On Monday night Anneke von der Lippe (pictured) made history as the first ever Norwegian – and Nordic - Actress to win an International Emmy Award in New York. The actress received the prestigious statuette for her role as crime investigator Helen Sikkeland in the series Eyewitness (Øyevitne) written and directed by Jarl Emsell Larsen for NRK Drama.
Von der Lippe was running for the second time after her 2005 International Emmy nomination for Ved Kongens bord. The 51-year-old actress who grew up in Oslo is a prominent stage actress and has performed in several films including Anne Sewitsky’s Homesick.
Commenting on von der Lippe’s remarkable win, Ivar Køhn, NRK Head of Drama told nordiskfilmogtvfond.com: “We are very happy and very proud. It’s truly well deserved. Anneke is among our most experienced and beloved actresses, and the writer / director Jarl Emsell Larsen is the grand old man in Norwegian TV-drama, with 13 different series and more than 30 year in the business.”
“The International Emmy is also a prize to all the Nordic countries. Eyewitness produced within the Nordvision cooperation by NRK, SVT, DR, Yle Fem and Nordvision Fund. I think the prize is yet another recognition of the Nordic quality. All of us have every reason to be proud.”
The psychological thriller and relationship drama about a pair of illicitly gay teenagers who witness a crime premiered on NRK1 last autumn and averaged 724,000 viewers per episode. The series opened on ARTE France on September 24 and gathered 922,000 viewers for its first episode. DRG handles world sales.
The International Emmy Awards were given out for the 43rd time by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. French cops-and-lawyers series Spirals (Engrenages) won Best Drama Series for its 5th season.