Norwegian awards
JURY STATEMENTS FROM THE NORWEGIAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2009
NORWEGIAN SHORT FILM
The jury for Norwegian short film was Kjell Bjørgeengen (artist), Margreth Olin (director and producer), Erik Poppe (director), Valerie Saunders (director and producer USA/Denmark) and Eva Charlotte Nilsen (director, Nordnorsk filmsenter)
General statement from jury:
"This year's short film program has pleased us, moved us, engaged us and touched us. Contemporary Norway is considered and Norway is finally taking its place as a country of the world. We find this year's short film program's many voices try, and succeed in communicating a specific content, and this is done with great precession in both form and expression than in any other previous Short Film Festival.
The jury feels that 2009 has been a particularly strong year."
GOLDEN CHAIR - NORWEGIAN SHORT FILM
Human, director Thomas A. Østby
The prize of 50 000 NOK is given by Norwegian Film Institute.
Jury states:
" This year's Golden Chair goes to a film that in a unique way manages to take the onlooker seriously. Instead of serving us a ready defined understanding of our surroundings, this film makes us reevaluate our own understanding of ourselves (and our fellow beings) in a new interpretation. The film breaks away from everyday situations and puts them into a new context. It shows us glimpses of the delicate and comical in humanity.
The film's idea is realized in an uncompromising form. It is bold because it dwells at the moment and lets time open up for thoughts."
TERJE VIGEN-AWARD
Control, director Hanne Myren
The award of 10 000 NOK and a bronze statue made by artist Harald Oredam is given by Grimstad city council.
The jury states:
"When film is poetry. When film has the ability to capture feelings between us, so that what we have and what we don't have with our others and ourselves is recognized and experienced. It demands that someone sees. It demands a mood that feels, that very carefully draws a line around another person, so that humanity stands there and looks back at the audience. But this demands also courage. Daring to capture someone's core and lift this up so that the people in front of the camera can see themselves. Terje Vigen 2009 goes to a film creator we want to see more of. A person that moves between two genres, the documentary artist's eyes that sees, but it is the director's tools that specify the moments and the overwhelming closeness and vulnerability. Terje Vigen 2009 goes to a deeply inspiring film. It draws around a relationship, a new trying relationship and a girl who finds herself in the meeting of him."
THE SHORT FILM JURY SPECIAL AWARD 2009 in shape of a diploma went to:
Angry Man by Anita Killi
Jury states:
"The Jury would like to mark this year's high level by presenting a special Jury's award. We feel that there are particularly 3 films that stand out and deserve the festival's highest award. The Jury feels that there is one film specifically that stands out at a particular high level. The film combines a strong sense of form, a sensitive artistic expression with the ability to communicate an important content in a moving way. The film meets people way beyond its target audience and will make a difference."
HONORARY MENTIONS went to:
Strays, director Sutharsan Balasubramaniam
Jury states:
"Honorary mentions goes to a dramatic production that takes on one of the major issues in the world today: asylum existence, integration and conflicts of culture. Through an expressive use of picture, a family drama is exposed from a child's point of view. The title of the film mirrors conditions that affect man."
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Grand Island: Love in Decay, director Lars Einar Skageberg.
15 000 NOK is presented by the record industry organisations IFPI and FONO.
Jury states:
" Pictures and music in perfect unison. Organic, proud, playful, original and insisting. Up and out for a run. 5 friends sharing friendship and affection for each other as well as the joy of just existing. I couldn't help but laugh at them and with them, I cheered for them and was happy for what they have and share together. A pat on the shoulder to the director for insisting that the 5 friends got together that day. A big kiss to the spontanious creativity and original solving of the task. An illustration and proof that you should stick to doing what you're doing."
NORWEGIAN DOCUMENTARY
The jury for Norwegian documentary was: Johan Palmgren (director and photographer, Sweden), Helga Reidemeister (director, Germany), Åsne Seierstad (journalist and writer, Norway)
General statement of the jury:
" For five intense days, the jury has dived into the different lives and realities of this world. We have met people with remarkable life stories, struggles and dilemmas. Several of these people will stay with us. We are thankful for their courage to show us their lives, without which these stories would remain hidden to us. We also thank the directors and their crew to allow us to take part. During these five days the jury has had intense discussions about the stories, and most importantly the films` attitudes. We have appreciated films where we have been with the characters, and not just standing outside watching them. We ended up with a handful of films that impressed us and made a strong impact on us. We would have liked to award them all, but had to choose one."
THE GOLDEN CHAIR - NORWEGIAN DOCUMENTARY
From prison to parliament, director Charlotte Røhder Tvedt.
The award of 50 000 NOK is given by NRK.
