Winning Films – Nordisk Panorama Film Festival 2022
Read the motivations in Swedish here.
Best Nordic Documentary – Nelly & Nadine
Nelly & Nadine, (Nelly & Nadine), Magnus Gertten, 85 min, Sweden, Belgium, Norway 2022.
Motivation: “This film has succeeded in making alive unknown faces from history, highlighting a deeply human and tender love story. Masterfully using the archive, poetic visual language and approaching its main characters with love and empathy and deep respect. Opening gradually layers of love, memory, identity and friendship, so the voices from the past speak to us in the context of today’s challenges.”
Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, 1944, two women in Ravensbrück concentration camp fall in love. For many years Nelly and Nadine’s lifelong relationship was a secret even to some in their families. When Nelly’s grandchild, Sylvie Bianchi, opens Nelly and Nadine’s previously unseen personal papers and reads Nelly’s diary from the Nazi camp, a remarkable love story emerges.
About the director: Magnus Gertten is an award-winning director, based in Malmö, Sweden, where he runs the production company Auto Images. Since 1998 Magnus has directed a large number of documentaries, broadcasted at leading international tv-channels and screened at film festivals in more than 60 countries, including the football doc Becoming Zlatan (2016), and Tusen bitar (A Thousand Pieces, 2014). His latest film Nelly & Nadine premiered at the Berlinale in 2022, where it won the Teddy Jury Award. It’s the third film in a trilogy based on archive footage depicting concentration camp survivors arriving in Malmö, Sweden, April 1945. The two other films in the trilogy, Harbour of Hope (2011) and Every Face Has a Name (2015), are both awarded at international film festivals.
Best Nordic Documentary: Selected documentaries from the Nordic countries compete for the award. The award goes to the director(s) of the winning film.
Prize: 11.000€ (Sponsored by the Nordic public broadcasters: DR, NRK, RUV, SVT and YLE)
Best Nordic Short Film – From.Beyond
From.Beyond, (From.Beyond), Fredrik Sundsteigen Hana, 13 min, Norway, 2021.
Motivation: “This film undertook the tall order of seeking to break new ground in a familiar narrative trope. Packed with an exceptional amount of creative detail, it leaves you wanting to return to the impressive world it’s built. We were also particularly impressed by its precise use of sound and its unforgettable imagery and creative audacity.”
Synopsis: A kaleidoscopic depiction of alien life on earth.
About the director: Fredrik S. Hana is a filmmaker from Stavanger, Norway. His short films and music videos have been screened all over the world, among them the award winning Sister Hell, Autumn Harvest and Angst, Piss & Drid. Hana is a restless soul, always exploring new genres, styles and narrative experiments to tell personal stories in fantastic, otherworldly landscapes. His feature length documentary Code Name: Nagasaki (2021) competed at Nordisk Panorama Film Festival 2021 for the New Nordic Voice award.
Honourable Mention – The Diamond
The Diamond, (The Diamond), Vedran Rupic, 14 min, Sweden, 2021.
Motivation: “The jury would like to give a special mention to a film which pushes the boundaries of humour into a wildly riotous ride that’s rarely achieved.”
Synopsis: Stefan is lonely, and desperate to make friends. In the woods, he sees a diamond but can’t quite reach it. A solution arrives in the shape of an even smaller man.
About the director: Vedran Rupic is a Swedish director with roots in Bosnia. He started doing films in high school when he gave up on his dreams of becoming a scientist. Documentaries at first, then moving on to shorter narrative work such as The Diamond (2022), Salvatore Ganacci: Step Grandma (2021) and Salvatore Ganacci: Horse (2019). Vedran does weird at its best, in his own words, he does ‘premium weird’.
Best Nordic Short Film: Selected short films from the Nordic countries compete for the award. The award goes to the director(s) of the winning film. The prize-winning film will qualify for consideration in the Short Film Category of the Annual Academy Awards®, the Oscars, without the standard theatrical run, provided that the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.
Prize: 5.000€ (Sponsored by the Danish Film Directors and the Swedish Film Directors.)
New Nordic Voice – Moosa Lane
Moosa Lane, (Moosa Lane), Anita M. Hopland, 87 min, Denmark, Norway, 2022.
Motivation: “The winning film is a visually poetic film that juxtaposes the longing of being free from the bonds of your homeland and the yearning of getting to belong somewhere.
The camera is present and insisting and it has many strong and heartwarming moments from everyday life of a family. The filmmaker shows incredible discipline and dedication in her process.”
Synopsis: The life of a child of more than one culture and geography. Over 15 years, director Anita Hopland follows her Pakistani family of 25 people living under the same roof in Karachi. Long stays with the family put her life in Denmark in perspective.
About the director: Anita M. Hopland is a Danish documentary director and cinematographer with Pakistani and Norwegian parents. She grew up in Copenhagen but has always moved freely between her roots in Pakistan, Norway, and Denmark. Much like the breakers of today she herself navigates a global arena that is not rooted in or defined by nationality.
The documentary On the Edge of Freedom (2017) directed together with Jens Lengerke investigates the underground culture of urban exploration. Moosa Lane (2022) explores her own family’s way of navigating family relations in a global scene.
New Nordic Voice: The New Nordic Voice competition introduces films by promising Nordic filmmakers. The works have not previously been screened in the Nordisk Panorama competition programme, and selected films are among the first releases by the filmmaker.
Prize: 5.000€ (Sponsored by AVEK and Film i Skåne)
City of Malmö’s Audience Award – A House Made of Splinters
A House Made of Splinters, (A House Made of Splinters), Simon Lereng Wilmont, 87 min, Denmark, Finland, Ukraine, Sweden, 2022.
Synopsis: The war in eastern Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on poor families living near the frontline. A group of dedicated social workers looks after children in an orphanage, creating a safe space for them while the authorities and courts decide their future.
About the director: Simon Lereng Wilmont was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His previous films include among others the short documentaries Chikara – The Sumo Wrestler’s Son (2013), The Fencing Champion (2014), and of course The Distant Barking of Dogs (2017) which premiered at IDFA 2017, and won the award for The Best First Appearance.
City of Malmö’s Audience Award: To receive the City of Malmö’s Audience Award at Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, is among the finest appreciations a filmmaker can get. The audience can vote for any of the Nordic short films and documentaries competing in the main competition programmes.
Prize: 2.500€ (Sponsored by the City of Malmö)
Young Nordic Award – Inside the Aquarium
Inside the Aquarium (Inifrån Akvariet), Lina Berger, 20 min, 2021, Sweden.
Synopsis: After a row out on the yard the neighbors, 10 years old Billie and Amina, become friends. They discover that they have more in common than they suspected and create an equally as playful as self-evident co-existence. But the conditions are about to change in a finely tuned and sensitively formed portrayal of friendship.
About the director: Lina Berger is a Swedish filmmaker with a degree in film directing at HDK-Valand 2019-2022. She usually describes her practice as existential film wrapped in cotton candy. The latest work, graduation film Inside the Aquarium, just recently had international premiere at Palm springs short fest and European premiere at Giffoni Film Festival.
More film info
Young Nordic Award: The 15 films in the Young Nordic programme compete for the love of our most critical audience. We ask the viewers to tell us which film they like the best and award the winner with the Young Nordic Award.
Prize: 1.500€ (Sponsored by Nordisk Panorama Film Festival).