05/09/2012 - Danish director Nikolaj Arcel and Swedish director Ruben Östlund's award-winning features A Royal Affair and Play are among the contenders for the honour and a cheque for €47,000

Exciting audiences and critics at the Telluride Film Festival (August 31-September 3), where it was given three extra screening slots, Danish director Nikolaj Arcel's A Royal Affair [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
interview: Nikolaj Arcel
film profile] (photo) was yesterday nominated for the Nordic Council's Film Prize - the largest in Scandinavia, which comes with a €47,000 cheque for the writer, director and producer. The winner will be announced on October 31 at the Nordic Council's session in Helsinki.

The other four nominees include Finnish directors Jukka Kärkkäinen and J-P Passi's The Punk Syndrome, Icelandic director Hafsteinn Sigurdsson's Either Way [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hafstein Gunnar Sigurdsson
interview: Hilmar Gudjônsson - Shootin…
film profile], Norwegian director Arild Andresen's The Orheim Company [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Swedish director Ruben Östlund's Play [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
interview: Ruben Ostlund
film profile].

A Royal Affair has sold 730,000 tickets domestically and set box-office records for Danish fare in the UK and Australia. Launched at this year’s Berlinale, where it won two Silver Bears – Best Original Screenplay (Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg), Best Actor (Mikkel Bo Følgsgaard) – the Mads Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander-starrer follows the 18th century love affair at the Danish court between the King's physician-in-ordinary and the Queen.

Described as "the essence of punk, the story of different people rebelling against mainstream", The Punk Syndrome follows Finnish punk rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät - four mentally-challenged musicians - from obscurity to popularity. The depiction of rebellion against mainstream was produced by Sami Jahnukainen for Mouka Filmi Oy.

Set in the 1980s, the story of two road workers spending the whole summer on their own painting lines on Iceland's winding roads stretching into the horizon, Sigurdsson's drama-comedy Either Way has been a frequent festival traveller, also taking three Eddas, the country's national film prize. With Svein Ólafur Gunnarsson and Hilmar Gudjónsson in the leads, the film was produced by Mystery Island and Flickbook Films.

Last month (August) awarded two Amandas, Norway's national film award, The Orheim Company stars Rolf Kristian Larsen, Vebjørn Enger, Kristoffer Joner and Cecilie Mosli in the third adaption of Norwegian author Tore Renberg's novels about Jarle Klepp's coming-of-age. Yngve Sæther and Sigve Endresen produced the film for Motlys AS.

Östlund's Play was inspired by newspaper articles about 40 cases of 12-14-year-old boys robbing other children in Göteborg between 2006-2008. Produced by Östlund and Erik Hemmendorff for Plattform Produktion, it won the Coup de Coeur award in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and has since received two Swedish national Guldbagge prizes.