Goteborg Film Festival Unveils 12th Nostradamus Report "Reality/Resistance"

May. 19, 2025

Today May 19, Göteborg Film Festival unveiled the 12th edition of its Nostradamus Report at Marché du Film in Cannes. The 2025 report, Reality/Resistance, by media analyst Johanna Koljonen, brings a clear-eyed yet empowering outlook for the audiovisual industry amid real-world crisis and structural upheaval.

Annually commissioned by the Göteborg Film Festival since 2013, the Nostradamus Report analyses and forecasts the near future of the faster-than-ever evolving audiovisual industries through research, and interviews with industry experts.

The 2025 report reflects an industry shifting from resisting reality towards building resilient resistance, calling for a renewed commitment to the audience and a principled defence of creative freedom at the core of its message. It discusses increasing opportunities for non-US content in the commercial mainstream and suggests new ways of thinking about both development processes and how films and TV series are communicated to their audiences.

Johanna Koljonen said:

"Our interviewees are realistic, but hopeful and resilient – and like most people in the industry, quite adaptable. Of course it can feel tempting to avert our eyes from wars, democratic backsliding, economic uncertainty and continuing industry challenges. But to offer resistance against the outcomes we can’t be resisting reality. The report is not a call to despair, but a call to engage."This year’s report presents practical strategies for how to move forward as a sector and how to prepare within our organisations for changes and possible threats. It also celebrates this artistic moment, when wonderful work is flourishing both in cinemas and on living room screens. At the heart of it all is the question of how we continue to tell stories that matter and who we are telling them for.”

 

Key insights from the 2025 Report, Reality/Resistance:

• From Reality-Resistant to Resilient Resistance

  In an age of systemic instability – be it democratic backsliding, escalating climate crisis, or accelerating technological developments – traditional forecasting is less useful than strategic preparation. Today’s challenges require a different kind of resilience: structural, strategic, and shared. It’s crucial for the industry to stop resisting reality in order to resist its consequences.

• One World, Different Woes

  Our industry is globally interconnected but locally experienced. From armed conflict to inflation, repression to marginalisation, the pressures are uneven but the need for solidarity is shared. Navigating this complexity requires empathy, nuanced understanding, and cross-border collaboration.

• Art and the Autocratic Breakthrough

  The deconstruction of liberal democracy is no longer a distant concern. In many places, it is already here. In this context, storytelling becomes political, whether we intend it or not. Actively defending editorial independence and remaining alert to the risks of self-censorship and co-optation, will be vital in the years to come.

• Sunset Hollywood, Hello World

  Hollywood’s symbolic role as global tastemaker is weakening. This opens space for new voices, new aesthetics, and new centres of gravity. In the next 3­5 years, opportunities for wide­ appeal storytelling by local and world filmmakers will continue to expand.

• Advocating for Film and the Local Industry

  Reconnecting with local audiences is just as much about legitimacy as it is about survival. In a moment of political scrutiny and shrinking support, we must articulate not only the artistic value of film, but its public and cultural role. Advocacy isn’t extra work, it is the work.

• Rethinking Development and Distribution

  Old development models were designed for a different era. The report points to the need for more adaptive, cross-disciplinary approaches – ones that respond to real-world constraints and creative potential. On the distribution side, collective experiments in visibility, audience building, and release strategies are already showing promising results.

• Wonderful Things that Work

  Despite challenging realities an abundance of wonderful films and TV shows are performing in the market. Lowering thresholds to affordable production are empowering a diversity of voices and approaches. For the established industry this represents hope, inspiration, and a new generation of storytellers.

Interviewees featured in the 2025 Nostradamus Report:

• Marianne Furevold-Boland, Head of Drama, NRK
• Samya Hafsaoui, Screenwriter, Audience Designer
• Morad Koufane, Head of International and Young Adult Drama, France Télévisions
• Ted Miller, Agent and Founder, Triangle Management Partners
• Roman Paul, Producer, Razor Film
• Tamara Tatishvili, Head of the Hubert Bals Fund, IFF Rotterdam
• Katarina Tomkova, Producer, kaleidoscope & Punkchart films

The 2025 Nostradamus Report was presented at Marché du Film’s Cannes Next programme by media analyst and author Johanna Koljonen. The presentation was followed by a panel consisting of interviewees Roman Paul and Katarina Tomkova.

The Nostradamus Project, founded and run by the Göteborg Film Festival. With the release of the 2025 report, German Films was announced as a new partner of the initiative, joining BoostHBG, Kulturakademin, and Lindholmen Science Park, with additional support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Creative Europe MEDIA, and the Region Västra Götaland.

The editorial team of the Nostradamus report consists of Johanna Koljonen, Josef Kullengård, Cia Edström and Emma Caviezel.