No limbo for Limbo, which won five Norwegian Amandas

Line Verndal as Sonia in Maria Sødahl's Limbo (2010) received the Amanda award for Best Actress. Limbo went on as the night's big winner, taking home no less than five Amanda awards. Photo: Norwegian Film Institute
Marius Holst’s King of Devil’s Island named Best Feature at the awards ceremony in Haugesund prior to the opening of the 39th Norwegian International Film Festival.
Backed by ten nominations for the Amanda – Norway’s national film prize – Norwegian director Maria Sødahl’s Limbo cashed in on half of them Saturday (20 August) at the televised awards ceremony in Haugesund’s Festiviteten Concert Hall, prior to the opening of the 39th Norwegian International Film Festival. Sødahl’s third feature, which opened last year’s Haugesund fest (and went on to scoop for Best Director at the Montreal Film Festival), won both for Best Actress (Line Verndal) and Best Supporting Actress (Sweden’s Lena Endre). Marius Holst’s King of Devil’s Island (Kongen af Bastøy), which was nominated in eight categories, was named Best Feature, adding the prizes for Best Supporting Actor (Trond Nilssen) and Best Musical Score (Johan Søderqvist). Five juries presided over by Bjørn Simonsen had a record number of 34 local productions to consider in the 10 different categories. Norwegian veteran actor Bjørn Floberg, most recently in the Varg Veum franchise, received the 2011 Honorary Amanda.
Full list of awards
Best Film
King of Devil’s Island (Kongen af Bastøy). Prod: Karin Julsrud, for 4½
Best Children’s Film
Elias and the Hunt for the Gold of the Sea (Elias og jakten på havets gull). Dir: Lise I Osvoll. Prods: John M Jacobsen, Sveinung Galimo, for Filmkameratene
Best Director
Erik Skjoldbjærg, for Nokas Best Actress: Line Verndal, for Limbo. Dir: Maria Sødahl
Best Actor
Henrik Rafaelsen, for Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig). Dir: Anne Sewitsky
Best Supporting Actress
Lena Endre, for Limbo
Best Supporting Actor
Trond Nilssen, for King of Devil’s Island (Kongen af Bastøy). Dir: Marius Holst
Best Original Screenplay
Christopher Grøndahl, for Nokas
Best Cinematography
Manuel Alberto Claro, for Limbo
Best Production Design
Niels Sejer, for Limbo
Best Visual Effects
Marcus B Brodersen/Filmkameratene, Øystein Larsen/Storyline Studios, for The Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren). Dir: Andre Øvredal
Best Musical Score
Johan Søderqvist, King of Devil’s Island
Best Editing
Christoffer Heie, for Totally True Love (Jørgen + Anne = sant). Dir: Anne Sewitsky
Best Sound Design
Hugo Ekornes, for Limbo
Best Short Film
1994. Dir: Kaveh Tehrani. Prods: Tehrani, Christian Lien Jensen and Marthe Haakonsen
Best Documentary
Reunion – Ten Years after the War. Dir: Jon Haukeland. Prod: Charlotte Røhder Tvedt, for Mediaoperatørene
Best Foreign Feature
Another Year. Dir: Mike Leigh (UK). Local distr: SF Norge
Honorary Amanda
Bjørn Floberg
The People’s Amanda (Awarded in collaboration with Norway’s TV2 and Norwegian daily, VG)
The Troll Hunter
The Golden Clapperboard
Norwegian casting agents Celine Engebrigtsen, Kjersti Paulsen
The Golden Footage (Norsk Kinoforbund – for a film for children and young audiences)
Norwegian director Arild Andresen, production company 4 1/2 Fiksjon, and Euforia Distribusjon for The Liverpool Goalie (Keeper’n til Liverpool)
Source: Norwegian Film Institute