GOTHENBERG, SWEDEN – As truth becomes increasingly negotiable in public discourse, Göteborg Film Festival is testing what honesty is actually worth. With the live experiment Truth Tickets, visitors can earn festival tickets by passing a real lie detector test.
Inside a purpose-built interrogation room, members of the public undergo a polygraph examination conducted by a specialist. Those who tell the truth under pressure are rewarded with a Truth Ticket – paid for not with money, but with honesty.
“Truth has become strangely negotiable in our time. By turning truth into a currency, we assign it a tangible value that is rarely emphasised. We want to create an experiment where lying has consequences,” says Pia Lundberg, Artistic Director of Göteborg Film Festival.
To introduce the festival and its 2026 theme Focus: Truth, Göteborg Film Festival has produced a promotional film starring Alexander Karim and David Dencik, two of Scandinavia’s most internationally renowned actors, directed by Mats Udd. The film explores the value of truth itself, establishing a conceptual framework that will be tested in the live experiment Truth Tickets.
“This year’s theme immediately stood out as something that could be explored beyond the screen. It raises fundamental questions about the value of truth, which led us to ask whether honesty could be treated as something concrete – even priced. Truth Tickets turns that question into a real-world experiment,” says Mikael Andersson, Copywriter at BBDO Nordics.
Truth Tickets was developed in collaboration with creative agency BBDO Nordics. Göteborg Film Festival has a long-standing practice of using bold, live experiences as part of its artistic communication. Previous initiatives include Isolated Cinema, where participants watched films alone on a remote lighthouse island. With Truth Tickets, this approach is applied to examine the value of truth through a tangible public experience.
BBDO Nordics
Art Director: Alexander Skoglund
Copywriter: Mikael Andersson
Copywriter: Karan Arun Nair
Craft Director: Oskar Ferm
Design Director: Andreas Silverblad
Graphic Designer: Sara Helsén
Executive Creative Director: Malin Wikerberg
PR Lead: Linnea Nordström
PR Specialist: Hanna Sandström
Business Director: Jenny Wikman
Project Lead: Oliva Olsson
Slutet Är Nära
Director: Mats Udd
Director of Photography: Jonas Alarik
Executive Producer: Alexandros Bakos
Producer: Rima Kassar
Production Coordinator: Taylor Sipes
1st AD: Martin Grimlund
PA: Aboubaker “Buba” Suleiman
Set Design: Henrik Svensson
Costume & Makeup: Mari Miltvedt
1st AC: Rasmus Frostell
2nd AC: Dante Wretblad
Gaffer: Adam Halkiewicz
Best Boy: Filip Edlund
Grip: Andreas Dely
Sound: Christian Baringe
Main Talent: Alexander Karim, David Dencik
Extra: Erik Fundell
Editor: Simon Pontén
Colorist: Sofie Borup, Company 3
Sound Design: Jacob Felixson
Online: Dilsah Kavas, Slutet Takeout
DCP: Jesper Furu
Huge thank you to Annika Dahl and Storyline for gear, the team at Company 3 and Jessica Mittelton at Main Character.
Studio Mint
Senior Retoucher: Karl Vestklev
Digital Artist: Anton Forsberg
Göteborg Film Festival
CEO: Mirja Wester
Artistic Director: Pia Lundberg
Head of Marketing and Communications: Erik Toresson Hellqvist
Head of Event Management: Emma Rygielski
Head of Sales: Kim Nilsson
Production Manager: Cali Karlberg
Event Producer: Edit Larsson
Set Designer: Agnes Langert
Content Manager: Sandra Fogel
Polygraph Operator: Örjan Hesjedal
