18/08/2014 - Eskil Vogt’s feature debut received four Norwegian national film prizes – Erik Poppe’s A Thousand Times Good Night named Best Norwegian Feature

Both nominated in seven categories, Norwegian directors Eskil Vogt’s Blind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eskil Vogt
interview: Eskil Vogt
film profile] and Erik Poppe’s A Thousand Times Good Night [+see also:
trailer
interview: Erik Poppe
film profile] were the big winners at the Amanda awards ceremony (16 August), where the Norwegian film industry celebrated local filmmakers presenting them with the 2.5kg national film prizes.

At Haugesund’s Maritim Hall, preceding the opening of the Norwegian International Film Festival on Sunday, Blind collected four awards, including Best Director and Best Actress (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), while A Thousand Times Good Night was named Best Norwegian Feature

Hosted by Norwegian actor Ingar Helge Gimle, the televised ceremony marked the 30^th anniversary of the Amanda awards, initiated by the festival and then Norwegian director-producer Bente Erichsen, now director of Oslo’s Nobel Peace Centre, and this year’s jury president. 

The name derives from an old sea shanty, Amanda from Haugesund, about a woman from the 1920s, Amanda Sofie Stangeland Lura, a widow, a single mother of five, with a disputable reputation, who sold liquor to sailors during prohibition time.

Full list of Amanda 2014 awards:

Best Norwegian Feature: A Thousand Times Good Night. Prods: Finn Gjerdrum, Stein B Kvae, for Paradox. Dir: Erik Poppe

Best Actress: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, for Blind

Best Actor: Aksel Hennie, for Pioneer [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

Best Supporting Actress: Ivan Anderson, Letter to the King [+see also:
trailer
interview: Hisham Zaman
film profile]. Dir: Hisham Zaman

Best Supporting Actor: Herbert Nordrum, Crack, Back & Sack. Dir: Johan Kaos

Best Director: Eskil Vogt, for Blind

Best Children's Film: The Christmas of Solan & Ludvig [+see also:
trailer
interview: Rasmus A. Sivertsen
film profile]. Prod:Cornelia Boysen, for Maipo. Dir: Rasmus A Sivertsen 

Best Documentary:Light Fly, Fly High. Dirs/Prods: Susann Østigaard, Beathe Hofseth, for Fri film 

Best Short: Amazon. Dir: Marianne Ulrichsen. Prods: Ragna Midtgard, Maria Ekerhovd, for Mer Film 

Best Original Screenplay: Hisham Zaman, Mehmet Aktas, for Letter to the King 

Best Visual Effects: Jeppe Nygaard Christensen, Ivan Kondrup Jensen, Rikke Hovgaard Jørgensen, Arne Kaupang, for Ragnarok [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Dir: Mikkel Brænne Sandemose

Best Editing: Jens Christian Fodstad, for Blind

Best Musical Score: Armand Amar, for A Thousand Times Good Night 

Best Sound Design: Gisle Tveito, for Blind 

Best Cinematography: John Christian Rosenlund, for A Thousand Times Good Night

Best Production Design: Karl Júlíussen, Pioneer 

Best Foreign Feature: The Great Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] (Italy). Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Local distr: SF Norge

The Amanda Committee's Golden Clapper: Make-up artist and wig maker June Paalgard

The People's Amanda: Ragnarok

The Amanda Committee’s Honorary Award: Actress Elsa Lystad