Last Saturday, last day of the 9th Nordic Talent in Copenhagen, the National Film School of Denmark that hosted the event could be proud of its alumni. Three of its graduates were handed out awards: the Danish/Egyptian May el-Toukhy won THE NORDIC TALENTS PITCH PRIZE of NOK 250,000 for Cairo, and in a unique move, two Special Mention Awards (instead of one) were given out to Iceland's Rúnar Rúnarsson and Denmark's Kristoffer Kiørboe.

"Giving out two Special Mentions - on top of the NORDIC TALENTS Pitch Prize - is really extraordinary, but this was the right thing to do because the three projects stood out and deserved the prizes," said Hanne Palmquist, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, who finance and run Nordic Talents in close collaboration with National Film School of Denmark.

This year's five member jury (see photo below) consisting of filmmakers Roy Andersson (Studio 24) and Baltasar Kormákur (Blueeyes Productions), Ditte Christiansen (co-producer-DR Fiktion), Finn Gjerdrum (producer-Paradox) and Mia Haavisto (Film Commissioner Documentaries, and short and novella films Finnish Film Foundation) issued the following statements about the winners:

"The winner of the Nordic Talents Pitch Prize 2009 is CAIRO by director May el-Toukhy and producer Claudia Siesbye. The jury all agreed that taking risks is an essential part of filmmaking of the highest level. CAIRO is an original take on a political and social issue put forward in a very personal manner, filled with humor and love for the diversity of life."

"The winner of the Special Mention Prize 2009 is Runar Runarsson with his project Volcano. Rúnar Rúnarsson has again shown his talent both as a scriptwriter and a director with his graduation film Anna. His new project Volcano takes us to an entirely different world yet quite recognizable. He has the insight it takes for us to identify with his characters regardless of their age and gender. Few filmmakers have achieved that at such an early age."

The winner of the Special Mention Prize 2009 is Kristoffer Kiørboe. Both his film Northern Light and the new project Angel "show an impressive awareness and care of visual qualities when telling about life and human conditions with film as a tool of expression."

The Danish educated Swedish cinematographer Sophia Olsson who worked both on Rúnar Rúnarsson's Anna and Katrin Philp's documentary Book of Miri received a medal for her outstanding work.

The 9th Nordic Talents where 24 films were screened and 14 fiction and documentary projects were pitched to over 170 participants was another very successful event. 'This year's projects showed us a higher level regarding the pitch itself and we saw a great diversity in projects presented," said Sigurd Mikal Karoliussen, Nordisk Film & TV Fond Project Manager.

The established producer/actor/director/writer Kormákur who attended for the first time, said he was ‘very impressed' by the event. "First of all this is a great place for progressive producers to scout new talents and I personally found a few that I would be interested in working with in the near future..."

The director of White Night Wedding also said he was pleased with the winners.  Cairo is a fantastic idea for a film and if things are handled the right way it might have tremendous opportunities and it will be exciting to see what the future holds for the talented May el-Toukhy. Rúnar Rúnarsson has proved to be the one to look out for. I also loved Kristoffer Kiørboe's pitch of his documentary project Angel. I also have to mention one of the most impressive talents of the event: the cinematographer Sophia Olsson, one that producers and directors should look out for."

"It was really good to have established filmmakers in the jury. They have different priorities than producers and film commissioners and it's important for filmmakers to be judged by their peers."

Nordic Talents 2009 winner of the Special Mention Prize for his film Northern Light and his new project Angel speaking about this year's Nordic Talents jury.