Seven Amandas for Max Manus

by Annika Pham

24/08/2009 - As expected, Norway’s 2009 box office champion, WWII drama Max Manus [trailer], directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, ruled at the 25th Amanda ceremony, Norway’s annual film awards, held last Friday night at the Haugesund Concert Hall.

The film won seven awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (Aksel Hennie) and Best Screenplay (Thomas Nordseth-Tiller). The epic that was seen by one in four Norwegians logically also won the Audience Amanda.

The second most nominated film, Erik Poppe’s Troubled Water [trailer], only turned two of its six nominations into wins – for Best Editing and Best Music. The surprise Best Director winner was Arild Frölich, for his comedy Fatso.

Other top Amandas given out last Friday include Best Children and Youth film to Through a Glass, Darkly [trailer] by Jesper W. Nielsen; Best Supporting Actor to Mads Sjøgård Pettersen for his part in Rune Denstad Langlo’s festival hit North [trailer, film focus]; Best Actress to Ellen Dorit Pettersen for her turn as a Cold War Russian agent in Knut Erik Jensen’s Ice Kiss, co-produced by Lithuania’s Baltic Film Group; and Best Foreign Film to Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire [trailer, film focus].

A total of 24 films released in Norway between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 ran for an Amanda in 19 different categories. They were judged by four professional juries. The Amanda ceremony was the prelude to the 37th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, which opened last night with the local film Upperdog [trailer] by Sara Johnsen (Kissed by Winter [trailer]).

For the full list of Amanda winners, click here.