At Lübeck’s Nordic Film Days, Sylvia Le Fanu’s My Eternal Summer scoops the NDR Film Prize and the Baltic Film Prize

On 9 November, the awards for the 66th edition of Lübeck’s Nordic Film Days were handed out at the gala Prize Night held at Theatre Lübeck. Mainz-born actress Loretta Stern hosted the ceremony during which eleven prizes worth €65,000 were awarded. The Honorary Prize was awarded on opening night, 6 November, to Finnish thesp Kati Outinen.

On this occasion, four accolades were awarded in the feature film competition, two of which went to Sylvia Le Fanu’s My Eternal Summer (Min evige sommer, Denmark) - the NDR Film Prize (worth €12,500) and the Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic film (worth €5,000).

The NDR Film Prize jury billed the picture as “as bright as a never-ending midsummer”, while the Baltic Film Jury praised it for addressing everything between life, death and love.

Staged by Adomeit Film and sold by TrustNordisk, My Eternal Summer first played at San Sebastian and London. The plot follows 15-year-old Fanny and her parents as they retreat to their summer house and embrace familiar routines: reading, swimming and walking. Beneath the quiet simplicity, an unspoken grief lingers – they know it will be her mother’s last summer. As they try to seize the days they have left together, the family navigates the delicate balance between cherishing the present and facing what’s to come.

Next, the jury of the INTERFILM Church Film Prize bestowed its €5,000 award upon Cannes-bound hit When the Light Breaks (Ljõsbrot), a co-production between Iceland, the Netherlands, Croatia, and France, helmed by Rúnar Rúnarsson. With his latest short, titled O (Iceland/Sweden), the Icelandic filmmaker also snagged the Award for Best Baltic & Nordic Short Film.

Meanwhile, the audience jury awarded the Lübecker Nachrichten prize (also worth €5,000) to the drama Quiet Life (France/Germany/Sweden/Greece/Estonia/Finland) by Greece’s Alexandros Avranas, which celebrated its world-premiere in the Orizzonti strand of this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Zooming in on the documentary competition, the gong fell to Pamela Hogan’s empowering The Day Iceland Stood Still(USA/Iceland), recently screened at Ji.hlava in the Czech Republic and premiered at Toronto’s Hot Docs. The feature tells the story and the aftermath of the legendary 1975 Icelandic women’s strike. The €5,000 cash prize was endowed by the ver.di Lübeck/Süd-Ostholstein district.

Furthermore, two prizes worth €5,000 each were awarded in the Young Audience strand. The Children’s and Youth Film prize (endowed by the Geimeinnützige Sparkassenstiftung) and the Prize of the Children’s Jury (donated by the Hanseatic City of Lübeck) went to Eirik Sæter Stordahl’s coming-of-age flick Lars is LOL (Lars er LOL, Norway).

Produced by Nordisk Film Production and sold by TrustNordisk, it revolves around a girl called Amanda, who is reluctantly tasked with taking special care of her new classmate, Lars, who has Down syndrome. To her surprise, Amanda and Lars develop a unique friendship. But in her struggle to fit in, Amanda ends up betraying Lars, causing her to lose both him and her other friends. In her quest for forgiveness, Amanda must find the courage to stand out and be true to herself.

Finally, the Friends’ Prize for Best Feature Film Debut, (worth €7,500) went to Caroline Ingvarsson for Unmoored (Sweden/UK/Poland) whilst the Prize of the Youth Jury (worth €5,000) went to Camilla Magid’s Fighting Demons with Dragons (Med drager mod dæmoner, Denmark/Sweden).

The 2024 edition of Lübeck’s Nordic Film Days unspooled from 6 to 10 November. 169 films were shown in 212 public screenings.

Here is the full list of this year’s award winners:

NDR Film Prize
My Eternal Summer (Min evige sommer) - Sylvia Le Fanu (Denmark)

INTERFILM Church Film Award
When the Light Breaks (Ljósbrot) - Rúnar Rúnarsson (Iceland/Netherlands/Croatia/France)

Baltic Film Award for a Nordic Feature Film
My Eternal Summer (Min evige sommer) - Sylvia Le Fanu (Denmark)

Audience Award of the Lübecker Nachrichten
Quiet Life - Alexandros Avranas (France/Germany/Sweden/Greece/Estonia/Finland)

Documentary Film Award
The Day Iceland Stood Still - Pamela Hogan (Iceland/USA)

CineStar Award
Yesterday, Thinking About Tomorrow (Gestern, ich denke an morgen) - Tom Otte (Germany)

Honorable mention
I Was Really Me Even Then, but Only in My Head (Ich war auch damals wirklich ich, aber nur in meinem Kopf) - Julia Küllmer (Germany)

Children's and Youth Film Prize of the Gemeinnützige Sparkassenstiftung
Lars is LOL - Eirik Sæter Stordahl (Norway)

Prize of the Children's Jury
Lars is LOL - Eirik Sæter Stordahl (Norway)

Honorable mention
Victoria Must Go (Victoria må dø) - Gunnbjørg Gunnarsdottir (Norway)

Award for the Best Nordic & Baltic Short Film
O - Rúnar Rúnarsson (Iceland/Sweden)

Prize of the Circle of Friends for the Best Feature Film Debut
Unmoored - Caroline Ingvarsson (Sweden/Great Britain/Poland)

Prize of the Youth Jury
Fighting Demons with Dragons (Med drager mod dæmoner) - Camilla Magid (Denmark/Sweden)