“It’s quite a luxury – we’re two old pals who met in our teens through our love of movies and wanted to make them ourselves,” mused Eskil Vogt at the 2022 Amanda Awards. “And it’s going pretty well,” added Joachim Trier at the same ceremony, which served as a celebration of the Norwegian film year on Saturday night at the opening of the Haugesund Film Festival (20-26 August). Trier, Vogt and their collaborators spent the evening dashing back and forth between their seats and the stage, picking up the Awards for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound for Vogt’s The Innocents [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Eskil Vogt
scheda film] while Trier’s The Worst Person in the World [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Joachim Trier
scheda film] won for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film and Best Screenplay – co-written by Trier and Vogt (who was also nominated in this category for The Innocents). The pair shared the same co-writing nomination at the latest Academy Awards, cementing a success story that started when both films opened at Cannes in 2021.

The Worst Person in the World also grabbed the People’s Choice Award from right under the nose of blockbusters like the disaster hit The Burning Sea and the national box-office champion of 2021, Three Wishes for Cinderella [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], the winner of the Best Children’s Film Award as well as the Best Costumes gong. Various degrees of local quirkiness and dark comedy brought awards for Bent Hamer’s The Middle Man [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Bent Hamer
scheda film], Hallvar Witzø’s Everybody Hates Johan [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] and Nothing to Laugh About by Petter Næss, while the documentary category was topped by Young and Afraid [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Petter Aaberg and Sverre Kvamme, the very subjects of this brave and intimate venture into mental illness among today’s youth. A grand older man also appeared on stage, as producer Aage “The First Guy in the Telephone Book” Aaberge (dubbed so by colleague Jeremy Thomas) received the Honorary Amanda for a CV that includes Kon-Tiki [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], 12^th Man [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Harald Zwart
scheda film] and the forthcoming World War II epic Narvik (see the news). “Norwegian cinema wouldn’t be what it is today without this year’s winners,” exclaimed Minister of Culture Anette Trettebergstuen, visibly (and rightly so) proud of the evening and its many prolific participants – including a luminous Liv Ullmann, who received her own homage at the ceremony, a lovingly and slightly flirty song, written and performed for the occasion by comedian Odd-Magnus Williamson, master of ceremonies at the event.

Here is the full list of Amanda winners:

Best Film
The Worst Person in the World [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Joachim Trier
scheda film] – Joachim Trier (Norway/France/Sweden/Denmark)

Best Director
Eskil Vogt – The Innocents [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Eskil Vogt
scheda film] (Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland/France/UK)

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Renate Reinsve - The Worst Person in the World

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Pål Sverre Hagen - The Middle Man [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Bent Hamer
scheda film] (Norway/Germany/Denmark/Canada)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Sara Khorami - Nothing to Laugh About (Norway)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Anders Danielsen Lie – The Worst Person in the World

Best Screenplay
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier - The Worst Person in the World

Best Cinematography
Sturla Brandth Grøvlen - The Innocents

Best Editing
Jens Christian Fodstad - The Innocents

Best Costumes
Flore Vauville - Three Wishes for Cinderella [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (Norway)

Best Sound/Sound Design
Gisle Tveito, Gustaf Berger - The Innocents

Best Make-up
Asta Hafthorsdaottir, Thomas Foldberg - Everybody Hates Johan [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] (Norway)

Best Original Score
Jørund Fluge Samuelsen - Everybody Hates Johan

Best Set Design
Diana Magnus - The Middle Man

Best Visual Effects
Arne Kaupang, Theodor Flo-Groeneboom, Morten Jacobsen, Lars Erik Hansen, Magnus Olsson - The Burning Sea (Norway)

Best Foreign-language Film
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (USA)

Best Documentary Film
Young and Afraid [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Petter Aaberg, Sverre Kvamme (Norway)

Best Short Film
Observation – Christoffer Lossius (Norway)

Best Children’s Film
Three Wishes for Cinderella - Cecilie Mosli

Honorary Award
Producer Aage Aaberge

People’s Choice Award
The Worst Person in the World – Joachim Trier

The Golden Clapper
DoP Paul René Roestad