Interview with Carl Pontus Hjorthén – the Director of MOLDOX Festival

SHORT BIO: Carl Pontus Hjorthén, as a child actor called Pontus Hjorthén Nilsson , born 23 August 1970 in Gothenburg , is a Swedish film director and actor.

Hjorthén is the son of actor Carl-Ivar Nilsson and Liliane Hjorthén. In his childhood and youth, he played the son of his father’s character Willy Battle in the television series Home to the village . He has for many years lived in Spain but now lives back in Sweden. In collaboration with Martin Jönsson, he has made several documentary films that have reached international success, including The Secret (2009), which tells the story of Carl-Ivar Nilsson’s life, and The Last Proletarians of Football (2011), about IFK Gothenburg’ssuccess in the 1980s. A new life (2014) is about Inge Schiöler and Gothenburg colourists. In 2016, the Swedish Film studio complete the feature-length documentary Europe Brasilia . Hjorthén is also the artistic director of Moldox International Film Festival for Social Change in Moldova. (Info Wikipedia)

Find more about Carl Pontus Hjorthén in the interview bellow.

MOLDOX: Dear Pontus, please tell the Moldovan public more about yourself.

I am a filmmaker from the city of Gothenburg in Sweden. I was born into film and television thanks to my father who was a famous Swedish actor. He brought me to the sets as a baby, and they started to use me when they needed a baby in a TV-drama or film. So I grew up as a child actor. Now I don’t act anymore, instead, I make my own films.

MOLDOX: You have visited our country last spring, how it was for you?

Pontus Hjorthén: ”It was very nice, thanks to my new friend and associate Maxim Cârlan who showed me the country.”

MOLDOX:   You are the artistic director of the MOLDOX International Film Festival for Social Change in Moldova, what does this mean to you?

Pontus Hjorthén: ”It’s a challenge to try, and so something for other filmmakers and try to help good films to find a different audience. And for a new audience to find something different, films they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to watch and discussed about otherwise.”

MOLDOX: It is a 5 days festival, what shouldn’t we miss from the agenda?

Pontus Hjorthén: ”The master classes if you are interested in filmmaking. The opening party if you like to dance and party. The closing film: “Under the sun” – about North Korea (it’s a fantastic, although a very scary film).”

MOLDOX:  What are the future plans regarding MOLDOX?

Pontus Hjorthén: ”Making it bigger and better every year.”

MOLDOX: Please, give the audience some reasons Moldovans should attend the festival and the MOLDOX LAB workshops.

Pontus Hjorthén: ”We have struggled to find the best teachers we could. It’s a unique opportunity to try something totally new.”