29/01/2019 - Peter Grönlund’s Goliath has scooped four Guldbagges, while Carl Javér snagged both Best Director and Best Documentary for Reconstructing Utøya

Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
film profile], directed by Ali Abbasi, and produced by Nina Bisgaard, Piodor Gustafsson and Petra Jönsson, has been awarded Best Film at the 2019 Swedish Guldbagge Awards. As usual, the ceremony was held at Stockholm’s Cirkus, splendidly hosted by actress-comedienne Emma Molin and aired by national broadcaster SVT.

Border, based on a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile]), has had a solid run since its 2018 premiere at Cannes, where it picked up the Un Certain Regard Prize, and was soon picked up by leading festival programmers and major distributors across the world. The film was the Swedish 2018 Oscar submission for Best Foreign-language Film. Although it didn’t make the shortlist, the make-up by Göran Lundström, Pamela Goldammer and Erica Spetzig will be under consideration at the Oscars ceremony on 25 February. Director Abbasi is now preparing a mini-series about controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks’ planned lecture at a Copenhagen cultural centre in 2015, which fell victim to an armed attacker with ISIS connections, who took three lives.

With its nine nominations, Border was the natural Guldbagge favourite, not least through Eva Melander’s tour-de-force performance as Tina, the troll-like customs officer whose extreme senses when it comes to smelling people’s emotions aren’t her only inhuman trait. Melander bagged her sure-fire actress trophy, and her co-star Eero Milonoff got the Best Supporting Actor Award. Also awarded for their stellar work on Border were make-up trio Lundström, Goldammer and Spetzig, visual effects team Peter Hjorth, Mikael Windelin and Christian Sjöstedt, and sound designer Christian Holm. 

Laurels were also bestowed upon the well-received Goliath [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Peter Grönlund (Drifters [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). His stark tale deals with the well-meaning young Kimmie, whose aspirations to follow the straight and narrow path are disrupted when his criminal dad expects him to follow in father’s footsteps. Grönlund’s script, Dino Jonsäter’s editing and Johan Testad’s music were all awarded. Actor Joakim Sällquist won out over his fellow nominees, including co-starring favourite Sebastian Ljungblad. Quite possibly, this saved the ceremony from some troublesome controversy, as Ljungblad is presently in hiding in Thailand, arrested for fraud in absentia three weeks ago.

In a surprising break from the fiction-feature tradition, Border included, Carl Javér was crowned Best Director for Reconstructing Utøya [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which also won for Best Documentary. The Guldbagge Audience Award, introduced last year, went to the tragicomic underdog story The Cake General, based on true events, and directed by Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson based on their best-selling 2009 book. The Cake General also won the Award for Best Costumes, created by Ingrid Sjögren. 

Here is the complete list of award winners:

Best Film
Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Abbasi
film profile] – Ali Abbasi (Sweden/Denmark)

Best Director
Carl Javér - Reconstructing Utøya [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Sweden/Norway/Denmark)

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Eva Melander - Border

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Joakim Sällquist - Goliath [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Lena Nilsson - Videoman

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Eero Milonoff - Border

Best Screenplay
Peter Grönlund - Goliath

Best Cinematography
Kristoffer Jönsson - Garden Lane

Best Editing
Dino Jonsäter - Goliath

Best Costumes
Ingrid Sjögren - The Cake General

Best Sound/Sound Design
Christian Holm - Border

Best Make-up
Göran Lundström, Pamela Goldammer, Erica Spetzig - Border

Best Original Score
Johan Testad - Goliath

Best Set Design
Ulrika von Vegesack - Ted - Show Me Love

Best Visual Effects
Peter Hjorth, Mikael Windelin, Christian Sjöstedt - Border

Best Foreign-language Film
Shoplifters - Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan)

Best Documentary Film
Reconstructing Utøya - Carl Javér

Best Short Film
The Martyr - Ahmed Abdullahi

Best Newcomer
The Crazy Pictures collective - The Unthinkable [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

Lifetime Achievement Award
Yvonne Lombard (actress)

Gullspira (for achievements in children’s film)
Linda Hambäck (director-animator)

Guldbagge Audience Award
The Cake General - Filip Hammar, Fredrik Wikingsson