Ninjababy Dominates 2021 Amanda Awards

While The Painter And The Thief took top honours for Best Film, Ninjababy was the dominant force with four awards at this year’s Amanda Awards, which were presented in a ceremony hosted by Odd-Magnus Williamson during the 49th Norwegian Film Festival at Haugesund.
Best Director (Yngvild Sve Flikke)and Best Actress (Kristine Kujath Thorp) were among the awards that went to Ninjababy, in which a one-night-stand forces aspiring astronaut and cartoonist Rakel to face motherhood earlier than expected, and having the ‘ninja baby’ sneak its way from her drawing board to reality doesn’t make things any easier.
Close behind with three wins, including Best Actor for Jakob Oftebro and Best Supporting Actress for Pia Halvorsen, was Betrayed (Den største forbrytelsen) about an ordinary Norwegian working class family who were arrested and deported on the Danube ship to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Meanwhile, in trivia, The Painter and the Thief became the first documentary since 2002 to win Best Film, Gunda became the first black-and-white film to ever win an Amanda for Best Cinematography, and Thomas Dybdahl became the first composer to ever win an Amanda for Best Original Score twice.
Here are the winners in full…
BEST FILM:
The Painter And The Thief, directed by Benjamin Ree
Generation Utoya, directed by Aslaug Holm and Sigve Endresen
Ninjababy, directed by Yngvild Sve Flikke
BEST DIRECTOR:
Benjamin Ree for The Painter And The Thief
Silje Salomonsen and Arild Østin Ommundsen for Sisters: The Summer We Found Our Superpowers
Yngvild Sve Flikke for Ninjababy
BEST ACTOR:
Arthur Berning for Ninjababy
Jakob Oftebro for Betrayed
Pål Sverre Hagen for Diana’s Wedding
BEST ACTRESS:
Birgitte Larsen for Gritt
Kathrine Thorborg Johansen for Oslo – København
Kristine Kujath Thorp for Ninjababy
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Nader Khademi for Ninjababy
Dennis Storhøi for Project Z
Michalis Koutsogiannakis for Betrayed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Pia Halvorsen for Betrayed
Marte Magnusdotter Solem for HIM
Marte Wexelsen Goksøyr for Gritt
BEST SCRIPT:
Benjamin Ree and Robert Stengård for The Painter And The Thief
Itonje Søimer Guttormsen for Gritt
Johan Fasting with co-writers Yngvild Sve Flikke and Inga H. Sætre for Ninjababy
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Johan Söderqvist for Betrayed
Kåre Chr. Vestrheim for Ninjababy
Thomas Dybdahl for Sisters: The Summer We Found Our Superpowers
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Nina Buer Brun, Marianne Stranger and Ann Kristin Talleraas for Gritt
Olve Askim for Two Buddies and a Badger – The Great Big Beast
Ulrika Axén and Tobias Eiving for Betrayed
BEST SOUND DESIGN:
Alexander Dudarev for Gunda
Erik Ljunggren for Gritt
Hugo Ekornesand Gisle Tveito for Ninjababy
BEST MAKE-UP:
Grethe Gunn Solberg Hansen for Diana’s Wedding
Maria Bjørnnes Hermansen and Fie Baro for Project Z
Sara Klänge for Betrayed
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Egil Håskjold Larsen and Viktor Kossakovsky for Gunda
Marianne Bakke for Ninjababy
Patrik Säfström and Egil Håskjold Larsen for Gritt
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Dennis Kleyn and Peer Lemmers for Dragon Girl
Inga H. Sætre for Ninjababy
Lars Erik Hansen for Betrayed
BEST EDITING:
Christian Siebenherz and Elise Solberg for Betrayed
Karen Gravås for Ninjababy
Robert Stengård for The Painter And The Thief
BEST COSTUME:
Anne Pedersen for Betrayed
Ida Toft for Diana’s Wedding
Ingjerd Meland, Marianne Stranger, Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, Birgitte Larsen and Nina Buer Brun for Gritt