27/10/2023 - The largest film gathering in Norway, running since 2000 and priding itself on its focus on docs, also rewarded All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and The Mother of All Lies

Every autumn, the second-largest city in Norway, Bergen, hosts the biggest national film event: the Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF, 18-26 October). A wide array of international and Norwegian films are shown over eight days, transforming the so-called “capital of the fjords” into a major cultural hub, and for cinema in particular. This year’s opening film – Hisham Zaman’s A Happy Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – centred on three adolescent refugees in snowy Northern Norway, and its screening coincided with the movie’s wider domestic release, with the director present. Bergen welcomed renowned guests who spoke to the audience after the screenings and celebrated many domestic premieres of international festival highlights.

Each year, Bergen gives out numerous awards, four of them monetary. Their winners were unveiled on Wednesday 25 October in Røkeriet, where the film industry, festival guests, film enthusiasts and friends of the BIFF gathered to celebrate cinema and, of course, the winners. In the Cinema Extraordinaire competition, the experimental US drama All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt took home the main prize of 30,000 NOK (circa €2,500), while Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies was crowned as Best International Documentary, receiving the same amount, sponsored by VGTV. In the human rights-orientated Checkpoints competition, the winner was Edward Lovelace’s Name Me Lawand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and its 25,000 NOK (over €2,000) prize money, as is customary, went to the people and/or the issue that the film is about.

In the Norwegian documentary competition, the bold story of involuntary childlessness The Mum in Me by Hilde Merete Haug emerged victorious, clutching the award and 25 000 NOK in cash. Every year, the University of Bergen also weighs in and awards a Golden Owl to the best science and research documentary: this time around, it was Bernardo Ruiz’s forensic anthropology work El Equipo. The festival’s non-competitive sections include Pre-premieres, International Fictions, the LGBT-themed Propaganda Nights, The Climate Festival (a festival within a festival), International Documentaries, and more.

The full list of award winners is as follows:

Cinema Extraordinaire

Best International Fiction Film
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt — Raven Jackson (USA)

Best International Documentary
The Mother of All Lies — Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
Honourable Mention for Best International Documentary
Milisuthando — Milisuthando Bongela (South Africa/Colombia)

Best Norwegian Documentary
The Mum in Me — Hilde Merete Haug (Norway)
Honourable Mention for Best Norwegian Documentary
Children of Stars — Aaslaug Vaa, Jørn Nyseth Ranum (Norway)

Checkpoints

Best Human Rights Documentary
Name Me Lawand [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] — Edward Lovelace (UK)

Golden Owl for Best Research Film
El Equipo — Bernardo Ruiz (USA/Argentina/Mexico)

Youth Documentary Film Award
Name Me Lawand — Edward Lovelace

Best Norwegian Shorts

Best Short from the West of Norway
Moment — Siri Linn Brandsøy, Lasse Huldt Pedersen (Norway)

Best Norwegian Short Film
Grill — Jade Hærem Aksnes (Norway)
Honourable Mention for Best Norwegian Short Film
Vold — Emil Engesnes Bråthen (Norway)

Best Norwegian Short Documentary
Last Chapter — Frøydis Fossli Moe (Norway)