19/08/2020 - The five nominees for the 2020 Nordic Council Film Prize have just been announced, sporting a solid quintet of award and festival favourites

For the 18^th time around, sharp-minded juries based in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have each picked their brilliant brains in search of the most splendid national representative of their respective national cinema, as dictated by the nomination procedure of the Nordic Council Film Awards.

From Denmark comes Frelle Petersen’s mild-mannered story of the barren Danish countryside, Uncle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. From Finland, devoid of such manners is the existential BDSM comedy Dogs Don’t Wear Pants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: J-P Valkeapää
film profile] by J.-P. Valkeapää. Iceland is represented by Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Echo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
film profile], a tour-de-force journey into modern society, made up of 56 different scenes. From Norway comes Beware of Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile], the story of an accidental death of a young boy and the consequences of it among the many affected parties, meticulously written, directed and fine-tuned by Dag Johan Haugerud. Another aftermath, in this case of a divorce, again with children crucially involved, is depicted in Amanda Kernell’s Charter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
film profile], Sweden’s nomination.

Apart from plentiful representation at international film festivals, the quintet has done well at their respective national film awards: Beware of Children just won a record nine Amandas out of ten nominations (read the news), Uncle got the Best Screenplay Bodil out of four nominations. Echo has three Edda nominations and Dogs Don’t Wear Pants has nine Jussi nominations (the latter two award ceremonies have both been postponed due to Covid-19). Charter is eligible for the January 2021 Guldbagge ceremony.

The five unveiled nominees will be presented tonight in connection with the opening of the New Nordic Films market at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. The final winner will be announced on 27 October in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Denmark
Uncle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Frelle Petersen (Denmark)
Producer: Marco Lorensen (88 Miles)

Finland
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: J-P Valkeapää
film profile] – J.-P. Valkeapää (Finland/Latvia)
Producers: Aleksi Bardy, Helen Vinogradov (Helsinki filmi)

Iceland
Echo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
film profile] – Rúnar Rúnarsson (Iceland/France/Switzerland)
Producers: Rúnar Rúnarsson, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir (Pegasus Pictures), Live Hide (Nimbus Film Iceland)

Norway
Beware of Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] – Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)
Producer: Yngve Sæther (Motlys)

Sweden
Charter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
film profile] – Amanda Kernell (Sweden/Norway/Denmark)
Producer: Lars G. Lindström, Eva Åkergren (Nordisk Film Production Sverige AB)