For the fourth consecutive year, the award for outstanding writing of a Nordic Drama series, funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, will be handed out at Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision. Five drama series from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been nominated for the prize, awarded to the main writer(s). The first episode of the nominated series will be included in the Göteborg Film Festival programme.

The award ceremony takes place on January 29, 2020 at Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision, during Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s 30^th anniversary celebrations.

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Liselott Forsman, CEO at Nordisk Film & TV Fond said: ”With the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the Fund wants to celebrate the art of script writing, the base for all good drama experiences and also for Nordic drama quality, something we have supported for 30 years in January. We heartily welcome this year's five high level nominees, each combining a say with excellent storytelling in a way that bodes well for Nordic 2020 dramas at international markets where competition is fiercer than ever.”

Cia Edström, Head of TV Drama Vision at Göteborg Film Festival said: "Göteborg Film Festival are very proud to present this year’s nominees, a great line up of diverse and captivating stories about the challenges of our time and every day life. In a fast growing industry with changing audience behaviours the relevance of strong storytellers is more important than ever.”

As previously announced, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize jury who will take on the difficult duty of selecting a winner among this year’s nominees are: acclaimed Norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro (Agent Hamilton, Kon-Tiki), Swedish actor Moa Gammel (Jordskott, Tommy), Polish award-winning producer and director Dariusz Jabłoński (Photographer, The Pleasure Principle) and Norwegian journalist Cecilie Asker (Aftenposten).

Last year’s winners of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize were Merja Aakko and Mika Ronkainen, writers of the Finnish TV drama All the Sins (Kaikki Synnit). 

The 43rd Göteborg Film Festival runs January 24–February 3, 2020. The TV Drama Vision runs January 29 – 30, 2020.       

The nominees are:

• 22 JULY (22. Juli), Norway, 2020, 6 x 50’
  Nominated writer: Sara Johnsen
  Series Creators: Sara Johnsen and Pål Sletaune
  Director: Pål Sletaune
  Producer: Elisabeth Tangen and Per Berge Engebretsen
  Produced by NRK Drama
  International sales: Digital Rights Group (DRG)
  Premiere: Jan 5 2020
  The Story: They saved the injured, buried the dead, comforted the grieving and tried to understand. 22 July tells the story of people who through their work and professions were affected by the terrorist attack in Norway on the 22^nd of July 2011. Featuring fictional characters, but based on meticulous research, it’s a story about the systems that shape our daily lives and who we are when tragedy strikes.

• CALIPHATE (Kalifat) Sweden, 2020, 8 x 45’
  Nominated writers: Wilhelm Behrman and Niklas Rockström
  Director: Goran Kapetanovic
  Producer: Tomas Michaelsson
  Produced by Filmlance for SVT
  International sales: Endemol Shine International
  Premiere: Jan 12 2020
  The Story: The thriller Caliphate is centring on five young women, whose fate is intertwined in an examination of how religious fundamentalism can seduce individuals and destroy lives. Based on an idea by Wilhelm Behrman, who has created the series together with Niklas Rockström. The Guldbagge awarded director Goran Kapetanovic has directed. The series is shot in Stockholm and in Jordan.

• HAPPILY NEVER AFTER (Pabbahelgar) Iceland, 2019, 6 x 45’
  Nominated writer: Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir
  Directors: Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Marteinn Thorsson
  Producers: Birgitta Björnsdóttir, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Thor Sigurjonsson
  Produced by Zik Zak Filmworks, CUBS Productions for RÚV
  International sales: REInvent Studios Premiere: Oct 6 2019
  The Story: Karen, a 38-year-old couples counsellor and mother of three, has her life turned upside down when she discovers her husband's infidelity. Suddenly single, she must say good-bye to the utopian vision of the perfect nuclear family, and the professional advice she gives her clients now seem absurd. Every other weekend, the so-called "daddy weekends", are what Karen now fears most.

• THE PARADISE (Paratiisi) Finland, 2020, 8 x 50’
  Nominated writer: Matti Laine
  Director: Marja Pyykkö
  Producers: Marko Röhr, Ran Tellem, Tiina Pesonen, Laura Fernandez Espeso, Javier Méndez, Bernat Belias
  Produced by MRP Matila Röhr Productions and Mediapro Studios for YLE and MEDIAPRO
  Nordic sales: YLE Sales
  International Sales: The Mediapro Studio Distribution
  Premiere: Feb 9 2020
  The Story: Murders shake the Finnish community of Fuengirola, which made this tiny corner of Málaga their own little paradise on the shores of the Mediterranean. Hilkka Mäntymäki, a veteran crime detective aged 60, is travelling from Oulu Finland to help the local police on a case that will soon claim new victims. Because escaping the cold and the dark is much easier than leaving your own past behind.

• WHEN THE DUST SETTLES (Når støvet har lagt sig) Denmark, 2020, 10 x 58’
  Nominated writers: Dorte Høgh and Ida Maria Rydén
  Directors: Milad Alami, Jeanette Nordahl and Iram Haq
  Producer: Stinna Lassen
  Produced by DR Drama for DR
  International sales: DR Sales
  Premiere: Feb 2 2020
  The Story: It is a busy Friday night at a newly opened restaurant. Guests are eating, drinking and enjoying a carefree life, when two masked men with weapons unnoticed enter the premises. Shots are fired. And life will never be the same. Over the course of three weeks the lives of the eight main characters will dramatically change, and they will find themselves questioning the way they live and the choices they have made.

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Photos of nominees below.