No limbo for Limbo, which won five Norwegian Amandas

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