07/02/2005

Solar Films's Frozen Land (Paha maa) directed by Aki Loujimies had the rare privilege of being awarded four major prizes at the Göteborg Film Festival’s closing night party on Saturday 5 February. The film which was competing against seven other new Nordic feature films was awarded the prestigious Nordic Film Prize, the Fipresci Award, the Kodak Nordic Vision Award for the film’s cinematographer Rauno Ronkainen and the Church of Sweden Award. In its statement, the jury from the Church of Sweden said: “Frozen Land is a brave film that portrays a frozen society where the borders between success and failure is subtle. With a sharp clarity, the film exposes our responsibility to each other as individuals as well as in a much wider perspective”. Produced by Markus Selin for Solar Films, the film is also a local hit with over 81,000 admissions in only three weeks. Buena Vista International (SE) handles its domestic release and Birch Tree Entertainment international sales.

The Canal + Award, Göteborg’s other official prize was awarded to Swedish scriptwriter Sara Kadefors for the film Sandor Slash Ida directed by Henrik Georgsson. Based on Kadefors’ award-winning novel, it is a coming of age story focusing on two Swedish teenagers who get to know and like each other through the internet in spite of their many differences. The film was produced by Breidablick Film in co-production with Sandrew Metronome Distribution , Kanal 5 TV, Film i Väst, Cinema Art, with support from the Swedish Film Institute.
Other Göteborg winners were Tomas Alfredson’s Four Shadows of Brown voted Best Swedish film of the year by from the Swedish critics association (Greta Award), while the foreign correspondents in Sweden preferred the Swedish-Finnish co-production Popular Music from Vittula by Reza Bagher , winner of the Profoca Prize. Finally the film Ryppar directed by Anna Hylander and Emiliano Goessens won The Swedish Film Institute and SVT Novella prize.