At the Bodil Awards on March 4 in Copenhagen, the Danish film-journalists and -critics' association gave out their prestigious prizes to last year's best films and acting talents.

The award has been around since 1948, making it one of the oldest in Europe, but seldom, if ever, has it seen stronger line-up of nominations.

Unsurprisingly, however, it was progressive production outfit Zentropa that had its name on most of the nominations and the awards. Per Fly's realistic drama The Bench took most of the top honours: best film, best actor: Jesper Christensen and best supporting actor: Nikolaj Kopernikus.

The film was produced by Ib Tardini for Zentropa, who was also behind the recent Berlin Silver-Bear winner: Lone Scherfig's Italian for Beginners, which collected the Bodil award for best supporting actress for Lene Tiemroth.

The third Zentropa title nominated for best film was Lars von Trier's Cannes winner Dancer in the Dark, which on its home turf received an award for Bjork's performance.

However, the Bodil-committee this year decided to award three honorary prizes to the Zentropa producers: Vibeke Windeloev, Ib Tardini and Peter Aalbaek Jensen, in recognition of their contribution to the Danish film industry.

Of last year's 17 new Danish films only three others received nominations. They were Anders Thomas Jensen's Flickering Lights, Kaspar Rostrup's A Place Nearby and Natasha Arthy's Miracle. Eric Kress, who lensed all three picked up the special Johan Ankerstjerne Award for best cinematographer. Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won the best non-American film award, and Sam Mendes' American Beauty best American film.