All five Nordic countries have now
cast their vote and TrustNordisk is proud to be representing 3 of out 5
of the nominated candidates for next year´s Oscar-race in the category Best
Foreign Language Film.
Selected by the local
committees as the best feature to be included in the prestigious company of
competitors for the Academy Award category, Sweden has chosen Pernilla
August´s BEYOND, Norway has chosen Anne Sewitsky´s HAPPY, HAPPY
and in Iceland Rúnar Rúnarsson´s VOLCANO was
selected.
Whether any of these titles will end up in the
short-list of nine features before being finally nominated by the
Academy is to be announced January 24th 2012. The 84th Academy Award show
itself will take place February 26th 2012.
But for now -
here are the strongest Scandinavian contributions represented by
TrustNordisk. With all three of them interestingly enough being feature film
debuts, it shows promosing paths for future Scandinavian filmmaking.
BEYOND/SWEDEN
”This story of a grown-up daughter who is forced to confront the alcoholic mother that she had cut all ties with is such a powerful drama, so grittily and convincingly carried by its faultless cast, that it´s a piece of Scandinavian miserablism we need to make a place for.”
Screen International
”Swedish actor/director Pernilla August presented her film BEYOND at International Critics Week at the 67th Venice Film Festival today, and received the longest and warmest standing ovation I've encountered at this festival.”
San Francisco Examiner
Award-winning Pernilla August´s directorial debut BEYOND stars Noomi Rapace (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, 2009) and is based on a bestselling novel by Susanna Alakosi. The film premiered at last year's Venice Film Festival, where it won the International Critic´s Week Award. BEYOND has hereafter travelled worldwide, winning several prizes, and has been sold to over 20 countries.
HAPPY, HAPPY/NORWAY
”A film that made the Jury laugh and had us identify with characters very far removed from our own lives. A film that accomplished a very difficult task of exposing pain and heart-ache through humor.”
Grand Jury, Sundance
“HAPPY, HAPPY is a winning comedy that gets good-natured fun out of characters behaving quite badly. Performances are first-rate.”
Variety
The comedy-drama about “infidelity, moose meat, white and coal-black lies, blowjobs and cottage cheese” won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and has been sold to over 50 countries. Anne Sewitsky´s directorial debut has travelled to festivals such as New Directors/New Films, Seattle International Film Festival, Filmfest DC and Sydney Film Festival. North American distribution is handled by Magnolia Pictures.
VOLCANO/ICELAND
“Rúnar Rúnarsson´s drama is a love story observed with tenderness that never compromises its truthfulness. While the stoical nature of his characters may be unmistakably Scandinavian, and his central figure at times appears to be hewn from the scorched volcanic rock of his birthplace, Rúnarsson´s debut feature explores universally relatable experiences.”
The Hollywood Reporter
“It is a odd concept to construct a coming-of-age tale around a recently retired 67 year-old man, but writer/director Rúnar Rúnarsson´s moving and neatly made drama manages to do just that, driven by a powerful and nicely uncompassionate performance by Theódór JúlÃusson as a man who finds a reason to live at the most unlikely of time in his life.”
Screen International
VOLCANO received standing ovations at its World Premiere in Cannes earlier this year, where it was selected for Directors´ Fortnight. Later to screen in Toronto International Film Festiva´s Discovery section with the following wording from the festival - “A mature and emotionally devastating film directed with extraordinary sensitivity, VOLCANO is a profoundly humanist work” - VOLCANO is the feature film debut by Rúnar Rúnarsson, who has more than 90 International awards under his belt for his short films, amongst these LAST FARM (2006), which was nominated for an Academy Award, 2 BIRDS (2008), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and The European Film Awards.