スウェーデン映画祭、孤島で観客１人の「上映会」　コロナ対応の看護師に贈呈

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】スウェーデン・イエーテボリで開催される国際映画祭でプレミア上映される70作品を、離れ小島の灯台に特設された「映画館」で1週間、一人で好きなだけ楽しめる──こんな特別な休暇の権利が、新型コロナウイルス治療の最前線で闘ってきた看護師のリサ・エンロートさんに贈呈された。（写真はパターノステル灯台の内部に設置された小さなスクリーン）
　首都ストックホルムから４００キロ離れたスウェーデン西岸沖の孤島にあるパターノステル灯台跡地のホテルで、ヨーテボリ国際映画祭に出品された映画７０作品をほぼ完全に孤立した環境で自由に鑑賞できる権利には、世界４５か国から１万２０００人以上が応募した。
　赤い色が鮮やかなパターノステル灯台は、１８６８年に建造された。かつて灯台守の一家が暮らしていた赤い壁の建物が近くにあり、現在はホテルとして使用されている。島を訪れる方法は船かヘリコプターのみで、行き来は天候に左右される。
　映画祭の主催者側は面談と考査の末、２０２１年の映画祭のテーマ「Ｓｏｃｉａｌ Ｄｉｓｔａｎｃｅｓ」に沿った人選として、スウェーデン中部シェブデにある病院の救急病棟に勤務する看護師のエンロートさんに権利を贈呈すると決めた。
　エンロートさんは、パンデミック（世界的な大流行）が始まってからというもの、通常の業務に加えて新型コロナウイルス患者の治療にも当たり、激務の日々を送ってきた。映画祭に応募した理由は、映画が大好きだというだけでなく、コロナ禍での多忙な毎日を一休みしたかったからだという。「めちゃくちゃ忙しかったので、落ち着いてこの１年間を振り返ることができるのは、良い機会だ」と語った。
　映画鑑賞用のスクリーンは灯台の最上部にある灯室に設置され、部屋からは大海原と島の海岸線を３６０度見渡せる。島内の建物の中にも大型スクリーンが設置されている。島のどこか別の場所で映画を鑑賞したければ、専用タブレット端末とヘッドホンも提供される。一方、自分のパソコンなどは持ち込めず、エンロートさんが外界と接するのは鑑賞した映画について感想を語るビデオ日記だけになる。
　オンラインで開催される今年の映画祭は、他にイエーテボリ市内２か所でも定員１人の上映会を行う。映画祭のクリエーティブ・ディレクターを務めるヨナス・ホルムベリ氏は、新型コロナウイルス対策で多くの映画館が閉鎖されている中で、こうしたイベントを通じて人々が映画への興味を持ち続けてくれることを願っていると話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/02-12:45）

A front-line Swedish nurse is getting some Covid downtime with a week of private screenings of the Gothenburg film festival, in a former lighthouse off the country's west coast.
More than 12,000 candidates from 45 countries applied to watch the festival's films in almost near isolation on an island 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Stockholm.
The prize is a week viewing as many of the festival's 70 premieres as they like in a hotel in the former Pater Noster Lighthouse. But they will be in isolation and will have no access to their own computer or laptop.
The bright-red lighthouse, built on a tiny island off Sweden's west coast in 1868, is surrounded by a scattering of squat, red buildings originally built to house the lighthouse keeper's family. It can only be reached by boat or helicopter, depending on the weather.
After a series of interviews and tests, festival organisers chose emergency nurse and film buff Lisa Enroth for the prize, in keeping with the 2021 festival's theme, Social Distances.
Before boarding a small speedboat out to the island on the clear, chill winter's morning, Enroth said she had applied not only out of her love for the cinema, but also to seek respite from her hectic work as an emergency nurse during the pandemic.
It has been hectic, so it's a nice opportunity just to be able to land and to reflect over the year, she said.
- Months working amid Covid crisis -
Sweden, which has taken a light-touch approach to the pandemic compared to its neighbours, has been facing a stronger than expected second wave of the virus. So far, more than 11,500 people have died from Covid-19 across the country.
Enroth works in the emergency ward of a hospital in Skovde in central Sweden. Since the start of the pandemic, her hospital's work caring for virus patients on top of their regular workload has been intense.
We had a lot of Covid cases during this year and every patient that has been admitted to the hospital has been passing through the emergency ward, she told journalists.
The organisers said they were surprised by the numbers of applicants for the prize but were confident they had chosen the right candidate -- not only for her love of cinema.
She has also dedicated this past year in the frontline against the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival's creative director Jonas Holmberg said to AFP.
That's also one of the reasons we chose her.
- Isolated screenings -
Boarding the boat dressed in a thick survival suit, Enroth sped over the calm, icy waters, jumping off in the island's tiny harbour and disappearing into her lodgings.
A screen has been set up in the lantern room at the top of the windswept island's lighthouse, offering a 360-degree view of the sea and coastline around.
Another wide screen has been set up in one of the island's buildings.
Enroth will also have a tablet and headphones if she wants to watch films elsewhere on the island, which measures just 250 metres by 150 metres.
With only one other person staying permanently on the island -- a safety precaution -- Enroth's only contact with the outside world will be through her video diary about the films she has viewed.
The festival's films will be shown online and two venues in Gothenburg itself will allow screenings for just one person at a time.
Holmberg, the festival's creative director, said he hoped events like these would maintain interest in the industry at a time when many screens are closed because of pandemic restrictions.
We are longing so much to come back to the cinemas and in the meantime we have to be creative and do the things that we can to create discussion, he told journalists.