Two Nordic co-productions left the Venice Film Festival last weekend with glittering awards. Swedish actress Pernilla August's (photo) directorial debut Beyond (Svinalängorna) received the Audience award from the 25th Critics Week plus excellent reviews and word of mouth, and the Norwegian minority co-production Essential Killing that unspooled in the main competition programme won a Special Jury Prize and a Best Actor/Coppa Volpi Award to US lead Vincent Gallo.

Following Beyond's press conference at Venice's sidebar, August and key cast members including Noomi and Ola Rapace received one of the festival's longest standing ovations and was a clear front runner for the €5,000 Audience Award for Best Debut Film from the Veneto region. The film was described by Francesco di Pace, general delegate of Venice Critics Week as ‘a heartfelt and sincere film, with a very solid narrative and a great cast'. The Swedish/Danish/Finnish co-production supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond also won the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Special Award in Venice.

Nordisk Film will release it in Sweden on December 10, 2010. TrustNordisk handles world sales.

Essential Killing by Polish veteran filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski was mainly shot in Norway. The Polish film co-produced with Ireland, France and Norway (Cylinder Films) was supported by the Norwegian Film Fund. Europa Film will handle the Norwegian distribution. Venice's most prestigious award, the Golden Lion was given out to Sofia Coppola's Somewhere.