One morning just before Christmas, Leena (34) receives a phone call from a hospital in her childhood town where she grew up. She learns that her mother is dying. This news takes the young woman on a journey to face her mother for the first time in her adult life. Leena has fought hard to let go of her grief over her lost and dark childhood.  She is now forced to deal with her past to be able to move on.

Nordic jury motivation: SVINALÄNGORNA (BEYOND) is a hard-hitting and complex drama, raw and delicate at the same time; dark, yet filled with the light of life.
Pernilla August, and her team, show a remarkable eye for details and nuances and a talent for making the difficult look easy.The acting is extraordinary and – not to forget – BEYOND is something seldom seen: a very personal and original adaptation of a bestselling novel.

The Nordic Jury: Helen Mirren, Per Juul Carlsen (Denmark), Outi Heiskanen (Finland), Sif Gunnarsdottir (Iceland), Silje Riise Næss (Norway), Fredrik Sahlin (Sweden) and Hanne Palmquist (Nordic Film & TV Fund)

National jury motivation: Film history has proven that it is difficult, in principle impossible, to do a complex novel justice on the screen – but debut director Pernilla August and her crew have done more than that. They have succeeded in creating a devastatingly strong narrative that is at one and the same time distinctive and loyal to the original. Watching Beyond is no picnic, but its realistic weight and complexity mean that it feels unambiguously true – and no better testimonial can be given to a social drama.
The filmmakers are helped on their way by a top class ensemble fronted by Noomi Rapace – strong but vulnerable in a humane way.

National jury: Fredrik Sahlin, Pia Lundgren & Bertil Sandgren