Noomi Rapace is currently earning international acclaim for her portrayal of Mother Teresa in the film Mother. The Swedish actor will visit Göteborg Film Festival in January to receive the Nordic Honorary Dragon Award and to present the Nordic premiere of Mother, together with director Teona Strugar Mitevska. The festival will also feature a retrospective of some of Rapace’s most celebrated films.
Noomi Rapace’s career stretches across languages, genres, and continents, marking her as one of the Nordic region’s most versatile actors. Her breakthrough role as hacker Lisbeth Salander in the screen adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy earned her a Guldbagge Award and catapulted her onto the international stage. Since then, she has continued to impress with complex and often demanding performances, ranging from epic science fiction in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus to Icelandic folklore in Valdimar Jóhannsson’s singular film Lamb.
“It feels both natural and deeply meaningful to present this year’s Nordic Honorary Award to Noomi Rapace. She captivates audiences around the world with her uncompromising presence and fearless expressive power. Her ability to find and portray what burns, unsettles, and moves us cuts straight through the screen”, says Pia Lundberg, Artistic Director of Göteborg Film Festival.
In Teona Strugar Mitevska’s Mother, Rapace portays Mother Teresa in a fascinating and provocative interpretation. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and will have its Nordic premiere at Göteborg Film Festival on 27 January. The premiere screening at Cinema Draken will be introduced by Rapace and Mitevska. Mother is co-produced by Swedish companies Rainy Days and Film i Väst and will be released in Swedish cinemas in February 2026.
Noomi Rapace will receive her Nordic Honorary Dragon Award during a ceremony at Stora Teatern on 28 January, prior to the festival’s second screening of Mother. The evening concludes with a conversation moderated by the festival’s Artistic Director, Pia Lundberg.
Rapace will also be celebrated with a retrospective highlighting some of her most significant roles. The selection includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) directed by Niels Arden Oplev, Beyond (2010) directed by Pernilla August, and Lamb (2021) directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson.
Göteborg Film Festival 2026 takes place from 23 January to 1 February.
