by Nathaniel R
The news just keeps coming for prestigious cinematic honors outside the US. Swiftly on the heels of the EFA longlist and Norway's Amanda Awards, the Nordic Council Film Prize has announced its five nominees for 2022...
All but one of the nominees were released in 2021, with the "newest" film being Godland, which premiered at Cannes in May. This annual award celebrates "an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution." The winning film receives 41,000 Euros but that's split three-ways between the director, screenwriter, and producer so it's really more about the honor itself.
THE NOMINEES
- The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic (Teemu Nikki, Finland)
- Clara Sola (Nathalie Alvarez Mesén, Sweden) - Costa Rica's Oscar submission last season. The director is Costa-Rican/Swedish.
- Godland (Hlynur Pálmason, Iceland)
- Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannson, Iceland) - Oscar finalist last season
- The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, Norway) - Oscar nominee last season
Previous winners of this prize include Oscar nominees like Flee, The Man Without a Past, and The Hunt, and two brilliant films from the Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson, Woman at War and Of Horses and Men, who hasn't quite broken out internationally but who absolutely deserves to. Of this year's contenders, Joachim Trier has already won this prize, back in 2016 for Louder Than Bombs.
WINNER UPDATE - NOVEMBER 2022
The 2022 prize went to Lamb from Iceland. The jury described their reasoning:
In “Lamb” the director creates a unique tale of loss, grief and horror. The highly original story explores classic themes of man’s interaction with mother nature and the consequences of defying her forces. It also deals with the beauty and brutality of parenthood and the extreme measures we may take to protect the happiness we feel entitled to.
The film is a disturbing and original cinematic experience. The animals’ sensitivity to the slightest anomaly in their surroundings is used very effectively to create a sense of underlying threat, which is magnificently underscored by a constantly attentive yet unobtrusive camera and an eerie soundscape.
The incisive use of few meaningful elements to conjure an abiding sense of dread makes for a visually effective and atmospheric storytelling experience.