21/09/2016 - Swedish-Polish director Jerzy Sladkowski’s Don Juan has won the 27th Nordisk Panorama, the leading Nordic festival for documentaries and shorts, which ended yesterday

Swedish-Polish director Jerzy Sladkowski’s Don Juan [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has won the €11,000 top prize for Best Nordic Documentary at the 27^th Nordisk Panorama – the leading Nordic festival for documentaries and shorts, which ended yesterday (20 September) in Malmö, Sweden, after a five-day programme of almost 100 films.

Sladkowski’s portrait of Oleg, a young man suffering from autism, and his fight to become more “normal”, encouraged by his mother, was previously awarded for Best Nordic Documentary at this year’s Göteborg International Film Festival, besides collecting the Special Jury Prize at Israel’s DocAviv Film Festival and being named Best Feature-length Documentary at last year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

“This deeply moving love story was placed on our doorsteps with such a sensitive gaze and such care for its characters, who are compelling and authentic, although rough around the edges. A unanimous jury decision gives this award to the film for its dedication to ‘pure cinema’, for its honesty and visual beauty – we loved it!” said the jury. There were 14 Nordic entries in the competition.

Swedish director Peter Larsson’s Forgotten Reason left with the €7,000 Award for Best Nordic Short, while Danish director Nicoline Skotte Jacobsen’s Front View of My Father earned her the €3,500 prize for Best New Nordic Voice. The €2,500 Nordisk Panorama Audience Award went to Icelandic directors Thordur Jonsson, Heather Millard and Una Lorenzen’s Yarn.

“Malmö has really been a melting pot of short and documentary filmmakers and fans, and the festival has reached audiences both young and old, new and recurring,” concluded Søren Poulsen, director of Nordisk Panorama. “Besides showing films about everything from core relations in the family to suicide bombers, we have organised events taking place on couches and on bicycles. We have screened films on Malmö city facades by night and provided avant-garde technological experiences in an orange container, hosted a Knit-a-long Cinema, given people fruitful rides in rickshaws, arranged a safari boat ride along the Malmö canals to a museum performance, and accommodated a swimming-pool movie night. We cannot wait to invite everyone to the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival next year.”

Here is the complete list of winners: 

Best Nordic Documentary
Don Juan [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Jerzy Sladkowski
Honourable Mention: Brothers [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Aslaug Holm

Best Nordic Short Film
Forgotten Reason – Peter Larsson
Honourable Mention: Dilapidated – Ole Sebastian Kåss

Best New Nordic Voice
Front View of My Father – Nicoline Skotte Jacobsen 

Nordisk Panorama Audience Award
Yarn – Thordur Jonsson, Heather Millard and Una Lorenzen