The Danish film The Saint Bernard Syndicate won Best Actor and Best Screenplay -International Narrative Feature Film at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival (April 18-29).

Brügger’s first fiction film produced by Meta Film, is an odd-couple comedy about two European entrepreneurs – played by Danish comedians Frederik Cilius and Rasmus Bruun - who set out on a business adventure to build a breeding centre for St. Bernard dogs in China.

Hollywood actor and festival juror Ray Liotta, handed out the Best Actor award to Rasmus Bruun on behalf of the jury who praised him for his ‘subtle comedic performance that manages to make a lasting impression on its audience and for his humorous, touching work that transcends both language and culture’.

Meanwhile Lærke Sanderhoff received the $2,500 Best Screenplay Award from the hands of Saudi-Arabia’s filmmaker and other juror Haifaa Al-Mansour who said: “While there were many wonderful scripts in this year’s Festival, we have chosen to acknowledge as Best Screenplay a comedy that manages to be truly funny and inventive in its exploration of a culture clash. This script was refreshingly original and gave its actors the opportunity to really shine.”

The Saint Bernard Syndicate opens in Danish cinemas on May 10 via UIP; world sales are handled by LevelK who will screen the film at next week’s Cannes market.

The 17th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff had 99 feature length films, 55 short films, and 35 immersive storytelling projects from 46 countries. Top awards went to Diane by Kent Jones voted Best US Narrative, Screenplay and Cinematography and to Smuggling Hendrix by Marios Piperides (Cyprus, Germany, Greece), Best International Narrative Feature.