Oddsson’s Icelandic dramedy was named Film of the Year and scooped eight more statuettes, whilst the co-production Smoke Sauna Sisterhood was elected Documentary of the Year.
On Saturday 13 April, Reykjavík hosted the 2024 gala ceremony for the Edda Awards. The Eddas, established in 1999 and organised by the Icelandic Film and Television Academy, honour the biggest national film and TV successes of the season, and are the most prominent awards in the Icelandic audiovisual industry. The event was live-broadcast by RÚV, Iceland’s public broadcaster.
This year’s edition saw the triumph of Hilmar Oddsson’s Driving Mum (Á Ferð með Mömmu), which snagged the Grand Prix for Best Film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival last November. The Film was nominated to Nordic Council Film Prize 2023 and is supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Oddsson’s dramedy was crowned Film of the Year and scooped eight more statuettes – including the prizes for Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Score and Best Cinematography.
A co-production between Iceland’s Ursus Pavus and Estonia’s Alexandra Film, the picture is set in 1980. It zooms in on Jón (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson, recipient of the award for Best Leading Actor) who, after the sudden passing of his mother (Kristbjörg Kjeld, Best Leading Actress), takes her corpse and the family dog, Bresnef, on one last trip to Eyrarbakki to fulfil her last wish.
Meanwhile, Anna Hints’ Estonian-French-Icelandic co-production Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna sõsarad) was named Documentary of the Year. In this film, Hints follows a group of women who gather in a smoke sauna where they clean the dirt from their ashamed and aching bodies. The acclaimed non-fiction feature won the prize for Best Directing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
Among other prominent winners were Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or recipient Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute)which won the Foreign Film of the Year, while Óskar Thór Axelsson’s Operation Napoleon (Napóleonsskjölin) won Best Special Effects and Best Hair, and Björn Viktorsson Best Sound for Northern Comfort. Also these Icelandic winners are supported by the Fund.
Finally, the Icelandic Film and Television Academy handed out an honorary award to DoP Sigurður Sverrir Pálsson to celebrate his decades-long contributions to national cinema.
Full list of this year’s award winners:
FILM OF THE YEAR
Driving Mum – Hilmar Oddsson
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood – Anna Hints
FOREIGN FILM OF THE YEAR
Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet
DIRECTING
Hilmar Oddsson – Driving Mum
SCREENPLAY
Hilmar Oddsson – Driving Mum
LEADING ACTOR
Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson – Driving Mum
LEADING ACTRESS
Kristbjörg Kjeld – Driving Mum
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson – Wild Game (Villibráð)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir – Wild Game
SHORT OF THE YEAR
Felt Cute - Anna Karín Lárusdóttir
DOCUMENTARY SHORT OF THE YEAR
Uppskrift: lífið eftir dauðann - Bergþóra Ólöf Björnsdóttir
CHILDREN AND YOUTH FILM OF THE YEAR
Felt Cute - Anna Karín Lárusdóttir
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Óttar Guðnason – Driving Mum
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Davíð Jón Ögmundsson, Dragos Vilcu, Árni Gestur Sigfússon and Rob Tasker – Operation Napoleon
COSTUME DESIGN
Helga Rós V. Hannam – Driving Mum
MAKE-UP
Kristín Júlla Kristjánsdóttir – Driving Mum
HAIR
Gunnar B. Guðbjörnsson and Kristján Loðmfjörð – Operation Napoleon
ORIGINAL SCORE
Tönu Kõrvits – Driving Mum
SOUND
Björn Viktorsson – Northern Comfort
DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR
Anna Karín Lárusdóttir - Felt Cute
MEDAL OF HONOUR
Sigurður Sverrir Pálsson