31/01/2012

Depicting a neurotic singer who fails to deliver, capsizing an entire studio session, Swedish director Johan Jonason’s Dance Music Now (pictured) collected the €117,000 Startsladden Prize for Best Short at the Göteborg International Film Festival – the largest showcase in Scandinavia, which still has a week to go until its Feb 6 wrap. Produced by Anna Byvald for Silverrosa, Jonason’s sixth film earned him cash and technical services for a new production – technical support and equipment, from rough to final cut.

Göteborg’s Big Film Prize found its winner already at the festival opening, and went to Swedish director Lisa Ohlin’s Simon and The Oaks [+see also:
trailer
interview: Bill Skarsgård
film profile]. The competition is still on between eight selections for the main nod, the €117,000 Dragon Award for Best Nordic Feature.

Attracting 200,000 spectators, the programme includes 429 films from 80 countries in its 35th edition; six of them are Oscar nominées, such as US director and festival guest Alexander Payne’s The Descendants (five noms).

Although the Berlinale and its European Film Market will open on February 9, the fesatival has registered a record number of buyers (74), sales agents (23) and festival programmers (51) for its Nordic Film Market, which runs at Göteborg’s Biopalatset between Feb 2-5.

”Here the 280 participants can update on Scandinavian films in three days and be well prepared when they arrive at Berlin,” said Market Director Cia Edström, who has been in charge of the trade show for the past five years. According to Edström ”many deals are instigated in Göteborg, then closed in Berlin”. ”Usually there is a strong interest in our package of works-in-progress, which give an overview of the Nordic movies which will be presented at the upcoming festivals and markets."

This year’s festival will cover 19 new Nordic productions, such as Danish Oscar-winning director Bille August’s first film in his native country since 1987, Marie Krøyer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Norway’s so-far most expensive feature, Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning’s Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], adding Sara Johnsen’s All That Matters Is Past [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Swedish director Babak Najafi’s sequel to his Easy Money [+see also:
trailer
film profile] crowd-pleaser, EM II [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Finnish director Anti Jokinen will join with Purge [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Iceland will bring Frost by Reynir Lyngdal.