Clio Barnard wins at Stockholm

Scroll down for full list of winners

UK film The Selfish Giant has picked up the Bronze Horse for best film at the 24th Stockholm Film Festival (Nov 6-17).

It marks the second consecutive year a film by a female director has won the top prize at Stockholm, after Cate Shortland’s Lore picked up the award last year.

The film, about two young friends who gather scrap metal for cash, was described by the jury as “a uniquely complete film. Shattering, to the point, poetic, believable, delicate, humorous. The sensitive interaction between the two main actors has resulted in the most touching portrayal of friendship we’ve seen in film. Only someone hard-hearted could fail to love this film.”

The Selfish Giant, which debuted at Cannes, is represented by Protagonist Pictures and produced by Moonspun Films, with the backing of the BFI and Film4. Sundance Selects will distribute in the US.

A special mention went to Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, which opened the festival.

The jury, chaired by Kristian Petri, included Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (who is banned from leaving China), Helena Danielsson, Lena Endre, Moa Gammel and Hiner Saleem.

The debut of US director Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station, won best first film adding to awards won at Sundance and Cannes. Released by The Weinstein Company, it is based on the tragic true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old who was shot by a police officer on New Year’s Day 2009. 

Miss Violence, written by Greek director Alexandro Avranas and Kostas Peroulis, won best script. The drama is about a disfunctional family.

George MacKay, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2012, picked up the best actor prize for his role in UK film For Those In Peril.

Jasmine Trinca won best actress for her performance in Miele.

Best cinematography went to Lorenzo Hagerman for Mexican film Heli and composer Hans Zimmer won best music for his work on 12 Years a Slave.

Filmmaker Fia-Stina Sandlund received the Stockholm Feature Film Award, set up to encourage female directors and complete with a prize fund of $815,000 (5.4m SEK).

Sandlund’s film, She’s Wild Again Tonight, is described as post-modern, metafictional, slightly absurd re-make of Strindberg’s Miss Julie.

The film takes place in a contemporary New York apartment in which the actors play heightened versions of themselves. Alexandra Dahlström (as Miss Julie) and Jens Lekman (as Jean) meet to reenact the play to Lekmans’ music.

Scripted by Josefine Adolfsson and Fia-Stina Sandlund, it is produced by Tobias Janson and made by production company Story AB.

As previously announced, French director Claire Denis, whose latest film The Bastards opened Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, was honored with Stockholm Lifetime Achievement award; while British director Peter Greenaway received the Stockholm Visionary Award.

The 24th SIFF includes more than 180 films from more than 50 countries and will close tonight with Stepehn Frears’ Philomena.

Stockholm 2013 winners

Best Film
The Selfish Giant by Clio Barnard

A uniquely complete film. Shattering, to the point, poetic, believable, delicate, humorous. The sensitive interaction between the two main actors has resulted in the most touching portrayal of friendship we’ve seen in film. Only someone hard-hearted could fail to love this film.

Best First Film
Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler (the prize was picked up by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson who made the soundtrack of the film)

This film presents a captivating slice-of-life, or maybe rather a slice-of-death, portrayal of the taking of someone’s life. The abhorrent, meaningless murder is captured sensitively and sincerely in this energetic film. It’s both a brutal eye-opener and a masterful cinematic achievement. A harsh reminder of the impact slavery has left on our contemporary society. This impressive debut is a must for everyone to see!

Best Script
Miss Violence by Alexandros Avranas
Script: Alexandros Avranas and Kostas Peroulis

Sparse, precise, engaging. A relentless story about a family’s disintegration is depicted with complete lack of sentimentality. This script is very exact – following the story is like opening a watch and marvelling at the delicate mechanics within. All aspects of the story work together to drive this moving and unusual story forward.

Best Actor
George Mackay in For Those in Peril

Very finely acted, and with small nuances, this actor expresses what it is like to be forced to the outer limits of human pain and sorrow. His complete vulnerability, isolation and despair are just as frightening for us as viewers as for his character and is very accurately portrayed.

Best Actress
Jasmine Trinca in Miele

An unexpected presentation of a very unusual character who arouses great curiosity with her very subjective yet distanced demeanour. The acting is spellbinding despite the underplayed style. We are dragged into her world but left guessing as to what really motivates her. The transparency of her expression as she presides over people’s last living moments etches itself into ones subconscious making the viewer live through these experiences as if they were their own.

