Sweden film festival played to audience of one

Scandinavia’s biggest film festival went ahead this year despite the coronavirus pandemic, but was hosted on an isolated island and admitted only one attendee — a health care worker selected from 12,000 applicants. Swedish nurse and film fan Lisa Enroth was chosen to be the 2021 Gothenburg Film Festival’s castaway. She spent the week beginning Jan. 30 on the remote island of Pater Noster watching film after film. “In health care, I seem to have spent ages listening, testing and consoling. I feel like I’m drained of energy,” Enroth said before the festival began. Pater Noster, on the boundary of a dense archipelago off Sweden’s west coast, is known for its lighthouse. “The wind, the sea, the possibility of being part of a totally different kind of reality for a week — all this is really attractive,” said Enroth. She kept a daily video diary, posted on the festival’s website. The festival’s CEO, Mirja Wester, said: “It feels particularly right to be able to give this unique experience to one of the many heroes of the health care system who are all working so hard against COVID-19.” (Reuters) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.