Nordic Screenplay Prize Nominees For 2020
The nominees have been revealed for the 4th Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, which recognises outstanding writing in television drama. The five contenders are: When The Dust Settles (Denmark), The Paradise (Finland), Happily Never After (Iceland), 22. Juli (Norway) and Caliphate (Sweden).
The NOK 200,000 (€20,000) prize, which was won by All The Sins (Kaikki Synnit) last year, will be decided by a jury comprised of actors Jakob Oftebro (Kon-Tiki) and Moa Gammel (Jordskott), alongside journalist Cecilie Asker (Aftenposten) and Polish director Dariusz Jabłoński (The Pleasure Principle). It will be presented on 29th January during the TV Drama Vision sidebar of the 43rd Göteborg Film Festival (24th January – 3rd February).
Liselott Forsman, CEO at Nordisk Film & TV Fond said: “With the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the Fund wants to celebrate the art of script writing, the base for all good drama experiences and also for Nordic drama quality, something we have supported for 30 years in January. We heartily welcome this year’s five high level nominees, each combining a say with excellent storytelling in a way that bodes well for Nordic 2020 dramas at international markets where competition is fiercer than ever.”
DENMARK
When The Dust Settles | Når støvet har lagt sig
Written by Dorte Høgh & Ida Maria Rydén
It is a busy Friday night at a newly opened restaurant. Guests are eating, drinking and enjoying a carefree life, when two masked men with weapons unnoticed enter the premises. Shots are fired. And life will never be the same. Over the course of three weeks the lives of the eight main characters will dramatically change, and they will find themselves questioning the way they live and the choices they have made.
FINLAND
The Paradise | Paratiisi
Written by Matti Laine
Murders shake the Finnish community of Fuengirola, which made this tiny corner of Málaga their own little paradise on the shores of the Mediterranean. Hilkka Mäntymäki, a veteran crime detective aged 60, is travelling from Oulu Finland to help the local police on a case that will soon claim new victims. Because escaping the cold and the dark is much easier than leaving your own past behind.
ICELAND
Happily Never After | Pabbahelgar
Written by Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir
Karen, a 38-year-old couples counsellor and mother of three, has her life turned upside down when she discovers her husband’s infidelity. Suddenly single, she must say good-bye to the utopian vision of the perfect nuclear family, and the professional advice she gives her clients now seem absurd. Every other weekend, the so-called “daddy weekends”, are what Karen now fears most.
NORWAY
22. Juli
Written by Sara Johnsen
They saved the injured, buried the dead, comforted the grieving and tried to understand. 22. Juli tells the story of people who through their work and professions were affected by the terrorist attack in Norway on the 22nd of July 2011. Featuring fictional characters, but based on meticulous research, it’s a story about the systems that shape our daily lives and who we are when tragedy strikes.
SWEDEN
Caliphate | Kalifat
Written by Wilhelm Behrman & Niklas Rockström
The story follows five young women, whose fate is intertwined in an examination of how religious fundamentalism can seduce individuals and destroy lives. Directed by Guldbagge award winner Goran Kapetanovic.