Jury's statement:
"The winner is a real documentary in the way that it develops while we are watching, the camera follows the characters attentively and accompanies the events in an honest way without neglecting contradictions. There is no one telling us what to feel, what to think, we have to figure out ourselves. Likewise the editing is convincing, following the flow of the story. The film undresses the shortcomings of the colonial attitude that democracy can be wrapped up and given as a gift to be implemented around the world. Without teaching it shows us that democracy lives a hard life in an underdeveloped, poor and corrupt country. The film touched us by its honesty, its irony and humor, not hiding the contradiction of the human being - our lies and unability to live according to our ideals. "
THE HOUR GLASS
Jury: Ståle Stein Berg and Maria Tryti Vennerød.
The Norwegian Play Writer's Association Award the Hour Glass and 10 000 NOK for best script went to
Little Red Hoodie by Jørn Utkilen.
Jury states:
"The Hour Glass goes to a film that has its core in a mystical world, with metaphoric creative power, good lines and great story telling, and gives us a witty and an ambiguous contemporary commentary. Innocence and decadence are sharply contrasted in a story that creates after thought and wonder. The jury has felt curiosity, fascination and thrill about this film. We agreed that if there was one film one should watch 10 times over, this is the one."
HONORARY MENTION goes to:
Squirral by Stian Einar Forgaard
Jury states:
"We would like to honour a film which has moved us; a story which is both refined and raw with power. This film facilitates self narration and creates a deep compassion, and it dares to place the raw primal scream on the big screen. It shows us that not all people have the key to open the door they are keeping closed - this film has the key that opens our hearts."
and
Strays by Sutharsan Balasubramaniam
Jury states:
"Some themes are so intricate they seem to appear all the time. They are even more difficult to depict on film, and fill the conflicts with humanity without using clichés- We would like to honour a film that through the use of wisdom, tenderness, sadness, pain and wit manages to talk about culture conflicts in a way that engages us and moves us. The film shows man with different views of values, traditions and choices, but where everyone fights for their own human value and what they consider right and good. In this way the film becomes important and grows in our conscience."
THE NORWEGIAN FILM ASSOCIATION'S TECHNICAL AWARD
Jury: Kjell Vassdal, Katja Eyde Jacobsen and Anne Hamre
The Norwegian Film Association's technical award of 10 000 NOK went to Rune van Deurs and photographer Øystein Mamen for sound and picture in the film Human.
Jury statements:
" This year's program demonstrates a very high level of competence. We still feel though that sometimes there can be more form than content. On that account the Jury has chosen to award a person who we feel both is experimental, brave and who touch us as audience members. What makes one particular achievement stand out is that it enhances the whole. The Norwegian Film Association Award goes this year to two people for their contribution to a film that in the Jury's opinion distinguishes itself from the rest of this year's program. The film consists of both sound and picture. It is central to any film. In this film the picture completes the sound and vice versa. This year's Norwegian Film Association Award goes to a photographer and a sound designer with superb skills and manages to communicate something very human, and makes us see something new in something very ordinary and every day."
THE FILM CRITIC AWARD
Jury: Trude Helene Løkke, Ulrik Eriksen and Gry Rustad.
Human, director Thomas A. Østby.
Jury states:
"The Film Critic Award goes to a film that uses the film vocabulary in an innovative and thoughtful way. Despite its strict form, it is influenced by playfulness, spontaneity and authenticity. It is a film that engages us both at an emotional and philosophical level. The film allows us to get uncomfortably close to the characters. We become fascinated by them, we love them, we are charmed by them and repulsed by them. We laugh at them and with them. The film gives us an insight into a broad specter of the human experience and the way we consider our fellow human beings. To say that this film is deeply human is an understatement."
HONORARY MENTIONS went to:
Still birds by Sara Eliassen.
Jury states:
"Firstly because the film's dystopia and post structural universe is communicated in a unique and uncompromising way seldom seen in Norwegian film. The Film Critic jury would like to award how the film is style wise excellent and uses the film's visual potential. The film plays on fascination, intellect and reflection and demands a lot from its audience. Still Birds shows the absurd and the accidental in language without words, and Derrida and Foucault's most extreme and terrible consequence. The film communicates an uncomfortable mood from this enigmatic and literally meaningless universe. Still Birds is without a doubt successful in style and theme. Sarah Eliassen demonstrates with this film that she is a fearless film creator who wants to innovate and challenge. We see a unique expression we want to see develop in the future."
FILMPOLITIETS SHORT FILM AWARD of 10 000 went to Customer Support, director André Øverdal. The winner is voted by the audiences of NRK Petre's webpage.
See the film here: www.nrk.no/kortfilm
