Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival is turning its 2026 theme into a live experiment: Truth Tickets—a public-facing lie detector test where honesty can earn you access to a festival screening.
Truth as the theme—and the ticket price
The festival’s 2026 focus is Truth, built around a question that feels unusually current: What is truth worth today? Instead of debating it only on panels and screens, the festival makes it tangible— by turning truth into a literal currency you can earn and spend.
Inside the “interrogation room” experience
Participants step into a custom-built interrogation room designed to mirror real investigative environments—complete with cameras, lighting, and physiological monitoring. A real polygraph specialist conducts the exam, and participation is voluntary, but the high-stakes setup is built to feel intense, memorable, and undeniably real.
Pass the test, earn a Truth Ticket
The incentive is simple: tell the truth under pressure, pass the polygraph, and you receive a Truth Ticket that grants access to a festival screening. Fail—and you walk away with nothing. The point isn’t punishment; it’s to make lying feel like it has consequences in a moment when truth can feel negotiable.
Why live simulations are having a moment
This sits in the growing wave of high-engagement, live-event simulations that put human-stake issues into physical form. They’re part theatre, part social experiment—built for participation, conversation, and cultural debate that extends far beyond the room.
A festival concept with OOH energy
Even though it’s not a traditional OOH buy, the mechanic feels like OOH at its best: public, experiential, and impossible to ignore. It turns a city-facing cultural moment into a shared story—where the audience isn’t just watching, they’re inside the message.
FAQs about this campaign
What are Göteborg Film Festival ‘Truth Tickets’?
A live experiment where visitors undergo a voluntary lie detector test; those who pass by telling the truth earn a ticket to a festival screening.
Why is the festival doing this in 2026?
It supports the festival’s 2026 focus on ‘Truth,’ asking what truth is worth in a time when personal narratives can overshadow factual reality.
What is the experience like?
Participants enter a purpose-built interrogation room with cameras, lighting, and physiological monitoring for a high-pressure, investigative-style scenario.
When does the 2026 Göteborg Film Festival run?
The 49th edition runs from January 23 to February 1, 2026.
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