Norsk filminstitutt

Norwegian director Iram Haq’s second feature also received a Special Mention, and so did Norwegian director Sofia Haugan’s documentary My Heart Belongs to Daddy. 

Gøteborg pris 2018.jpg
Documentary director Sofia Haugan and What Will People Say-distributor Øistein Refseth


Norwegian director Iram Haq’s What Will People Say (Hva vil folk si) won the Audience Dragon Award at Sweden’s 41st Göteborg International Film Festival, which ended Monday (5 February).

 In Göteborg’s Dragon Awards competition for Best Nordic Feature and the world’s largest film prize -  the top Dragon comes with a SEK 1 million (€0.1 million) cheque - Haq received a Special Mention from the jury for creating  “a nuanced, intense and multifaceted drama of the complex relationship between a daughter and a father.”

The fifth audience prize

Produced by Maria Ekerhovd for Norway’s Mer Film, Haq’s second feature has already received the audience prizes at last year’s Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, American Film Institute’s Fest in Los Angeles, France’s Les Arcs European Film Festival and Würzburg audience award in Germany. It has so far registered 114,000 admissions in Norway.

 Also scripted by Haq, the film follows the 16-year-old the daughter of Pakistani parents living in Norway; at home she is the perfect daughter, but when out with her friends, she is just a normal teenager. When her father discovers her with a boyfriend in her room, she is sent to live with family in Pakistan, where she has never been before.


My Heart Belongs to Daddy

A contender for Göteborg’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary, Norwegian director Sofia Haugan’s My Heart Belongs to Daddy (Røverdatter), was also given a Special Mention for being “a courageous and innovative filmmaker who invites us to an intimate story with a huge emotional risk, capturing a challenging time and a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between an addict father ad a loving daughter.”

Produced by Carsten Aanonsen for Norway’s Indie Film, and scheduled for a local premiere on 16 March, My Heart Belongs to Daddy – which is also written by Haugan – describes her efforts to get to know her criminal father. She finds him on the bottom of a chaotic life and heavy addiction, and she decides she will help – as a result both of them change “on the journey full of humor, warmth and hope.”