Göteborg International Film Festival is working to spread valuable film from all over the world to an audience as broad as possible. The festival also wants to contribute to a creative and extensive discussion about the film as an artistic means of expression. Göteborg International Film Festival was started in 1979 and is today the biggest film festival in the Nordic countries and one of the biggest public film festivals in the world. Every year about 450 films from around 70 countries are screened, and almost 123 000 tickets are sold. There is also an extensive seminar programme called Cinemix. Every year about 5000 persons visit around 40 seminars. The aim of Göteborg International Film Festival is to offer interested viewers a broad programme of international films that not always reach the cinemas. The audience also get the opportunity to meet the directors. Usually around 200 directors are invited to attend the screenings to introduce their films and answer questions. The festival also offers its members a lot of activities around the year. Another important part of the festival's aim is to function as a meeting place for the Nordic film industry. In the year 2000 the festival established the Nordic Film Market. This market place has become an important link for new Nordic film and about 200 specially invited buyers, distributors and festival representatives from all over the world visit it. Today it is the biggest specific market place for new Nordic film. Since 1998 Göteborg International Film Festival in cooperation with SIDA (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) runs Göteborg International Film Festival Fund. It is a fund that supports filmmakers who live and work in emerging economies.
The Festival Director is Marit KAPLA.