November 4th – 8th saw the 62nd festival of Nordic Film Days Lübeck, northern Germany. The festival recognises feature film, short film, documentaries and more from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and other northern territories.
The festival, normally held as an in-person event, has like many other events this year, took place as a virtual online experience. We had planned to attend, but the lockdown scuppered our plans, but we were keen to see what films have been featured and see if we could get hold of one or two to watch.
The festival has been going since 1956, and this year saw an incredible line-up of 146 films available for streaming in Germany. Among them was the Swedish film Charter which we were lucky enough to get to preview (read our review of Charter here), as well as Another Round/Druk, which we also loved and is another International Oscar contender.
There were ten awards available. Here we give a round up of which films won and were given honourable mentions, and you can see here the full list of films featured in the festival.
The winners and honourable mentions at the 62nd Nordische Filmtage Lübeck:
NDR Film Prize:
THE PIT, Latvia / Finland
Honourable Mention goes to:
HOPE, Norway / Sweden
DIANA’S WEDDING, Norway / Sweden
Friends of the NFL Prize for Best First Feature:
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, Finland
Lübecker Nachrichten Audience Prize:
FOREST GIANT, Finland
Interfilm Church Film Prize
A PERFECTLY NORMAL FAMILY, Denmark
Honourable Mention goes to:
TIGERS, Sweden / Denmark / Italy
Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic Film
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, Finland
Documentary Film Prize of the North DGB District
THE FIGHT FOR GREENLAND, Denmark / Greenland / Norway
Honourable Mention goes to:
BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING LEFT BEHIND, Denmark
CineStar Prize
AFTER TWO HOURS, TEN MINUTES HAD PASSED, Germany
Honourable Mention goes to:
FIRST IN FIRST OUT, Germany
Children’s and Youth Film Prize
SISTERS, Norway
Honourable Mention goes to:
EDEN, Finland
Youth Jury Prize
TIGER, Sweden / Denmark / Italy
Children’s Jury Prize
THE CROSSING, Norway
Honourable Mention goes to:
SISTERS, Norway
Nordische Filmtage Lübeck – we hope to see you next year!
Interview by Alex Minnis
Written in Association with Nordische Filmtage Lübeck / Nordic Film Days Lübeck
