Zar Amir Ebrahimi, the praised and award-winning – including Best Actress at Cannes – lead actress of Holy Spider will head the jury of the Nordic Competition at the 46th Göteborg Film Festival.

Göteborg Film Festival proudly presents celebrated Iranian actress, director, producer and casting director Zar Amir Ebrahimi as president of the Nordic Competition jury at the festival 2023. Amir Ebrahimi won the Best Actress award last Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Ali Abbasis Holy Spider, a film that was just shortlisted for the Academy Awards. Her other works include Bride Price vs. Democracy, Teheran Tabu and the upcoming Shayda, written and directed by Noora Niasari, which will have its world premiere in competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. And on January 4, Les Survivants (White Paradise), a contemporary western staring Amir Ebrahimi and directed by Guillaume Renusson, was released in France.

Zar Amir Ebrahimi is joined in the Göteborg Film Festival Nordic Competition jury by actress Sofie Gråbøl, director Antonio Lukich and composer Matti Bye.

“I am incredibly proud to be leading a jury of these impressive artists so that we may not only amplify the stellar work in the festival, but to also draw attention to the atrocities happening every day around us.” said Amir Ebrahimi.

In 2008, Zar Amir Ebrahimi fled from the Iranian dictatorship and the risk of imprisonment. During the last months, the people across Iran are again protesting against the authoritarian regime with new force, chanting ”Woman, Life, Freedom”. The response from the regime have been brutal, including torture, rape and executions. During the recent protests, many hundreds of filmmakers and other artists have been threatened by the government, arrested or sentenced to prison.

Göteborg Film Festival will screen several films that in different ways relate to the situation. No Bears is directed by Jafar Panahi, who recently was sentenced to six years in prison due to his inquiries about the arrests of fellow filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad. How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish, directed by Mania Akbari, is a film about the liberation, exploitation, and oppression of Iran’s women, based on clips from films from the silent-film era up until the Revolution in 1979. Subtraction is a doppelgänger thriller with Taraneh Alidoosti in the leading role. Taraneh Alidoosti was recently detained by security forces in Tehran days after she criticized the state’s use of the death penalty against protesters. She also spent her years working for women rights, taking her hijab off, posting her photo with “Woman, Life, Freedom”-sign to her Instagram, in order to support the movement and protesters.

In conjunction with the Swedish premiere of Subtraction at the festival, Zar Amir Ebrahimi will lead a manifestation in support of the detained filmmakers and the people of Iran.

“Zar Amir Ebrahimi is an exceptional actress and a very brave person. Due to her artistic intelligence, we are delighted to welcome her as jury president. Together with her, we want to express our deepest solidarity with the people of Iran and our Iranian filmmaker friends who face an immensely difficult and dangerous situation”, said Jonas Holmberg, Artistic Director, Göteborg Film Festival.

The other members of the jury includes:

Sofie Gråbøl, one of Denmarks most celebrated actresses, who’ve starred in films such as The House That Jack Built, Accused and the recent Rose. For her work on the Danish TV series The Killing she was awarded with a Bafta TV Award for Best International.

Antonio Lukich, Ukrainian filmmaker behind award-winning films as My Thoughts Are Silent and It Was Showering in Manchester. His latest film, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, was nominated for the Horizons Award at Venice Film Festival 2022. Lukich was one of four Ukrainian filmmakers who in 2022 received artistic residency in Gothenburg by Göteborg Film Festival. 

Matti Bye, award-winning Swedish pianist and composer. He has composed music for over 40 films and TV series, and his work include films as Tove and The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared and the TV series Young Royals.

Nine films will compete in the Nordic Competition 2023. The nominees will be revealed on January 10.

The last three years winners of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film are: 
2022: As In Heaven by Tea Lindeburg
2021: Tigers by Ronnie Sandahl 
2020: Beware of Children by Dag Johan Haugerud