Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel's feature debut, Armand, winner of Caméra d'or

The Caméra d'or is one of the prestigious awards at the Cannes Festival, given annually to a debut film in one of the festival's programs. Tøndel's feature debut Armand premiered on Saturday, May 18, in Un Certain Regard.

– This is historic and fantastic, as it is the first time a Norwegian filmmaker has received this award. It undoubtedly means a great deal for Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, but also for Norwegian film both nationally and internationally, said a very pleased Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute.

Emerging Filmmaker

This award showcases the talent of a young emerging filmmaker to the international film community. Previous recipients of the award include renowned filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, Jafar Panahi, Ildikó Enyedi, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Chen.

Second Award to Armand

This is the second award given to Tøndel and the creators of Armand, as the film received the sound award Prix de la meilleure création sonere in Cannes on Friday for the sound work by Mats Lid Støten and composer Ella van der Woude.

About the Director and Screenwriter

Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is a trained film director from Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology. He debuted with the short film Bird Hearts (2015), which won the Golden Chair in Grimstad and was nominated for the national film award Amanda among other honors. In 2017, he made the short film Fanny, which was also nominated for an Amanda. Tøndel was in 2015 one of ten European filmmakers in the Future Frame program at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, organized by European Film Promotion in cooperation with Variety. 

About Armand

Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve) is called to a parent-teacher meeting at short notice. Her son is accused of something, but what this "something" is remains unclear. Soon, the principal, the school nurse, and another set of parents are also part of a meeting that quickly spirals out of the school's control. 

Armand is written and directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, starring Renate Reinsve, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Øystein Røger, Endre Hellestveit, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Vera Veljovic. The film is produced by Andrea Berentsen Ottmar for Eye Eye Pictures . The Norwegian distributor is Norsk Filmdistribusjon, and Charades is the international sales agent.

Support from the Norwegian Film Institute's Talent Program

Armand has been made with the support of Neo, the talent program initiated by the Norwegian Film Institute in 2021, and is the first feature film to premiere after completing the entire Neo process, from development to production. Armand has received NOK 8,111,625 in development and production grants from the Norwegian Film Institute.

In addition, the film has received support from Talent Norway, Zefyr, SFI, NL Film Fund, and Film I Väst. The film is co-produced with Prolaps Produktion (Sweden), Keplerfilm (Netherlands), and One Two Films (Germany).

Producer returning to Cannes

Producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar is also getting familiar with Cannes as one of the producers of Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World, from the main competition at Cannes in 2021 and later received two Oscar nominations and two BAFTA nominations. She was also the producer of Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself, which was shown in the Un Certain Regard program at Cannes in 2022. Ottmar runs the production company Eye Eye Pictures with Dyveke Bjørkly Graver, who is the executive producer on Armand, along with director and screenwriter Joachim Trier.