Last night I had a lovely Scandinavian dinner with friends as we discussed our book club title "The Ice Princess" the latest best seller capitalizing on the super hot Scandinavian crime genre (oh what The Girl With/Who... has wrought!). I didn't like the book at all and the translation seemed clunky (or maybe that was the fault of the original prose?) but I find the whole trend vaguely hilarious since Scandinavian countries, to their vast collective credit, are not exactly known as hotbeds of crime! Returning home, what do I have in my inbox?, but the nominations for Norway's annual "Amanda" Awards. Don't you love unexpected theme days?
Norway had a record breaking year with 34 original films eligible for their own prizes. To give you a very general sense of the amount of films various countries make each year here's a handy graphic AMPAS provided for the films of 2007. Would that all the regularly Oscar submitting countries had been listed!
It's no surprise that Bollywood is the biggest deal with over a thousand films made a year.
BUT BACK TO NORWAY.
They basically have two "Best Picture" categories since Scandinavia has a rich history of children's films. So the six lucky movies are as follows.
Nokas was released in Norway the day after last year's foreign film eligibility cutoff!Best Children's Film
- Elias og jakten på havets gull (Lise I. Osvoll) -ANIMATED
- Jørgen + Anne = sant [a.k.a. Totally True Love] (Anne Sewitsky)
- Keeper’n til Liverpool (Arild Andresen) -a comedy about a 13 year old soccer goalie.
Best Film
- Gazas tårer [aka Tears of Gaza] (Vibeke Løkkeberg) -This is a documentary film about the consequences of war.
- Kongen av Bastøy/ The King of Devil's Island (Marius Holst) -Here is the highest profile release, a true story period epic about a boy's prison in the early 20th century.
- Nokas (Erik Skjoldbjærg) -Another true story, this one a crime drama about Norway's most famous robbery. This is from the director of the famous thriller Insomnia (1997) which Christopher Nolan went and remade.
Trailer to The King of Devil's Island with Stellan Skarsgård
Eligibility dates aren't exactly the same for the Amandas as they are for Oscar submissions but you shouldn't be surprised if one of these six films is Norway's submission. Two other films of note: Maria Sødahl's Limbo, a period film with the great Lena Endre about expat Scandinavians in Trinidad, did very well in total nominations (acting, screenplay, direction and more) but missed the Best Picture cut under the familiar awards rule of something-has-to. But it won't be the Oscar submission as it would have been eligible in 2010 and it also has a lot of dialogue in English. Trolljegeren, known abroad as Troll Hunter (it's even in release as we speak right here in the States) won multiple nominations, too.
I'm assuming that Joachim Trier's second feature Oslo 31, August missed the eligiblity cut off for these awards. And given that it was so well received at Cannes, perhaps Oscar submission is in the cards? Norway submitted the young filmmaker's debut Reprise once upon a time. (Oscar foolishly ignored it. God, what a startling debut that was. I nominated it!). Here's the trailer to Oslo 31, August.
...same lead actor as Reprise, playing a troubled soul again. I shouldn't make any uninformed guesses but my hunch is that it'll be this one or The King of Devil's Island for Oscar submission.
"I'm going to lose to the King's Speech again??? It's my turn!"Best Foreign Film
One of the funnest things for awards junkies when perusing off-Oscar prizes is how often Oscar giants show up in Foreign Film prizes. Hint: They usually do.
- Another Year (Mike Leigh)
- Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
- Inception (Christopher Nolan)
- The King's Speech (Tom Hooper)
- Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
This is a very common style of grouping for "foreign film" prizes outside the US, 3/5ths Oscar-crazed with one or two other entries that AMPAS ignored that were more popular internationally. Mike Leigh's Another Year did get the Oscar screenplay nod from the Mike Leigh loving writer's branch but France's contender Of Gods and Men, originally thought to be a frontrunner, was famously snubbed in the Foreign Film category. That true story of Christian monks in an increasingly dangerous Muslim territory has done very well for itself internationally (over $40 million) and I still maintain that it probably would have won the Oscar had it been nominated. The most popular of the actual Oscar nominees in the Foreign Language Category was Mexico's Biutiful with a global gross of $25 million.
Best Director
Anne Sewitsky, Jørgen + Anne = sant
Maria Sødahl, Limbo
Erik Skjoldbjærg , Nokas
Best Actress
Agnes Kittelsen, Sykt lykkelig
Ellen Dorrit Petersen/Marte Magnusdotter Solem, Fjellet
Line Verndal, Limbo
Best Actor
Benjamin Helstad, Kongen av Bastøy
Otto Jespersen, Trolljegeren
Henrik Rafaelsen, Sykt lykkelig
Awards regulars Bonnivie and Endre compete with Holmen for 'best supporting actress'
Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bonnevie, Maskeblomstfamilien (she plays the mother of an intersexed child)
Lena Endre, Limbo (she is one of the expats in Trinidad, mixed up with a married couple who've recently moved from Norway)
Kjersti Holmen, Mennesker i solen (it's a comedy about a Norwegian couple on holiday in Sweden)
Best Supporting Actor
Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Hjem til jul
Bryan Brown, Limbo
Trond Nilssen, Kongen av Bastøy
Best Screenplay
Maria Sødahl, Limbo
Christopher Grøndahl, Nokas
André Øvredal, Trolljegeren
Best Cinematography
John Christian Rosenlund, Hjem til jul
John Andreas Andersen, Kongen av Bastøy
Manuel Alberto Claro, Limbo
The Trailer to Limbo NSFW
Best Art Direction
Astrid Maria Sætren, Jørgen + Anne = sant
Janusz Sosnowski, Kongen av Bastøy
Niels Sejer, Limbo
Best Visual Effects
Ove Heiborg, Qvisten Animation, Knerten gifter seg
Camilla Fossen og Otto Thorbjørnsen, Storm Studios, Kongen av Bastøy
Marcus B. Brodersen, Filmkameratene og Øystein Larsen, Storyline Studios, Trolljegeren
Best Score
Johan Söderqvist, Kongen av Bastøy
Johan Söderqvist, Limbo
Stein Berge Svendsen, Sykt lykkelig
Best Editing
Christoffer Heie, Jørgen + Anne = sant
Jens Christian Fodstad, Limbo
Per Erik Eriksen, Trolljegeren
Best Sound
Petter Fladeby, Hjem til jul
Tormod Ringnes, Kongen av Bastøy
Hugo Ekornes, Limbo
Best Short Film
1994, regi Kaveh Tehrani, produsenter Kaveh Tehrani, Christian Lien Jensen og Marthe Haakensen
Asyl, regi Jørn Utkilen, produsenter Carolynne Sinclair Kidd og Matthieu de Braconier
Everything Will be OK, regi Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, produsent Alan R. Milligan for Film Farms
Best Documentary
Gazas tårer [ALSO NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE] - regi Vibeke Løkkeberg, produsent Terje Kristiansen og Vibeke Løkkeberg for Nero Media
Legenes krig - regi Elsa Kvamme, produsent Elsa Kvamme for Alert Film
Reunion: Ten Years After the War - regi Jon Haukeland, produsent Charlotte Røhder Tvedt for Medieoperatørene