Robert, Bodil and Guldbagge nominations out

by Annika Pham

11/01/2008 - The awards season is in full swing and the nominations for the local film awards in Denmark (the Roberts) and in Sweden (Guldbagges) have just been announced, as well as those from the Danish Film Critics Association (Bodils).

Sweden had a rather unexciting year creatively, but the Guldbagge jury appointed by the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) put three titles above the rest of 2007’s production crop.

Johan Kling’s feature debut Darling [trailer] caused surprise with six nominations in the major categories. The low-budget film produced by Spader Knekt with co-financing from SF and public broadcaster SVT created waves in the local press last year because it was denied support from the SFI. Darling went on to win several top awards and is represented internationally by NonStop Sales.

The second most nominated film is Roy Andersson’s Oscar contender You, the Living [trailer, film focus] (four nominations), followed by Josef Fares’ Leo [trailer] (three nominations), both in the running with Darling for Best Film and Best Director.

Titles nominated for Best Foreign Film are 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days [trailer, film focus], This is England [trailer] and The Edge of Heaven [trailer, film focus].

Ignas Scheynius, managing director of NonStop Entertainment, which released the first two films, said: “This is a fantastic accolade for what was our biggest year ever!” NonStop is currently enjoying the release of 4 Months… and will re-release this weekend This is England, which garnered over 110,000 admissions in 2007.

Denmark had another strong artistic year and the variety of quality films targeting different audiences is reflected in the high number of films nominated for the Roberts (17) and Bodils (12).

The Danish Film Academy gave the most nominations (10 each) to three titles for their Robert awards: family film The Island of Lost Souls [trailer] by Nikolaj Arcel, Ole Bornedal’s thriller Just Another Love Story [trailer] and Denmark’s Oscar entry The Art of Crying [trailer] by Peter Schønau Fog.

The latter two will compete for Best Film along with Daisy Diamond [trailer] by Simon Staho, White Night [trailer] by Jannik Johansen and Anders Morgenthaler’s Echo [trailer].

The Danish Film Critics gave their preference to White Night, nominated five times. The Art of Crying came second (four nominations), followed by Natasha Arthy’s Fighter (three). All three titles, along with Morten Hartz Kaplers’ AFR [trailer], are vying for Best Film.

The five films competing for Best Foreign Film (non US) are 4 Months…, Eastern Promises [trailer], Persepolis [trailer, film focus], Reprise [trailer, film focus] and Pan’s Labyrinth [trailer].

The Guldbagge ceremony will take place on January 21 in Stockholm, the Roberts in Copenhagen on February 3, and the Bodils on February 24.

For the complete lists of nominations, please see: Guldbagge, Roberts and Bodils.