Ali Abbasi’s folk fantasy drama is the frontrunner at this year’s Swedish film awards with nine nominations, followed by Becoming Astrid and Goliath with six nominations each.

Abbasi’s film Border (Gräns) is vying in the top categories such as Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Abbasi, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Isabelle Eklöf), Best Actress (Eva Melander) and Best Supporting Actor (Finland’s Eero Milonoff).

Oscar-shortlisted make-up artists Göran Lundström and Erica Spetzig who produced the compelling physical transformation of Melander and Milonoff into mythical trolls have also a chance to grab a statuette.

The film produced by Spark Film & TV and Kärnfilm with Meta Film Stockholm just picked up Best European Visual Effects Supervisor (Peter Hjorth) at the European Film Awards.

Pernille Fischer Christensen’s film Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) in which Alba August plays a young Astrid Lindgren, is also vying for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Henrik Rafaelsen), as well as Best Supporting Actress (Maria Bonnevie), Best Costume (Cilla Rörby) and Set Design (Linda Janson). The film which premiered in Berlin last February was produced by Nordisk Film Production and Avanti Film.

Goliath (Goliat) directed by Peter Grönlund for B-Reel Films has a chance to win Best Film, Best Screenplay (Grönlund), Best Actor (Fredrik Dahl), Best Supporting Actor (Sebastian Ljungblad), Best Editing (Dino Jonsäter) and Original Score (Johan Testad).

Gabriela Pichler who picked up two Guldbagges in 2013 for her debut film Eat Sleep Die, gets another chance to win for her second film Amateurs, in the same categories Best Director, Best Screenplay, on top of Best Actor (Fredrik Dahl) and Best Actress (Zahraa Aldoujaili).

An interesting choice for the Best Film category is the low budget disaster film from Crazy Pictures film collective The Unthinkable (Den blomstertid nu kommer), also nominated for Best Sound Design and Sound and Special Effects (Crazy Pictures). The film has been a surprise hit for SF Studios international, selling to key territories including France & Italy (Wild Bunch) and German-speaking territories (Ascot Elite).

The strong year for Swedish documentaries is reflected in the presence of Hogir Hirori’s IDFA Special Jury Award winner 2017 The Deminer, vying for Best Documentary and Best Film, as well as Carl Javér’s Reconstructing Utøya (Rekonstruktion Utøya) nominated for Best Documentary and Best Director. The Raft (Flotten) is the third Documentary Guldbagge entry.

Other Guldbagge entries include Lisa Langseth’s Euphoria vying for Best Costume (Denise Östhholm) and Make-up (Morna Ferguson, Orla Carroll), and Halvdan-Almost a Viking vying for Best original Score (Gaute Storaas).

Nordisk Film & TV Fond is associated to 24 Guldbagge nominations for Border, Becoming Astrid, The Deminer, Reconstructing Utøya, Euphoria, Halvdan-Almost a Viking and The Raft.

The Guldbagge Awards ceremony to be hosted by comedian/actress Emma Molin (Grotesco) will be held on January 28 at Stockholm’s Cirkus.

For the full list of Guldbagge nominations check: www.guldbaggen.se