24/08/2021 - Refugee topics take centre stage among the five strong nominees for the 2021 Nordic Council Film Prize, unveiled in Haugesund today

With the Nordic Council Film Prize set to be awarded for the 18^th time this autumn, the five nominees from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were announced today by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. The 2021 hopefuls consist of two documentaries and three fiction features, several of them with timely common denominators, particularly a recurring refugee theme.

From Denmark comes the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-awarded documentary Flee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile] by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, told partly through animation and centring on Amin, a former Afghan child refugee with a particularly dark secret. Finland’s contender is the Berlinale entry Any Day Now [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hamy Ramezan
film profile] by Hamy Ramezan, dealing with an Iranian family caught in the limbo between asylum and deportation, and partially based on the childhood of the director. And the main protagonist in Iceland’s psychological drama Alma [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir is originally from a war-ridden distant country.

Sweden’s Tigers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ronnie Sandahl
film profile] by Ronnie Sandahl, with a successful festival journey behind it since its 2020 Rome premiere, is based on the career of football player Martin Bengtsson, focusing on his arduous stint with the Inter Milan club. The other nominated documentary is Norway’s Gunda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Viktor Kossakovsky, which has been on a virtually non-stop festival jamboree since its Berlin opening this February, featuring a mother sow with cuddly offspring and stellar support from a pair of cows and a one-legged chicken, all in black and white. By the look of things, competition will be stiff and the champion worthy, be it human or pig.

The grand result will be announced on 2 November, during the annual ordinary session of the Nordic Council, this year set to be held in Copenhagen. As per tradition, the prize sum of DKK 300,000 (€40,300) will be shared equally among screenwriter, director and producer, underscoring how cinema as an art form is brought about in close collaboration between these three main contributors. Last year’s winner was Norway’s Beware of Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile], written and directed by Dag Johan Haugerud and produced by Yngve Sæther for Motlys.

Here is the full list of this year’s nominees:

Denmark
Flee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile] – Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark/France/Sweden/Norway/USA/Slovenia/Estonia/Spain/Italy/Finland)
Screenwriters: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Amin” (anonymous)
Producers: Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie (Final Cut for Real)

Finland
Any Day Now [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hamy Ramezan
film profile] – Hamy Ramezan (Finland)
Screenwriters: Hamy Ramezan, Antti Rautava
Producers: Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka (Aamu Filmcompany)

Iceland
Alma [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Kristín Jóhannesdóttir (Iceland)
Screenwriter: Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
Producers: Guðrún Edda Þórhannesdóttir, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson and Egil Ødegård (DUO Productions)

Norway
Gunda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/USA/UK)
Screenwriter: Victor Kossakovsky
Producer: Anita Rehoff Larsen (Sant & Usant)

Sweden
Tigers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ronnie Sandahl
film profile] – Ronnie Sandahl (Sweden/Italy/Denmark)
Screenwriter: Ronnie Sandahl
Producer: Piodor Gustafsson (Black Spark Film & TV)