Name: Nordisk Film & TV Fond
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Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason, writers of Blackport (Verbúðin), are the recipients of the 2022 Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award.

For the sixth consecutive year, the award for outstanding writing of a Nordic Drama series, was handed out at the 2022 hybrid edition of Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision. The NOK 200 000 award, funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond goes to the main writers of the series.

Blackport is set in the 1980‘s in a small Icelandic fishing village, the story follows a married couple, Harpa and Grimur, as they build a small fishing empire along with their childhood friends. Due to the introduction of a new fishing quota system in the country, where the fishing grounds are privatized, the struggle for power results in a feud of jealousy, greed and betrayal. A collective venture, that mirrors true events as they played out and dramatically changed the political landscape in Iceland, creating the country’s first billionaires.

Gísli Örn Gardarsson is one of the founders of Vesturport. He has acted in, directed, written and produced theatre productions all over the world, winning numerous awards including the European Theatre Award with Vesturport, a shooting star award at the Berlinale as an actor and best direction awards in Boston and Toronto. Recently, Gísli had one of the leading roles in season one and two in Netflix’s Ragnarok.

Björn Hlynur Haraldsson is a director, writer, actor, producer and co-founder of Vesturport. He started out as an actor after graduating from The Drama Academy of Iceland in 2001. His debut feature film as writer/director Blóðberg (Homecoming), opened in 2015 and is currently being re-made in the UK. Björn Hlynur's most recent acting role is in Oscar shortlisted feature film Lamb, currently screening at Göteborg Film Festival.

Mikael Torfason has written eight novels, ten plays, a Netflix original and three feature films. He wrote and directed Made in Iceland, a feature film that traveled the world and was nominated to numerous prizes. Recently Torfason wrote Valhalla Murders for Netflix.

The jury stated: "Dramatic, funny and unpredictable, without losing its original voice, the winner is a show that has strong emotional stakes and a lead character ahead of her time. She refuses to play by the rules, just like this series is not afraid to push narrative boundaries, balancing between existentialism and comedy."

This year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize jury consisted of Finnish actor Alma Pöysti, Hungarian writer and creative producer Gábor Krigler, Norwegian screenwriter and director Julie Andem and Swedish journalist and television critic Mattias Bergqvist.