Beware of Children wins Dragon Award Best Nordic Film Beware of Children, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, is the recipient of the 2020 Dragon Award Best Nordic Film. Dragon Award Best Nordic Film consists of one million Swedish crowns, making it the world’s largest film award. Presenting partner for the competition is Volvo Car Group […]
Beware of Children, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, is the recipient of the 2020 Dragon Award Best Nordic Film.
Dragon Award Best Nordic Film consists of one million Swedish crowns, making it the world’s largest film award. Presenting partner for the competition is Volvo Car Group who together with Region Västra Götaland and the City Council of Gothenburg.
The Jury’s motivation:
A film where the characters find a way to talk to each other and where language is beautifully developed.
It is an inspiring reflexion about the intricacy of education from an adult perspective. It questions the innocence of one’s childhood in a captivating way. Human relationships are portrayed with sensitivity and subtlety.
The Jury consisted of: Mia Hansen-Løve, director, Yonfan, director, Sofia Norlin, actor/director and Marianne Slot, producer.
For the second consecutive year, Göteborg Film Festival presented the Dragon Award Best Acting. The award is gender neutral and all the actors in the films competing in the Nordic Competition are nominated.
Dragon Award Best Acting 2020 went to Henriette Steenstrup for her acting performance as Liv in Beware of Children.
The Jury’s motivation:
After a long and tense discussion the jury decided to give the award to an actress whose restrained and intelligent interpretation impressed them, as did the way she managed to make her presence so powerful although her character as well as her acting was always so sober.
The Jury for Dragon Award Best Acting is the same as for Dragon Award Best Nordic Film.
The film critic’s award, FIPRESCI, went to Uje by feature debuting Henrik Schyffert. The award is handed out by The International Federation of Film Critics and goes to one of the films in the Nordic Competition.
The Jury’s motivation:
All the movies in this year’s Nordic competition deal with inevitable shifts and transitions in life as life happens to you at the least expected time.
In this specific movie, we witnessed a story in which fiction re-processes its own reality through a humorous approach that puts us on a journey blessed with creativity and lust for life.
It subtly reveals the inner struggle of an individual and his fear of things to come, establishes empathy without falling into the trap of sentimentality and presents an exciting new voice for contemporary Scandinavian cinema.
The Jury consisted of: Esin Kücüktepepinar, film critic, Turkey, Kalle Kinnunen, film critic, Finland and Andrea Bosco, film critic, Italy.
The Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award went to Marius Matzow Gulbrandsen for Disco.
The Jury’s motiation:
The award goes to the cinematographer of a film in which we enjoyed feeling that both him and the director were looking for something beyond the surface – another horizon, another beauty in a world where religious fanatism and the worst of tv culture combine to alienate young people. There is a quest for grace that the cinematographer managed to capture in a sensitive and tender way.
All cinematographers in Nordic Competition are nominated for the Award.
The jury for the Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award is the same as for Dragon Award Best Nordic Film.
This years Audience Dragon Award Best Nordic Film went to Uje by Henrik Schyffert.
This year’s Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary went to Jussi Rastas and Jenni Kivistö for Colombia in My Arms. Presenting partner for the award and the prize sum of SEK 250,000 is Chimney.
The Jury’s motivation:
This award is given for the curiosity of the directors in observing vastly different opposing groups, resulting in a polyphonic portrait of a country in which peace doesn’t seem welcome. The precise use of photography and editing submerges us in the differing realities presented and creates a stark contrast between the political sensibilities at play in the natural and urban environments, and the associated poverty and luxury. This film goes beyond being an intimate portrait of a country, and makes us reflect upon colonialism and post-colonialism, capitalism and anti-capitalism, and what keeps us going as humanity.
The Jury consisted of: Mania Akbari, artist and director, Knutte Wester, artist and director and Eliza Capai, director.
The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award went to Workforce by David Zonana. The Award is presented together with the The Bergman Foundations, i. e. The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, The Bergman Estate and Bergman Center on Fårö.
The award consists of a stay at The Bergman Estate on Fårö and a visit to Ingmar Bergman’s personal archive in Stockholm.
Motivation of the jury:
The jury for the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award was in full agreement in its choice of a winner. This film’s director demonstrates absolute mastery of the form, using the most fundamental elements of cinema to their fullest potential. From it’s first frame, we were gripped by the fluid storytelling and subtle cinematography, which together create an irresistible tension all the way to a finale that resists easy moralising. It is with the same anticipation that we look forward to this filmmaker’s future work.
The Jury consisted of: Esben Smed, actor, Jenna Bass, director and Jannike Åhlund, chairman of the Bergman Center.
The jury also awarded a special mention to the film Kuessipan directed by Myriam Verreault.
“A film that not only introduced us to a world too seldom seen onscreen, but which did so with such humanity, joy and empowerment of its unforgettable characters.“
For the third consecutive time Dragon Award Best International Film was handed out. This year’s audience award for Best International Film goes to And the Birds Rained Down by Louise Archambault.
Presenting partner: Göteborgs-Posten.
Nordic Honorary Dragon Award went to Stellan Skarsgård.
Dragon Award Best Swedish Short went to Daddy´s Girl by Julia Lindström.
Audience Choice Award for Best Swedish Short went to Index av Nicolas Kolovos.
Angelo Award, the Swedish Church’s award worth SEK 50,000, went to Martin Von Krogh för Cinema Pameer.
The Mai Zetterling Grant, worth SEK 200,000, went to Niki Lindroth von Bahr.
Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the script award for a Nordic drama series, went to Sara Johnsen for 22 July.
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