Festival award winner Benjamin Ree at the Nordic Co-Production Market 2025
The 53rd Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund is coming to a close. Christy and Madly won the film prizes, whilst Wannabe won the Best Pitch Award, The Greatest Illusion won the Storyline Production Award and My Name is Hope won the Next Nordic Generation Award.
Five awards are presented at the festival: The Audience Award, The Ray of Sunshine Award, Best Pitch Award, Storyline Production Award and The Next Nordic Generation Award.
The Audience Award
The Audience Award is presented by the Norwegian International Film Festival. The jury consisted of Leif Rune Dass Sundli, Amalie Rose Taule, David Andersen, Hege Haukeland Liadal, Sigmund Nes and Gro Håland. Jury leader Leif Rune Dass Sundli presented the Audience Award to Christy. The Audience Award is given in collaboration with Haugesunds Avis.
This is the jury's statement:
The film focuses on children's living and growing conditions. It shows us how fragile our lives can be, not least for our children. The margins can sometimes be narrow, whether or not you are doing well.
Being seen by an adult can be our salvation for many children. That's why good networks are important. This includes the foster homes that are necessary in the work of raising the children to be good citizens. The film shows us how family, friends and neighbourhoods can stand together when things get tough. Because the content concerns us all, the film will also be able to touch us all, ignite the hope in us that it is worthwhile to stand together and create an inclusive community, regardless of social status. The film impresses on how they have got the children involved as artists. The children's rap with the credits is absolutely king!
The winner is: Christy.
Read the jury's full verdict HERE.
The Ray of Sunshine Award
The Ray of Sunshine is meant for the film that excites and spreads the most joy. This prize is given by the festival and a jury appointed by the Norwegian Cinema Managers Association. The jury consists of Christin Berg (Nordisk Film kino – jury leader), Morten Ørmen (Lillehammer kino), Ida Kathrine Balto (Aurora kino) og Stig Magne Pedersen (Odeon Stavanger/Sandnes). The award is presented to Madly and consists of a fine print by Terje Rafdal.
This is the jury’s justification:
The jury has evaluated the 20 films in the main program, a program rich in variety of both genre and form. First, we would like to highlight a film that charmed and moved us all: the Irish Christy, directed by Brendan Canty. This is a raw social realist drama that delicately balances between gravity and joy. The young people in the film are rays of sunshine in themselves – their infectious energy fills us with hope, optimism, and happiness. The film is distributed by Arthaus.
The Ray of Sunshine Award goes to a film that is easy to like – a popular and humane story that audiences can identify with in many different ways. Its original and humorous storytelling approach, combined with a warm and inclusive theme, makes this film a refreshing vitamin boost at the end of summer. The cast is made up of strong, relatable characters, and one might even call it a kind of adult version of Inside Out. The film is currently being released in cinemas, and together with this award, it is perfectly positioned to reach audiences on the big screen.
The winner of The Ray of Sunshine Award 2025 is the Italian film Madly, directed by Paolo Genovese and distributed by Fidalgo.
Best Pitch Award
The award values the best pitch performance as well as the overall best project in the Nordic Co-production Market. The winner will be invited to participate in the Producers Network in Cannes. The winner is selected by a jury consisting of Marge Liiske from Industry@Talents & Baltic Events, Josef Kullengaard from Göteborg Film Festival and Casey Baron from Tribeca Film Festival.
The winner of this year’s Best Project Award is Wannabe, with an honorable mention to Silverwhite.
Here is the jury's statement:
Honorable Mention
The Jury wishes to present an honorable mention to a bold and captivating project, a mosaic that intertwines eras and generations into a powerful portrait of human connections – a work that truly resonated in the room: Silverwhite.
Winner
It became apparent as the Jury individually and collectively fell for this teams’ dynamism on stage. Featuring characters steeped in specificity of time and cultural awareness, but also chock full of tender personality, we were taken by this project. Only so many pieces can conjure feelings of feeling lost yet feeling seen in such a moving way through presentation and concept. The Jury is thrilled to recognize and award the Best Pitch Prize to the poetic and emotionally charged Wannabe.
Storyline Production Award
Storyline Production Award goes to the most promising project with an international appeal in the Nordic Co-Production Market. The winner will be decided upon by jurors Casey Baron from Tribeca FF, Marge Liiske from Industry@Talents & Baltic Events, and Josef Kullengård from Göteborg FF.
The first ever winner of the Storyline Production Award is The Greatest Illusion.
Here is the jury’s statement:
The Jury was deeply moved by the story of a young man who carried the weight of lifelong trauma, and now dares to revisit and reconstruct his past through art. With dedication, the filmmakers have laid the groundwork for an intimate journey of memory, resilience, and forgiveness – one that will resonate universally. We are proud to present the Storyline Award to The Greatest Illusion.
Next Nordic Generation Award
This year's jury consisted of Bahareh Badavi, Marte Hansen and Bjørn Eivind Aarskog. The prize, amounting to NOK 20,000, is provided by CAPA and awarded to the production team behind the best graduation film from the Nordic film schools. The winner of this year's Next Nordic Generation is My Name is Hope. The lightning rod got an honorable mention, as well as Aalto university for the work they have put into fostering so much talent and providing much needed hope for the future of our industry.
Here is the jury’s verdict:
This year's winner has made a film that deals with a central, current and burning issue. But where some take a clear position on a conflict or primarily shed light on an issue to inform the viewer, or some choose to be explicitly political or even take a suggestive stance, this film provides a different perspective and quite literally makes it personal for each and every one.
The film takes place in a small and limited area and with a strict framework provides us with a single and extremely narrow perspective – our own. By not providing us with a face or a voice to the main character, the film manages to force us to stop thinking of the theme as a complicated and big issue happening to others far and away but rather view it as an everyday conversation happening to each of us here and now.
We are shown very little and thereby forced to understand the story through the pieces we manage to weave together by what little we hear and see around us. And in the end, it confirms the little human truth we all agree on, when we can’t agree on anything else – that there is always hope.
This year’s Next Nordic generation prize goes to Sherwan Haji for My name is Hope.
Read the jury's full verdict HERE.
The closing film of the 53rd Norwegian International Film Festival was Eagles of the Republic directed by Tarik Saleh and produced by Johan Lindström, Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Linda Mutawi and Linus Torell.
Eagles of the Republic explores how art and power meet, revealing the seductive appeal of cinema and its ability to subvert ethics under autocracy.
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