Best Cinematography
Lorenzo Hagerman for Heli

The film’s photography lifts the story at the same time undermining both the landscape and the events taking place guiding the viewer along previously unexplored paths. The camera forces us to visit places we have never been, and which we maybe wish we had been spared. However provocative the images are they achieve an unexpected beauty, and come together to create a shattering and comprehensive film.

Best Music
Hans Zimmer for 12 Years a Slave

Hans Zimmer has mastered the style of classic musical storytelling. He combines the almost frighteningly epic with the sensitively delicate: from hand claps to symphony. He is daring, and it pays off.

Best Short Film
Tears of Inge by Alisi Telengut

Although it was the shortest film, as well as the only animated one in the competition, we found it to combine all the elements of cinema. It’s well executed, efficient and quietly moving. It uses a textual, three-dimensional technique that we’ve never really seen before in this way. It’s beauty is in it’s simplicity, and the film feels mature and fully formed as a result.

Telia Film Award
Child’s Pose by Calin Peter Netzer

With an impressive attention to detail and an easy, unaffected storytelling, Calin Peter Netzer describes how maternal love’s darker sides and a son’s hopelessly failed emancipation are amplified by a terrible tragedy. With a delicate hand he highlights the characters and lets them grow into three dimensional portraits in a sincere and genuine drama where the turning point is allowed to take place inside the viewer as much as on the silver screen.

Citroën DS Rising Star
Adam Lundgren

This year’s Rising Star is an actor who has already made a lasting impression on screen despite his young age. With great precision and understanding of the craft he portrays a wide range of emotions, from playfulness and humour to vibrating love and deep pain. All these qualities were also present in his most recent film, the critically acclaimed “Känn ingen sorg”.

Stockholm Feature Film Award
She’s Wild Again Tonight by Fia-Stina Sandlund

A post-modern, metafictional, slightly absurd re-make of Strindberg’s Miss Julie (Fröken Julie). The film takes place in a contemporary New York apartment in which the actors play heightened versions of themselves. Alexandra Dahlström (as Miss Julie) and Jens Lekman (as Jean) meet to reenact the play to Lekmans’ music.

Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award
Claire Denis

Claire Denis refuses to close her eyes to the creative and destructive force unleashed by human weaknesses. A bold explorer of postcolonial Africa and the dark corners of modern society, who invites the audience to an exposed universe that is beautiful and raw. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry.

Stockholm Visionary Award
Peter Greenaway

Whether men are drowning by numbers, bodies are turned into art or savage nature is transformed into haute cuisine, Peter Greenaway has always challenged the spectator like a true modern visionary. By questioning traditional notions of artistic expression and combining the latest techniques with his vast knowledge of the classic art forms, this year’s recipient of the Stockholm Visionary Award has indeed created a new cinematic language.

Special Mention Best Film
12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen

This award goes to a director who is in complete control of his chosen mode of expression. The film succeeds at being at the same time both epic and personal. All too often a director can overshadow their own film, but here is someone whose presence doesn’t force itself onto the film, but which still shines through in each editorial choice he has made. Quite apart from the beautiful craftsmanship, this film is uniquely courageous. The unexpected duration of certain close-ups never feels self-serving, as each shot contributes to the film as a whole creating the unique feeling and aura of 12 Years a Slave.

Special Mention Best First Film
Återträffen (The Reunion) by Anna Odell

Bold, courageos, funny, provocative. The Reunion is a well-crafted story, and navigates a mix of genres intelligently. We find ourselves in a labyrinth of mirrors where the viewer is confronted with questions about power, loneliness and bullying at every turn. The film does not present any answers, but leaves one with a lot of rewarding questions. This is a film with strong artistic integrity.

1 km film – Scholarship
Förår by John Skoog

For evocative and compelling cinematic portraits that move through time and space, combining the countryside’s innocence with the feeling of an ominous external world. With an enigmatic and highly personal narrative, the director recurs to the subjectivity of the memory in a society destined for change.

1 km film – Special Mention
Mr Magdy, Room Number 17 Please by Carl Olsson

For an ambitious, challenging and brave project without compromise.

Ifestival Award
Swear by Lea Becker

(Voted for by the audience of the 24th Stockholm International Film Festival)