28/10/2005

Aku Louhimies’ Frozen Land (t.o. Paha maa) has just won the main award at the Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF, October 20-26), consisting of a NOK 75.000 (around €9.500) cash prize given by the Norwegian Film Institute towards the marketing of the film for its theatrical distribution in Norway.
The following statement was issued by the jury of the BIFF: "We have chosen a film that presents various characters on the edge of hopelessness and a film that ideologically states that change is possible… a film that can be seen as uncomfortable, but also playful and more than anything makes the audience think. The film grows in the mind of the viewers and its meaning will eventually reach them. The film is one amongst several powerful depictions of contemporary society from recent years."

The creative team behind Frozen Land had a double reason to celebrate as it also received on October 26th Finland’s State Prize of Cinema (€15.000) given to the director, the film’s editor Samu Heikkilä and cinematographer Rauno Ronkainen.
Released last January in Finland by Buena Vista, the film is the most popular local film with over 170,000 admissions so far, another record for producer Markus Selin (Solar Films) who made 2003’s biggest hit Bad Boys-A True Story [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (614,757 admissions)¸and 2004’s number one Finnish film Vares [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (over 200,000 admissions). International sales are handled by Solar Films’ L.A.-based sales company Birch Tree Entertainmnent.