When the Norwegian film and TV awards, the Amandas, are handed out for the 19th time on August 22, festival titles like Jens Lien's black comedy Jonny Vang and Bent Hamer's crowd-pleaser Kitchen Stories will face off against Paal Oie's low-budget thriller Dark Woods in the best film category.

Produced by Dag Alveberg's Maipo Film & TV Produksjon, Bent Hamer's own BulBul Film and Jan Aksel Angetvedt's Spleis AS, the three films have been chosen among the 14 new Norwegian films eligible for the awards.

Dark Woods and Jonny Vang also secured their young male leads, Kristoffer Joner and Aksel Hennie, best actor nods along with Eirik Junge Eliassen for Erik Smith Meyer's Svidd Neger. In the best actress category the acclaimed Swede Lena Endre looks a favourite for her role in Unni Straume's Music For Weddings And Funerals, where she was nominated along with Gitte Joergensen for Gunnar Vikene's Falling Sky and Jorunn Kjellsby for the TV-series Sejer.

Covering eight categories the Amandas also go to the best children's film, the best drama made for TV, the best short and best documentary.

This year the nominees for the Nordic Debut Amanda have been singled out by the Nordic Film Institutes, and its $6,900 (NKR50,000) prize is sponsored by Canal+.

They include Christoffer Boe's Danish Reconstruction, Johanna Vuoksenmaa's Finnish Upswing, Dagur Kari Petursson's Icelandic Noi Albinoi, Morten Tyldum's Norwegian Buddy and Klaus Haro's Swedish-Finnish multiple award winner Elina.

Among the best Foreign Film nominations are Chicago, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, The Hours and the Swedish hit comedy Kops.