A Norwegian film is the funniest in Europe
Ninjababy has been declared the best comedy in Europe during the European Film Awards.
The European Film Awards are considered Europe's answer to the Oscars, and in the European Comedy 2021 category, Ninjababy received the award after being nominated along with the French film The Morning After and the Spanish film The People Upstairs.
-Humour can create hope
In her acceptance speech that was streamed to the award ceremony, director Yngvild Sve Flikke pointed out how pleasantly surprised she was at how well the film hit across cultures and national borders.
-I wanted to make a fun and liberating film about parenthood and gender and expectations, and I think humour is a way to create hope and contribute to tolerance, said Flikke. She thanked producer Yngve Sæther for good cooperation over many years and the Norwegian Film Institute for encouraging her and the production to do something new that they had not tried before.
Music, sound, audience and producer awards for Norwegian filmmakers
It has previously been announced that Nils Petter Molvær together with German Peter Brötzmann has received the award for "Best European Original Score 2021" for his work with Great Freedom, while the award for best European sound went to Gisle Tveito and Gustaf Berger for their work with The Innocents (De uskyldige).
Earlier this year, EFA Young Audience Award went to The Crossing (Flukten over grensen), directed by Johanne Helgeland.
And not least, film producer Maria Ekerhovd in Mer Film AS has received the Eurimages Co-Production Award 2021. This is the first time the fourteen-year-old award has been given to a Norwegian film producer. The award recognizes a European producer who has excelled internationally and who is active in co-productions.
See the acceptance speech of Maria Ekerhovd here (via Facebook)
Several Norwegian co-productions among the prize winners
The Bosnian film Quo Vadis, Aida? with Tordenfilm as Norwegian co-producer, was nominated for best screenplay, best actor, best director and not least best film and ended up with the awards for best film, best director and best actor.
The Danish film Flukt, the one with Mer Film as Norwegian co-producer, was nominated in the categories for best documentary and animation and won both of these awards.