Holmberg stepped down for a job at the Kalmar Art Museum in eastern Sweden.
She served as the editor-in-chief of the Swedish film magazine Cinema for four years.
Other highlights include visits from Thomas Vinterberg and Julie Delpy.
Pia LundbergGöteborg Film Festival
The festival will also hold a rare retrospective of works by Swedish filmmaker Mai Zetterling.
Goteborg runs from January 24 to Feburary 2.
DEADLINE: Pia, how did your appointment come about?
PIA LUNDBERG:I heard Jonas was getting ready to leave the festival.
At the time, I was living in London.
I returned to Sweden and was encouraged to apply for the position.
I went through the recruitment process and it was rigorous.
DEADLINE: Whats your film background?
Youre probably best known internationally for leading cultural efforts at the Swedish embassy in London.
LUNDBERG:I started as a journalist.
DEADLINE: Ive heard a lot about that Stockholm Film Festival magazine.
LUNDBERG:Yes, I employed them.
I was their editor.
They were some of my best writers.
And soon enough, she stole them for her programming department.
That happened a few times.
I was then the Swedish correspondent for Screen International and the Nordic correspondent for Variety.
I was then recruited to serve as head of international at the Swedish Film Institute.
I did that for 10 years before moving to London.
DEADLINE: How have you found your first year as Artistic Director?
LUNDBERG:Its been a pleasure and a lot of fun.
But everything is new.
Ive felt so much like an early beginner with everything.
DEADLINE: And programming-wise.
How was that experience?
How many films did you see?
LUNDBERG:The team saw approximately 3000 films, which we whittled down to 270 films.
Its always a competition, of course, with other festivals.
One problem we had this year, which I was quite concerned about, was Sundance.
Weve traditionally taken place the week after Sundance and parallel to Rotterdam.
This year Sundance decided to push their festival a week ahead.
So were now parallel to Sundance and Rotterdam will be after us, which created even more competition.
But weve been working closely with Sundance.
Nordic filmmakers usually go from Sundance to Gothenburg.
Doing that in the same week this year has for obvious reasons proved impossible for some.
But weve managed with a couple of films.
DEADLINE: Are there any titles youre still burning about because you couldnt lock them?
LUNDBERG:Theres always competition.
Some films you dont get because they get a great slot in Berlin.
I was sad about Alicia VikandersThe Assessment.
We work closely with her on a film lab she launched with the festival.
I sawThe Assessmentin Toronto and was very much hoping to get it since Alicia is from Gothenburg.
It would have been a good film to screen here.
But that had its premiere at the Stockholm Film Festival.
DEADLINE: I did this same pre-festival interview with Jonas over the last few years.
He often said his job as Artistic Director was to grow the festival.
What do you want to do with your tenure?
LUNDBERG:Jonas did an amazing job in his 10 years at the festival.
Ive tried not to change the things that have been working.
Also, we have a very vibrant and strong industry section, which attracts a lot of international professionals.
I think festivals are important events in todays society.
Its about more than just reaching out to audiences.
Films and festivals can help people to think differently and be more open to new perspectives.
We live in very worrying times.
Thats partly why we chose Disobedience as our focus for this years festival.
DEADLINE: Goteborg has become famous for its festival stunts.
Will those stunts continue under your tenure?
None have been announced so far.
LUNDBERG:I love those stunts.
We have been working on stunts and some things will be happening during the festival.
DEADLINE: Can you tell us anything more?
Perhaps where we should be paying attention.
LUNDBERG:You should pay attention to our opening ceremony and what might be said or launched there.
DEADLINE: After some years away, what is your assessment of the current industry?
What are the trends in Sweden?
LUNDBERG:The trend in Sweden has been less and less money for filmmaking for a few years.
Its become a real problem.
Sweden previously had a strong film policy, but its deteriorated in the past decade.
The Swedish Film Institute has far too little money to hand out to filmmakers.
Inflation and the recession have also exacerbated things.
There is a real financial crisis in the Swedish film industry.
The Swedish government has appointed a specialist ground to look into this.
Over the last 6 months, Ive been very impressed with the Danish and Norwegian projects.
Production in those countries is blooming right now.
Sweden is not in a very healthy position, which is sad.
Magnus is actually from Gothenberg.
He was educated at the national film school in Poland.
So he has one leg in Poland and another in Sweden.
His second film was a Polish-Swedish co-production.
However,The Girl with the Needle, was a majority Danish production, with Sweden as a co-producer.
I would love to see filmmakers like Magnus being well-financed in Sweden and making their films here.
Ali Abbasi is another one.
Its a real struggle.
