HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg
Master of Fine Arts Programme in Film

The Master of Fine Arts Programme in Film at the University of Gothenburg is an international master’s programme focused on developing independent, inquiry-led film practice. It centers on critical engagement with the world through filmmaking, fostering a socially and politically conscious approach to the medium. The programme also emphasizes interdisciplinary dialogue as a way of enriching artistic practice. Bringing together participants from diverse backgrounds, it is built around peer-to-peer learning.

Francesco Scavetta
Scavetta has developed a reputation on the international dance scene for his wildly inventive work, playful humour and subversive intelligence and his company is at the forefront of the Nordic dance scene. In 1999 he established in Oslo, together with Gry Kipperberg, the dance company Wee and, since then, has produced 23 performances and experienced an extensive international activity, touring in 37 countries -in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North, Central and South America.

Wee’s creations have changed in format and aesthetic, yet they have continuously explored what theatre and performance can mean in contemporary life and what kind of dialogues they can open with the audience. Scavetta’s theatricality has often been associated with the atmosphere of a weird dream or to a playful world of a child: strange, funny, poetic and, at the same time, surprising. The core of the company’s investigation deals with fragility and paradox, epiphany and dream, empathy and surprise, avoiding narrative and physical cliché, while questioning reality and identity with humoristic disbelief. “Wee creates performances that can engage and amaze, can evoke empathy and twist expectations, that can be both poetic and unusual, and that we experience as a challenge first of all for ourselves: that surprises us, as much as it talks to us and about us.”

Born in Italy, Scavetta studied at National Academy of Dance of Rome, graduated in Theatre and Performing Arts and Post-graduated in Sciences of Communication. He is the founder of Vitlycke-Centre for Performing Arts (Sweden).
Scavetta has been giving workshops among others at: P.A.R.T.S./Brussels, IMPULSTANZ/Wien, Henny Jurriëns Foundation/Amsterdam, SEAD/Salzburg Experimental Dance Academy, Greenwich Dance/London and in many dance/theatre festivals in 47 countries around the world.

Linda Sternö
Linda Sternö is a senior lecturer in film. She holds a bachelor’s degree in film directing and a high school teaching degree in media subjects from the University of Gothenburg. She also earned a master’s degree in Visual Culture and Learning, with a specialisation in visual arts education, from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the Department of Film and Drama at the University of Pretoris, South Africa, where her research focuses on the intersections of film, embodiment and pedagogy. Before joining the University of Gothenburg, Sternö worked as a freelance filmmaker. Her professional background includes directing and producing films for both television and cinema, experience that continues to inform her teaching and research.

Ram Krishna Ranjan
Ram Krishna Ranjan is a lecturer in film and the programme director for the MFA in Film at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg. He works at the intersection of research, pedagogy, visual art and film practice. His work engages with themes such as migration, gentrification, caste, memory, decoloniality, and intersectionality. Ram approaches filmmaking as a mode of research, shaped by the formal, historical, and contextual affordances of the medium. He holds a PhD in artistic research, where he explored caste-subaltern imaginations of the 1943 Bengal Famine through transdisciplinary film practice.

A few images of the films created.