Pleasure & Lamb Nominated For Prix FIPRESCI

Pleasure by Ninja Thyberg and Lamb by Valdimar Jóhansson have been nominated for the Prix FIPRESCI, presented annually by the Federation of Film Critics as part of the European Film Awards to a director for their debut feature.

Fierce competition for the prize comes from The Beginning by Dea Kulumbegashvili, Playground by Laura Wandel, Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell and The Whaler Boy by Philipp Yuryev.

The jury is comprised of European Film Academy Board Members Anita Juka (Croatia) and Joanna Szymańska (Poland), producer/screenwriter Paula Alvarez Vaccaro (UK, Italy), producer Vladimer Katcharava (Georgia) as well as film critics Marta Balaga (Finland, Poland), Janet Baris (Turkey), Andrei Plakhov (Russia), Frédéric Ponsard (France) and Britt Sørensen (Norway).

The nominated films will be made available to view online to more than 4,100 voting members who will decide the winner, and the Prix FIPRESCI will then be presented at the 34th European Film Awards Ceremony on 11th December.

Lamb | Dýrið
Directed by Valdimar Jóhansson
Written by Sjón Sjón & Valdimar Jóhansson
A dark and atmospheric folk tale about a childless couple María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) who live on a remote sheep farm. When they discover a mysterious newborn on their farmland, they decide to keep it and raise it as their own, but while their new family brings them much joy, it ultimately destroys them as they face the consequences of defying the will of nature.

Pleasure
Directed by Ninja Thyberg
Written by Ninja Thyberg & Peter Modestij
Set in the American porn industry, Pleasure follows Bella (Sofia Kappel), a young and ambitious 20-year-old who travels from Sweden to Los Angeles to become the next big porn star. Her journey is a story of ambition, sacrifice and feminism, set in one of the world’s most patriarchal structures and features a largely authentic cast from the porn world.