The Swedish Göteborg Film festival is a champion of artistic freedom and free speech and this year, it has launched an initiative to fund residencies for filmmakers working in oppressive conditions. Visitors purchasing festival tickets can opt to contribute directly by rounding up their purchases through a dedicated Support Artistic Freedom product. Non-attendees can participate via Swish. The fun is housed within the Festival’s 2025 theme of Disobedience.

“We will twist and turn the concept of disobedience. When does it go too far, and is the disregard for laws and rules a reasonable price for change in a democratic society? We hope and believe that the films and conversations in this focus will be able to inspire hope by showing that every individual has the power to exert an influence, and that every courageous ‘no’ can be the beginning of something greater. We are ready for it now,” the Festival stated.

 Forsman & Bodenfors have created this year’s vignette film (an annual tradition) that invites film fans to support these filmmakers and champion artistic freedom by contributing to the fund. In the film, directed by multidisciplinary artist, Lode Kulenstierna and produced by Swedish production house, Rio, a fictional dictator unleashes a monologue of menace that condemns filmmakers as dangerous traitors. (The idea being to encourage film fans to disobey his directive abandon them to leave and underline the grim realities faced by filmmakers who take risk to challenge authority, question societal norms, or uncover hidden truths.) Within the vignette is also an understanding of the power of film to create change and resist oppressive regimes. The power to disobey.