The Angelos Film Award 2026 of the Swedish Church was presented to Julia Thelin's debut film "Mecenaten" (The Patron, Sweden 2026) at its world premiere at the Gothenburg Film Festival on 24 January.
In "Mecenaten", a cleaner {Carla Sehn) wants something more - and bigger - out of life. When the opportunity arises, she takes the chance to pretend to be a wealthy and influential art patron. Two young art students are impressed. This marks the start of an escalating chain of events with far reaching consequences. "Mecenaten" is the feature film debut of director Julia Thelin.
The winning film was chosen by a jury from 12 nominated films. Members of the jury were Ingrid Elam, Professor emerita of Literary Composition and former Dean of the Artistic Faculty at the University of Gothenburg (2012-2018), Martin Ersgård, freelance line producer in the film and television industry since the 1970s, and Mikael Ringlander, photographer and provost of the Church of Sweden. Their motivation reads: „A skilfully woven tale of a woman made invisible who seizes the opportunity for change and self-actualisation. A chamber play blending power, status and art in a mesmerising and dangerous game. A film with striking direction, photography and acting.”
The prize is endowed with 50.000 SEK and the Angelos statuette, created by Erland Forsberg. It is awarded since 2002 to a Swedish feature film of high artistic quality bringing existential issues to life and being possibly useful in church film work.