Apolonia, Apolonia scoops best Nordic documentary at Nordisk Panorama

The Danish documentary Apolonia, Apolonia was handed out the €11,000 cash prize from a jury comprising Arte France’s Alexandre Marionneau, MUBI’s Marie Kloos, 2022 winning director Magnus Gertten and BBC Storyville’s Lucie Kon.

Commenting on the film that was selected out of 15 competitors vying best Nordic documentary, they said they “wanted to celebrate an exceptional movie that leans on one of the most precious documentary filmmaking resources: the use of time.”

“It is an adorable movie, about life-long friendship, about the sacrifices you have to make to express yourself in arts, and about dreams and plans that you stick to, wherever life takes you. The competition was full of surprises and really good filmmaking and movies, we ultimately singled out the one that will stay with us the longest, and this is the one that features a huge butt plug: Apolonia, Apolonia by Lea Glob.”

Glob’s Nordisk Panorama award comes almost a full year after her first solo work was crowned best feature-length doc at IDFA. It went on picking up another eight accolades including best Nordic doc in Göteborg. The film produced by Danish Documentary was backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. It will next screen at the BFI London Film Festival.

Read our interview with Lea Glob - CLICK HERE.

The Honourable Mention went to Swedish director Mia Engberg’s third feature in her Belleville trilogy Hypermoon, a film which the jurors said “had a huge personal impact”. The poetic and personal film was produced by Story AB.

The best Nordic short prize worth €5,000 was handed out to the Danish film Norwegian Offspring by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, which scooped similar top prizes from the Cannes Film Festival’s La Cinef and Haugesund’ s Next Generation competition.

Marlene Emilie Lyngstad and producer Carl Olsbæk Adelkilde also won Nordic Talents’ Best Pitch last month for their project Cute - (see our story: CLICK HERE)

Two rising Finnish voices were singled out by the jury of the New Nordic Voice competition: Markus Toivo for his feature length Under Construction about a father and son trying to build a relationship, and Arman Zafari for his 19-minute Prelude.

The €1,500 Young Nordic Award went to Norwegian filmmaking talent Ingvild Søderlind for her 15-minute Brouillarta, while the €2,500 City of Malmö’s Audience Award was given to Iceland’s The Home Game by debut filmmakers Smari Gunnarsson and Logi Sigursveinsson.

Finally seasoned Swedish producer Stina Gardell of Mantaray Film received the inaugural €10,000 Nordic Documentary Producer Award.

The Producers’ associations in Denmark, Norway, (Virke) Finland (APFI), Sweden (Filmproducenternas Rättighetsförening), and the Icelandic Filmmakers Association said “with a unique determination, tenacity and assurance, Stina Gardell has developed world class Swedish documentaries for years. With consistent artistic vision and penchant for tuning into what the audiences are interested in, she has created a strong signature brand. Stina has contributed immensely to the Swedish documentary field with films like I am Ingrid, The World’s Most Beautiful Boy and The Nun.”