Award for best film goes to debut Paradise is Burning as new rules spark controversy at Swedish Guldbagge gala

The Swedish Guldbagge Awards’ top prize was awarded to HOBAB’s film Paradise is Burning (Paradiset brinner), produced by Nema Yousefi and directed by feature film debutant Mika Gustafson. At the gala held in Stockholm late Monday, a record number of awards went to Fedra’s gambling story Shame on Dry Land, directed by Axel Petersén.

Paradise is Burning tells the story of three sisters who are living together and basically taking care of themselves, as their mother disappears for long periods. When social workers insist on visiting their home, the sisters hire a woman to play the role of their mother, aiming to avoid being separated and placed in different foster homes.

Paradise is Burning has received praise from film critics and was selected as the best film of the year by the national newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Official trailer:

Mika Gustafson has previously directed both documentary films and short films, and they have featured strong female leads, but this marks her debut as fiction film director. The film is NFTF-supported and for the first version of the story she got a special mention at the Fund’s Nordic Talents event in 2016.

The last fifteen years, quite a few of the winners in this category have had debutant directors, film critic Mattias Dahlström says. These are for example She Monkeys (Apflickorna), 2011, directed by Lisa Aschan and Run Uje Run (Spring Uje spring), 2020, directed by Henrik Schyffert.

According to Mattias Dahlström, Paradise is Burning is quite a typical debut film.

“It has a lot of energy, drive and charm. You can really feel that Mika Gustafson is dying to, and has been waiting to, tell this story. Mika’s skills as a director and a brilliant young cast just add to the film’s qualities. I also think that the theme of sisterhood is sadly unused in Swedish film, which gives this film a freshness.”

At the same time, the Guldbagge Awards and the Swedish Film Institute introduced a new policy this year, stating that debuting actors can no longer be nominated for a Guldbagge. Instead, only actors who has been in two films or more may be nominated in the categories for acting.

The decision has sparked a lot of criticism from people in the industry, according to Mattias Dahlström.

“The intention was to try to make the category more professional and award educated actors. The board and jury want to make sure that the actors can play more than one type of role. But the decision backfired, and the criticism has been quite hard, from both film critics and debutant actors like Uje Brandelius, who won the Guldbagge for Best Lead Actor in 2020 for Run Uje Run. They just want the best performance to win regardless of who you are, or how much or what kind of work you’ve done before. It’s been a long time since the gala sparked this much controversy.”

A new record was set at the Awards on Monday. The drama film Shame on Dry Land surpassed all other motion pictures by winning Guldbagge Awards in seven categories, including the one for best director.

The film tells the story of a worried, former fraudster (Joel Spira), who travels to the island Malta to ask for forgiveness from his former partner in crime.

Official trailer:

The film that won the most prizes, Shame on Dry Land, wasn’t nominated for Best Film. Why do you think that is?

"The competition was quite hard this year. However, I believe Axel Petersén's film should have been nominated. He is one of the most original directors in Swedish cinema, possessing a unique tempo and form. Perhaps Shame on Dry Land is too niche and dark to receive a nomination, as the Best Film nominees tend to be broader. Or perhaps it's due to Petersén's decision to cast an amateur actor, rock singer Tommy Nilsson, in one of the main roles. But I think it’s a shame.”

How is the Guldbagge Awards balancing the act of premiering more artistic films, which may not have that many viewers, and films that are popular with audiences?

“I think it has always been quite good at finding that balance. Over the years this has also helped smaller films find an audience, as a nomination or win can boost the interest in them. While the gala has, especially in later years, focused on promoting new talents, it has simultaneously been good at praising the quality of more conventional, broader films or established film makers that still perform at a good level. The many nominations for Hammarskjöld are proof of this, while at the same time, the film’s relatively few wins prove that fresh blood is always a little bit more exciting.”

All the winners are listed below:

BEST FILM

Paradise is Burning

Producer Nima Yousefi

BEST DIRECTOR

Axel Petersén

for Shame on Dry Land

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Marall Nasiri

for Maryam in Opponent (Motståndaren)

BEST ACTOR IN LEADING ROLE

Joel Spira

for Dimman in Shame on Dry Land

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Anja Lundqvist

for Lena in Together 99 (Tillsammans 99)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cristopher Wagelin

for Fredrik in Shame On Dry Land

BEST SCREENPLAY

Lukas Moodysson

for Together 99

BEST EDITING

Robert Kranz

for Shame on Dry Land

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Josua Enblom

for Shame on Dry Land

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Andreas Franck

for Shame on Dry Land

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Baba Stiltz

for Shame On Dry Land

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Nora Berecoechea and Stefan Rycken

for The Abyss (Avgrunden)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Karen Fabritius Gram and Pierre Vienings

for Hammarskjöld

BEST SET DESIGN

Catharina Nyqvist Ehrnrooth

for Paradise is Burning

BEST MAKEUP

Tove Jansson, Eva von Bahr and Love Larson

for The Conference (Konferensen)

BEST SHORT FILM

Leila

Directed by Fariba Haidari

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

The Gullspång Miracle (Miraklet i Gullspång)

Directed by Maria Fredriksson

THE GULDBAGGE AUDIENCE AWARD

Beck - Inferno

Produced by Francy Suntinger

GULLSPIRA – for extraordinary contributions in films for children

Inger Nilsson, actress

THE AWARD OF HONOUR

Marie Göranzon, actress