Danish drama Empire (Viften) has won the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize for 2023.
The prize, worth $45,000 (€41,000), is split between director Frederikke Aspöck, screenwriter Anna Neye and producers Pernille Munk Skydsgaard, Nina Leidersdorff and Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen.
The award was handed out tonight during a ceremony at Oslo’s Opera House.
Empire celebrated its world premiere in Göteborg and opened in Danish cinemas in April via SF Studios. REinvent handles international sales.
The film was selected among six Nordic candidates by a jury consisting of one member from each of the Nordic countries, including Greenland for the first time this year.
The story is set in St. Croix, the Danish West Indies in 1848 and looks at the lives of two women of colour, one a free woman who has an affair with the colony’s governor, and one an enslaved woman in their household.
The jury said: “It is a rare thing to come across a film that is so confidently and thoroughly thought through in every single detail, and where such an extraordinarily clear vision from the filmmakers behind it shines from every frame. They serve a beautiful, sweet, and colorful treat laced with bitter poison and low intensity rage. The film is complex and thought-provoking, and the filmmakers do not stumble once while telling their tale about an ugly part of history.”
Denmark’s other recent winners of the prize include Flee (2021), Queen Of Hearts (2019) and The Hunt (2013).
This year’s other nominees were:
- The Edge Of The Shadow (Greenland) directed and written by Malik Kleist and produced by Nina Paninnguaq for PaniNoir and Imalik Film.
- Bubble (Fin) directed by Aleksi Salmenperä, written by Reeta Ruotsalainen and Aleksi Salmenperä, produced by Minna Haapkylä for Rabbit Film
- Driving Mum (Ice) directed and written by Hilmar Oddsson, produced by Hlín Jóhannesdóttir for Ursus Parvus
- War Sailor (Nor) directed and written by Gunnar Vikene, produced by Maria Ekerhovd for Mer Film
- Opponent (Swe) directed and written by Milad Alami, produced by Annika Rogell for Tangy
One candidate is submitted per country after shortlisting from a national jury; the overall winner is chosen by a Nordic jury comprised of the head of each national jury.
The Nordic Council Film Prize, established in 2002 and awarding unique cinematic visions rooted in Nordic culture, has previously been awarded to filmmakers including Aki Kaurismaki, Roy Andersson, Pernilla August, Selma Vilhunen, Thomas Vinterberg, Joachim Trier and Ruben Ostlund. The 2022 winner was Lamb from Iceland.
No comments yet