26/08/2024 - Benjamin Ree has now won Best Film twice in four years, while Dag Johan Haugerud’s Sex and Thea Hvistendahl's Handling the Undead were also victorious at the national film awards

Ibelin director Benjamin Ree (far right) and producer Ingvil Giske (second from left), together with Robert and Trude Steen, the parents of the film’s namesake Mats “Ibelin” Steen, and his sister Mia (© Tine Therese Tørresdal Marø/Norwegian International Film Festival)

“Mats changed the lives of so many of his friends; he helped friends who were depressed to come out of their depression. This one’s dedicated to Mats ‘Ibelin’ Steen,” said director Benjamin Ree in his acceptance speech, as his documentary Ibelin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamin Ree
film profile] was appointed Best Film of 2024 at the national Norwegian Amanda Film Awards ceremony, held on Friday night in Haugesund. Ibelin, which premiered at Sundance, is a chronicle of Mats Steen, who, at the age of four, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and was given 15 years to live. From the age of 11, he started a life online, exploring the gaming universe of World of Warcraft using the avatar Ibelin. As a gamer, Mats Steen became a legend in his own lifetime – he got to reach 25 – without barely even leaving his basement flat. The news of his death spawned condolences from his many friends out in the gaming world, of whom several attended his funeral, “meeting” him for the first time ever. The Best Film win is Benjamin Ree’s second in only four years – in 2021, his The Painter and the Thief [+see also:
film review
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interview: Benjamin Ree
film profile], again a documentary, got the same honour.

Dag Johan Haugerud, whose Beware of Children [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] set the all-time Amanda record in 2020 with nine wins out of ten nominations, got the same number of nominations this year for Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile], but had to settle for “only” four wins: Best Direction, Best Screenplay and the two main awards in the newly instigated gender-neutral acting category (augmented by an additional brand-new newcomer prize). The director, who’s soon off to Venice to world-premiere Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile], the second instalment in his “Sex, Dreams, Love” trilogy, seemed more than pleased.

Four wins, again out of ten nominations, went to Thea Hvistendahl’s contemplative, John Ajvide Lindqvist-scripted zombie drama Handling the Undead [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]: Best Cinematography, Make-up, Sound and Production Design. The Audience Award went to the historical mining drama The Riot [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by the ever-capable Niels Gaup, while two seasoned female filmmakers, Berit Nesheim and Anne Augusta Haugsgjerd, both got honorary accolades. Of some note is that all but one of the awarded national films are purely Norwegian productions, without any international co-production.

The prizes, named after an iconic fictional character, the feisty Haugesund lass Amanda, celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, as usual and true to tradition coinciding with Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund, itself just wrapping up its 52nd edition.

Best Film
Ibelin [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Benjamin Ree
film profile] – Benjamin Ree (Norway)

Best Director
Dag Johan Haugerud – Sex [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] (Norway)

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Jan Gunnar Røise – Sex

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Siri Forberg – Sex

Best Breakthrough Performance
Kriti Surjan Thepade – Listen Up! (Norway)

Best Screenplay
Dag Johan Haugerud – Sex

Best Cinematography
Pål Ulvik Rokseth – Handling the Undead [+see also:
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film profile] (Norway/Sweden/Greece)

Best Editing
Robert Stengård – Ibelin

Best Costumes
Anne Margaretha Oskal – The Tundra Within Me [+see also:
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film profile] (Norway)

Best Make-up
Live Becker Knudsen, Morten Jacobsen – Handling the Undead 

Best Sound Design
Bent Holm, Andreas Franck – Handling the Undead

Best Original Score
Stein Johan Grieg Halvorsen, Eyvind Skeie, Per Áki Sigurdsson Kvikne, Anders Nilsen – The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World (Norway)

Best Production Design
Linda Jansson – Handling the Undead 

Best Visual Effects
Lars Erik Hansen, Alex Hansson, Andreas Hylander – The Arctic Convoy (Norway)

Best Documentary
A New Kind of Wilderness [+see also:
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Best Children’s Film
Listen Up! – Kaveh Tehrani

Best Short Film
Civil Disobedience CT#2 – Thomas Østbye (Norway)

Best Foreign-language Film
Poor Things [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Suzy Bemba
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] – Yorgos Lanthimos (Ireland/UK/USA/Hungary)

The People’s Amanda Audience Award
The Riot [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Nils Gaup (Norway)

Honorary Amanda
Director Berit Nesheim

The Golden Clapper
Director Anne Augusta Haugsgjerd