyday life—illuminated through performances that bring forth the deep, unspoken bonds between mothers, daughters, and the communities they weave together.”
Members of the jury: Dea Kulumbegashvili, Director, Georgia; Kaltrina Krasniqi, Director, Kosovo; Silje Riise Næss, Chair of the Board of The Bergman Estate, Norway.
Emma Caviezel from MoreThan Films was present to accept the award.
Dragon Award Best International Film: Memoir of a Snail
The Dragon Award Best International Film, selected by the audience, went to Memoir of a Snail by Adam Elliot.
Oscar Erikssson from Folkets Bio was present to accept the award.
The presenting partner for the SEK 50,000 (4,400 €) prize is Göteborgs-Posten.
Youth Jury Dragon Award: Happyend
For the second time, the Youth Jury Dragon Award was presented on Saturday. The award was established to highlight young people’s perspectives on what makes a great film.
The jury consisted of film-dedicated young people between the ages of 18 and 25, and a selection of eight films from the Voyage section were nominated for the award.
The winner of the Youth Jury Dragon Award goes to Happyend by Neo Sora.
Motivation of the jury:
“This film captures youthful rebelliousness with warmth in a world where citizens are divided by a strict authority. This is combined with an excellent visual expression and a great touch of comedy. The film’s urgent theme engages us as we are brought into a world with human characters that inspire us to take matters in our own hands.”
Present to receive the award was the jury, consisting of: Olle Ordqvist, Ture von Reis, Zahraa Aldoujaili, Perla Heiefort, Agnes Eliasson, Emelie Grimby. Även Aya Sakurai and Elis Sjöblom.
Draken Film Award: Family
For the fourth consecutive year, the Draken Film Award is presented to a Swedish short film in the festival’s program that stands out through its storytelling, artistic excellence, or by challenging and expanding the boundaries of short-format filmmaking.
The winner of the Draken Film Award 2025 is Family by Clara Vida.
Motivation of the jury:
“The film paints a naked portrait of a family that no longer exists, told in an innovative and bold way.”
Members of the jury: Marcus Carlsson, Nadi Tofighian and Ami Ekström.
Awards Already Announced During the Festival
The Honorary Dragon Award was presented to Julie Delpy, who received her award on January 29 in connection with the screening of Meet the Barbarians at cinema Draken.
The Nordic Honorary Dragon Award was awarded to Thomas Vinterberg, who received his award on January 28 in connection with the screening of The Celebration at Stora Teatern.
Startsladden, the Award for Best Short Film of the Year, was presented to Viktor Johansson on January 26 for his film True Artist. The prize is valued at SEK 420,000 (37,000 €).
Startsladden – Audience Award was awarded to Cows by Jakob Márky and Kasper Häggström.
The Swedish Church Film Prize, Angelospriset, was awarded to Live a Little, directed by Fanny Ovesen. The prize, worth SEK 50,000 (4,700 €), was presented in connection with the film’s screening during the Göteborg Film Festival earlier this week.
As a part of Nordic Series Awards, the Nordic Series Script Award went to Pelle Rådström, screenwriter of Pressure Point, presented by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The Creative Courage Award went to the Norwegian series Dates in Real Life, produced by Petter Onstad Løkke and Synnøve Hørsdal from Maipo Film and commissioned by Marianne Furevold-Boland and Alec Thom from NRK.
On January 30, Göteborg Film Festival’s 26th Nordic Film Market announced the winners of the market awards: You Crazy Thing, directed by Miia Tervo, received the €15,000 Film Finances Scandinavia Award, and Honor of Persia, directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi, was honored with the Tint Post-Production Award worth SEK 400,000 (approx. € 35,000).
Documentary filmmakers Annika and Jessica Karlsson were awarded the Mai Zetterling Grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.