Eclectic Berlinale Wins For Nordic Films

The 60th Berlinale ended up last weekend in a positive note for Nordic films that brought five awards back home, including three for the feature films Sebbe, A Family and A Somewhat Gentle Man, all backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Babak Najafi's (photo) Swedish drama Sebbe received the Best First Feature Film award from jury members Michael Verhoeven (German filmmaker) Ben Foster (US actor) and Lorna Tee (Malaysian producer) who picked it out of 24 directorial debuts that screened at the festival's main competition, Panorama, Generation and Forum programmes. Sebbe's €50,000 cash prize was shared by Najafi with producers Mimmi Spång and Rebecca Lafrenz (Garage Film International). The film will be released in Sweden by SF on March 12.

Pernille Fischer Christensen's Danish film A Family, based on a script by Kim Fupz Aakeson, was awarded the FIPRESCI award from an international film critics' jury that selected the film from all competition titles. The Zentropa production will open in Denmark on October 28.

Hans Petter Moland's Norwegian comedy drama A Somewhat Gentle Man - also based on a script by Aakeson - was bestowed the Berliner Morgenpost Audience Prize. "The film's reception has been overwhelming, both from audiences and the press," said Moland. Nordisk Film Distribution will release it in Norway on March 19.

Denmark's Birgitte Stærmose received a Special Mention for her first documentary Out of Love about children in post-war Kosovo, produced by Alphaville Pictures, and Sweden's Ruben Östlund won a Golden Bear for his short film Incident by the Bank. Sweden also celebrated the Berlinale Jury Grand Prix and Alfred Bauer Prize to the Romanian film If I want to Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban, co-produced by Chimney Pot with co-financing from Film i Väst. The Berlinale's main award, the Golden Bear went to the Turkish film Bal (Honey) by Semith Kaplanoglu, and Roman Polanski won Best Director for The Ghost Writer, picked up by Svensk Filmindustri for Scandinavia.