Dutch-born filmmaker Malou Reymann won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Gothenburg Film Festival on Saturday night with her second feature unmanageable.
The film, co-written by Reymann and Sara Isabella Jønsson, follows a teenager in Denmark in the 1930s who is forced into an asylum to deal with her rebellious behavior. The story is inspired by real events of a notorious women’s institution on the Danish island of Sprogø.
The film debuted in Toronto last year and went on to play in Zurich and Lithuania’s Scanorama Film Forum before arriving in Gothenburg. The Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film is awarded SEK 400,000 (US$38,000).
The festival jury, led by Holy Spider Actor Tsar Amir Ebrahimi, whose members include Danish actress Sofie Gråbøl (The murder), the Ukrainian filmmaker Antonio Lukich (Luxembourg, Luxembourg) and composer Matti Bye described the image as a story told with “great sensitivity and power”.
“The jury is grateful to illuminate a universal story of the human spirit against the oppressive system,” the jury said. “Although rooted in the past, it transcends time and boundaries and speaks strongly to our time, mind and heart. A solid and mature work, a powerful voice – a timely story of separation.”
Matilda Applelin produced unmanageable for Nordisk Film Production A/S. The film was co-produced by Nordisk Film Production Sverige AS with support from The Danish Film Institute, The Swedish Film Institute and DR. TrustNordisk handles international sales.
The picture will be released locally on March 9.
In other major competition awards, the gender neutral Gong from Gothenburg went to Finnish actress Alma Pöysti for her role as Juulia in Selma Vilhunens Four small adults. The picture, which also takes place this month in Rotterdam, follows a woman who tries to embrace poiamorie after she discovers that her husband is cheating on her.
The festival jury described Vilhunen as an actor “without borders” who gives an impressive performance with “a wide range of emotions, empathy, courage and strength to create a touching modern character without borders”.
Elsewhere, the Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award went to Danish cinematographer Jacob Møller for the Trustnordisk picture Copenhagen does not exist. The prize is SEK 50,000 in cash.
Norwegian filmmaker Ole Giæver won the FIPRESCI Award and the Audience Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film let the river flow. Leah Globen Apollonia, Apollonia took the documentary gong, Marian Mathias won the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award for it runnerMaryam Touzani The blue caftan won the Dragon Award for Best International Film and Hanna Högstedt won the festival’s Draken Award for Short Films To mourners.
This year was Gothenburg’s first full face-to-face edition since the pandemic. Over nine days, the festival screened a total of 250 films in cinemas around Gothenburg, with a selection of 50 titles available online in Sweden.
Other awards presented at the festival included the Nordic Honorary Dragon Award for Jan Troell and Norwegian writer-director Kenneth Karlstad won the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for his coming-of-age series. children in crime.
Source: Deadline
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