Berlinale: The Norwegian composer was awarded for his score of Hallvar Witzø’s comedy drama Everybody Hates Johan.

The awards ceremony was held Saturday at Nordische Botschaften in Berlin.

The jury of the 2023 Harpa Nordic Film Composers Award consisting of last year’s winner of Sanna Salmenkallio, composers Cho Sung-woo and Christine Aufderhaar, festival director Michael P. Aust, music project coordinator Sophie Joos and music supervisor Lucy Bright said in its statement: “Comedy is such a difficult thing to score. But Jørund Fluge Samuelsen balances it very cleverly.

His score for Everybody Hates Johan is such a strong voice. It adds so much energy to the film, it is humorous and perfectly blended in with the structure of the scenes and the film, and has a universal quality value. The tragicomic film and its music spans 70 years and implements different genres, styles, and countries.”

This is the second major accolade for Samuelsen’s original score of Everybody Hates Johan with the Norwegian Amanda Award that he received last August.

Last time a Norwegian composer was handed out the prestigious award was in 2020 with Gaute Storaas’ work on the Swedish comedy A Wedding, Funeral and a Wedding directed by Colin Nutley.

The Harpa Nordic Film Composers ceremony took place for the first time in-person in Berlin, after two years of online presentations due to Covid.

The Nordic film composers’ celebration is one of the highlights of the two-day Nordic Film Music Days, supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.