With the Nordic Council Film Prize set to be awarded for the 18^th time this autumn, the five nominees from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were announced today by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. The 2021 hopefuls consist of two documentaries and three fiction features, several of them with timely common denominators, particularly a recurring refugee theme.

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From Denmark comes the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-awarded documentary Flee [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
scheda film] by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, told partly through animation and centring on Amin, a former Afghan child refugee with a particularly dark secret. Finland’s contender is the Berlinale entry Any Day Now [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Hamy Ramezan
scheda film] by Hamy Ramezan, dealing with an Iranian family caught in the limbo between asylum and deportation, and partially based on the childhood of the director. And the main protagonist in Iceland’s psychological drama Alma [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir is originally from a war-ridden distant country.

Sweden’s Tigers [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ronnie Sandahl
scheda film] by Ronnie Sandahl, with a successful festival journey behind it since its 2020 Rome premiere, is based on the career of football player Martin Bengtsson, focusing on his arduous stint with the Inter Milan club. The other nominated documentary is Norway’s Gunda [+leggi anche:
recensione
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scheda film] by Viktor Kossakovsky, which has been on a virtually non-stop festival jamboree since its Berlin opening this February, featuring a mother sow with cuddly offspring and stellar support from a pair of cows and a one-legged chicken, all in black and white. By the look of things, competition will be stiff and the champion worthy, be it human or pig.

The grand result will be announced on 2 November, during the annual ordinary session of the Nordic Council, this year set to be held in Copenhagen. As per tradition, the prize sum of DKK 300,000 (€40,300) will be shared equally among screenwriter, director and producer, underscoring how cinema as an art form is brought about in close collaboration between these three main contributors. Last year’s winner was Norway’s Beware of Children [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dag Johan Haugerud
scheda film], written and directed by Dag Johan Haugerud and produced by Yngve Sæther for Motlys.

Here is the full list of this year’s nominees:

Denmark
Flee [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
scheda film] – Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark/France/Sweden/Norway/USA/Slovenia/Estonia/Spain/Italy/Finland)
Screenwriters: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, “Amin” (anonymous)
Producers: Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie (Final Cut for Real)

Finland
Any Day Now [+leggi anche:
trailer
intervista: Hamy Ramezan
scheda film] – Hamy Ramezan (Finland)
Screenwriters: Hamy Ramezan, Antti Rautava
Producers: Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka (Aamu Filmcompany)

Iceland
Alma [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] – Kristín Jóhannesdóttir (Iceland)
Screenwriter: Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
Producers: Guðrún Edda Þórhannesdóttir, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson and Egil Ødegård (DUO Productions)

Norway
Gunda [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Victor Kossakovsky (Norway/USA/UK)
Screenwriter: Victor Kossakovsky
Producer: Anita Rehoff Larsen (Sant & Usant)

Sweden
Tigers [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ronnie Sandahl
scheda film] – Ronnie Sandahl (Sweden/Italy/Denmark)
Screenwriter: Ronnie Sandahl
Producer: Piodor Gustafsson (Black Spark Film & TV)