Nordisk Film & TV Fond has announced the nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize. The Finnish nominee is Lauri-Matti Parppei’s drama A Light That Never Goes Out. All six nominees will be presented at the Love & Anarchy festival in Helsinki 17–27 September.
The most prestigious film award in the Nordic countries is presented to a feature-length film that demonstrates high artistic quality. The nominees’ international journey speaks to their caliber. The Finnish A Light That Never Goes Out and the Icelandic The Love That Remains both premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, while Birita from the Faroe Islands premiered at the prestigious CPH:DOX documentary film festival. The Norwegian nominee Sentimental Value won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in March.
There are six films competing for the 40 000 euro prize, and five of them deal with family relationships. Sweden is represented by Maria Eriksson-Hecht’s debut Kevlar Soul, co-produced by the Finnish production company Bufo. Eriksson-Hecht won the Swedish Guldbagge award for Best Director with her poignant story about brotherhood. The Danish nominee Beginnings continues the impressive tradition of Nordic family dramas. In the film directed by Jeanette Nordahl, a difficult divorce is framed by love. The same theme is present in Hlynur Pálmason’s bittersweet The Love That Remains, which follows the life of a family for one year. In Sentimental Value, by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier – who has already won The Nordic Council Film Prize once – an estranged father (a director) and a daughter (an actress) drift apart and grow closer in turns. The only documentary of the competition is Bui Dám’s Birita, from the Faroe Islands. Dám is also a theatre director and in the film he asks his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, to act in King Lear.
Lauri-Matti Parppei’s A Light That Never Goes Out places its main character within a different kind of community. It takes the successful but depressed flute player to the coastal town of Rauma in Western Finland. The musician ends up in an ensemble making experimental music. Drawing on the filmmaker’s own hometown and personal experiences, the film infuses the high-quality drama with a liberating DIY spirit.
The Finnish nominee was chosen by the journalist Kalle Kinnunen, the Executive Director of Espoo Ciné Tytti Rantanen, and the Finnish Film Foundation’s Communication Specialist Marjo Pipinen. Pipinen also serves as the chair of the Nordic jury selecting the winner.
The Nordic Council Film Prize was first awarded in 2002. This year’s winner will be announced on 20 October.