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Tuva Novotny wins CPH PIX’s New Talent Grand PIX for Blind Spot

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- Rasmus Kloster Bro’s Cutterhead received a Special Mention and Isabella Eklöf’s Holiday the Politiken Talent Award at the Copenhagen-based festival

Tuva Novotny wins CPH PIX’s New Talent Grand PIX for Blind Spot
Director Tuva Novotny with her New Talent Grand PIX Award (© CPH PIX)

Swedish actress-director Tuva Novotny was the recipient of the New Talent Grand PIX, the main award handed out at the 2018 CPH PIX Film Festival, for her Norwegian feature debut, Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tuva Novotny
film profile
]
. The film, which premiered last month in Toronto’s Discovery section (see the news) and was awarded the Silver Shell for its leading actress, Pia Tjelta, at San Sebastián (see the news), was selected from among ten debut movies for the €6,000 prize at the biggest Danish feature-film festival, which started on 27 September and will run until 10 October in Copenhagen.

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The international jury, comprising Belgian director Joachim Lafosse, Swedish filmmaker Jesper Ganslandt and Brazilian producer Tatiana Leite, justified its decision by saying it opted for Blind Spot “for the boldness with which it explores cinema aesthetically, creates a remarkable narrative, approaches a taboo theme with conscience, and goes deeper into its complexity through family ties. It is a rare event where a film's vision and execution go completely hand in hand with the theme and story, creating a powerful alliance where no one can escape the experience. The film grabbed us by unanimity, for its form, unique directorial vision and the incredible performance of the lead actress.”

Furthermore, the jury chose to award local director Rasmus Kloster Bro’s claustrophobic survival thriller Cutterhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rasmus Kloster Bro
film profile
]
 with a Special Mention, “for creating a Hitchcockian pressure chamber that pumps up the adrenaline and stokes the claustrophobia of its audience. A very physical experience leaving us wanting more visions from this director.” 

Also, a new award was introduced at this edition of CPH PIX, in conjunction with Politiken Film & TV – namely, the Politiken Talent Award, which aims to support prominent first-time directors who may have an influence on the future of Danish cinema. Among the six candidates, it was Isabella Eklöf, with her debut feature, Holiday [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Victoria Carmen Sonne
film profile
]
, who was the winner of the new prize, worth DKK 50,000 (€6,700), which will support the national launch of her film.

For the first ten days of the festival, the public cast their votes for their favourite film among ten, and the winner turned out to be another debutant: rapper Boots Riley with his political comedy Sorry to Bother You, which received the PIX Audience Award and a cash prize of €3,000 to aid its Danish distribution. Finally, a teenage jury chose the fantasy graphic novel adaptation I Kill Giants [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Danish first-time director Anders Walter as the BUSTER Best Children’s Film, which also received €2,000.

Here is the full list of CPH PIX 2018 award winners:

New Talent Grand PIX
Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tuva Novotny
film profile
]
 –
 Tuva Novotny (Norway)

Special Mention
Cutterhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rasmus Kloster Bro
film profile
]
– Rasmus Kloster Bro (Denmark)

Politiken Talent Award
Holiday [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Victoria Carmen Sonne
film profile
]
 - Isabella Eklöf (Denmark/Netherlands/Sweden)

PIX Audience Award
Sorry to Bother You - Boots Riley (USA)

BUSTER Best Children’s Film
I Kill Giants [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Anders Walter (Belgium/UK/USA)

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