Benjamin Ree’s gamer documentary Ibelin led the winners at Tromso International Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday, January 20; after Norwegian feature Grandmonster took the Fiction Norway pitching prize last week.
Ibelin took the audience award, playing at Tromso the day after its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival. The Norwegian title follows the story of Mats Steen, a gamer who died of a degenerative muscular disease aged 25; after which his parents began to receive messages from online friends around the world. Netflix acquired US distribution and worldwide streaming rights on the title following its Sundance premiere.
Scroll down for the full list of Tromso winners
“We were extremely nervous about the first screenings of the film, which makes this award even more meaningful,” said Ree, accepting the award from Sundance via Zoom. “TIFF was the first film festival I attended as an 18-year-old; it holds a special place in my heart.”
Vibeka Skistad, from the film’s Norwegian distributor Euforia, accepted the award on Ree’s behalf.
Housekeeping For Beginners won the Aurora award, with €5,000 prize. The drama, about a woman who finds herself raising her girlfriend’s two daughters, debuted in Horizons at Venice Film Festival in September.
An honourable mention at Tromso went to Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters.
Last week the inaugural Fiction Norway pitching prize was awarded to Grandmonster, a Norwegian feature debut. 21 projects from Norway, Finland, Sweden and Greenland were pitched to 16 film executives. This was the fourth edition of Fiction Norway, and the first time it has given a pitching prize.
Grandmonster is a zombie movie taking place on an island in rural Norway, from director Vegard Dahle and producer Jon Vatne.
Currently in development, the film will be produced by Norway’s Syden Pictures.
A special mention went to Ilja Rautsi’s Red Snow, and Marianne Ulrichsen’s Wrestling Heart.
Among the 16 executives attending the event were Peter Spencer, director of development and production at Searchlight Pictures; Caddy Vanasirikul, producer at Plan B Entertainment; Laura Davis, director of acquisitions at FilmNation Entertainment; and Todd Brown, head of international acquisitions at XYZ Films.
Vanasirikul and Brown were on the three-person pitching jury alongside Yohann Comte, co-founder of Charades. The jury said the Grandmonster team “were so well prepared and gave us a very thought-through and funny introduction to their project. We value that we got the idea of the project right away, and they were living and giving us the tone of the film through their presence.”
Tromso International Film Festival 2024 winners
Audience award – Ibelin, dir. Benjamin Ree
Aurora award – Housekeeping For Beginners, dir. Goran Stolevski; honourable mention – Four Daughters, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
Fipresci award – Riceboy Sleeps, dir. Anthony Shim
Don Quixote award – Four Daughters, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania; honourable mention – Riceboy Sleeps, dir. Anthony Shim
Norwegian Peace Film award – The Monk And The Gun, dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
Tromso Palm – What We See, dirs. Lucy Tulugarjuk, Carol Kunnuk
Faith in Film award – Punishment, dir. Oystein Mamen
Fiction Norway pitching award – Grandmonster, dir. Vegard Dahle; honourable mentions – Red Snow, dir. Ilja Rautsi, and Wrestling Heart, dir. Marianne Ulrichsen
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