04/09/2013 - His last feature – Submarino (2010) – won it, and his The Hunt, which was launched and awarded at last year’s Cannes International Film Festival, is among this year’s contenders

“It is easy to understand why in recent years Nordic films and TV series have won major international awards and become a popular cultural export worldwide. Right now, the Nordic Region has a unique opportunity to exert much more influence, but it requires continued courage, co-operation, development of talent, and not least funding," said Hanne Palmquist, managing director of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, when yesterday (September 3) she announced the five nominations for the Nordic Council Film Award.

The contenders for this year’s trophy, which comes with €47,000 in cash, include Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile] (photo), Finnish director Simo Halinen’s Open Up to Me, Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakúr’s The Deep [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s I Belong and Swedish director Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: China Ahlander
interview: Gabriela Pichler
interview: Nermina Lukac
film profile].

“'The human face, the individual facing the group or society, and respect and dignity are common themes that run like a thread through all these films. A Nordic reality sets the framework where daily life and its dilemmas are portrayed by eminent actors with empathy, humour and credibility. The nominated films are of high international quality, have a personal voice and something genuine at heart,” Palmquist added.

Already a winner of the prize for his 2010 feature Submarino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile], Vinterberg launched The Hunt at last year’s Cannes International Film Festival, where it won three prizes, ao Best Actor for Mads Mikkelsen. It went on to receive the European Film Award for Best Screenwriters (Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm). Domestically it has so far reached 675,000 admissions.

Halinen’s Open Up to Me – his first feature since Cyclomania (2001) – is a psychological drama about sexual identities. Kormákur’s The Deep, depicting the Westman incident – a 1984 shipwreck off the South Coast of Iceland – won 11 Eddas, Iceland’s national film prize. Haugerud’s feature debut I Belong, “a tragicomedy about the human factor,” was named Best Film 2012 by the Norwegian Critics Association and received four national Amanda prizes; Pichler’s first feature, Eat Sleep Die, was premiered at last year’s Venice Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the Critics’ Week, later to collect four national Guldbagge prizes.

The winner of the Nordic Council Film Prize will be announced at a ceremony on October 30 at the Oslo Opera House. – Previous recipients of the award include Danish directors Vinterberg, Lars von Trier, Peter Schønau Fog, Per Fly; Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki; Swedish directors Ruben Östlund, Pernilla August, Roy Andersson and Josef Fares.