Linus Sandgren Takes Home Only Oscar For Scandinavia

Although Scandinavian movies had a strong presence at the 89th Academy Awards, Sweden’s Linus Sandgren was the only representative of the region to take home a coveted Oscar, for Best Cinematography in La La Land.

When asked by SVT what he thought resonated with the jury, Sandgren said: “I don’t know, but I think it’s a combination of us working poetically and imaginatively with the film and that it contributes to the escapism that is the film’s intention. The idea was that the camera would feel like a character in the film.”

In the category of Best Foreign Language Film, Martin Zandvliet’s Land Of Mine (Under sandet) and Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove) lost out to Iran’s The Salesman about a couple whose relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

Meanwhile, it was a second year of disappointment for Love Larson and Eva von Bahr, who were nominated in the category of Best Make-Up & Hairstyling for their work on A Man Called Ove. Last year they lost out to Mad Max: Fury Road with The Hundred Year Old Man, and this year it was Suicide Squad that won.