This article discusses how the largest film festival in the Nordic countries, the Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), is much more than a setting for bringing quality films to local audiences.With retrospectives, an extensive programme of seminars and master classes, a film lab for upcoming talent, a film market as well as a television industry day, and recent initiatives such as co-organizing a university course on Swedish film policy and publishing a Ph.D. thesis as part of the festival’s line of publications, the festival is an important link not only between film-makers and audiences, but also between the industry, policy-makers and scholars.