Göteborg Film Festival: Kristen Stewart’s ‘The Chronology of Water’ & Sophy Romvari’s ‘Blue Heron’ Among Films Set For International Competition

The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart’s debut feature as a director, and Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari’s buzzy festival favorite Blue Heron, are among the headline titles Göteborg has set for its 2026 International Competition. Scroll down for the full lineup. 

This year’s Göteborg Film Festival will run from 23 January to 1 February. The festival’s 2026 programme features 266 films from 76 countries. Blue Heron and The Chronology of Water will arrive in Sweden after extensive 2025 festival runs. Stewart’s film debuted at Cannes. Based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir and adapted for the screen by Stewart, the film is the portrait of a woman who, after an abusive childhood, escapes into competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before finding her voice through writing.

Blue Heron opened at Locarno, where it won the First Feature Award. Romvari also landed the Best Canadian Discovery Award at TIFF, where the family drama was one of the most talked-about titles. We spoke with Romvari about the film on the ground in Locarno. You can read that interview here. 

Elsewhere, Göteborg will close with Chloé Zhao’s latest Hamnet, and Noomi Rapace will be handed the festival’s Nordic Honorary Dragon Award. Ruben Östlund will also take part in what the festival has described as an exclusive Q&A session where he will discuss his seventh feature, The Entertainment System Is Down. 

Nordic Competition:

Ingmar Bergman Competition

Nordic Documentary Competition

International Competition