Nordics snap up eight nominations at C21 Int’l Drama Awards

The Nordic region has yet again a very strong representation across the 11 categories, with eight nominations for six series, selected from 227 of the best TV international series over the past 12 months. 

Denmark is represented with DR Drama’s Ride Upon the Storm (Herrens Veje), competing for Best casting of a drama series, Best Non-English language series, while Lars Mikkelsen is nominated for Best male actor in a drama series for his role as Johannes, patriarch and Minister of the Church of Denmark. He competes against Jeff Daniels (Godless), Jason Bateman (Ozark), Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal), Daniel Brühl (The Alienist), and Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World). Mikkelsen has also a chance to win an International Emmy Award on November 19. 

Norway has no less three series, all commissioned by NRK, selected in three different categories.

• Home Ground (Heimebane) produced by Motlys for NRK is running for Best non-English language show. The acclaimed drama created by Johan Fasting has been a runaway hit since its world launch at Berlinale Series last February and scooped three Norwegian Gullruten awards including Best TV Drama. 
• Oslo Zoo is running for Best digital short-form drama against f9our other series including the US remake of SKAM. The Norwegian dramedy created and directed by Øyvind Holtmon premiered on NRK’s own streaming service late June and was followed by more than 250,000 average online viewers.  
• The Viking series Norsemen (Vikingane) produced by Viafilm for NRK is running for Best returning comedy series. The English version on Netflix became a worldwide sensation, while the Norwegian version, season 1 opened with more than 1 million viewers on NRK.  

Ivar Køhn , NRK Head of Drama told nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “we are extremely proud to be selected with Oslo Zoo, Home Ground and Norsemen, along with SKAM’s US remake. This shows our ability to deliver top quality scripted content in a wide range of genres and formats, that score not only with critics and festival programmers but also with the Norwegian audience.”

Sweden has the thriller Modus running for Best returning drama series, against Netflix’s Fauda, Ozark, 13 Reasons Why, Stranger Things, and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.  Modus season 2 was produced by Miso Film Sweden for C More/TV4. 

Iceland is represented with Sagafilm’s ‘neo-noir’ Stella Blómkvist for which Heida Reed gets a chance to win Best Female Performer in a Drama Series. Reed competes against Claire Foy (The Crown), Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Amy Adams (Sharp Objects), Laura Linney (Ozark), and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve). More than half Iceland’s households with Síminn’s SVOD Premium service watched the crime series in its opening week.

Stella Blómkvist and Ride Upon the Storm were both nominated for the 2018 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize-Best Nordic Screenplay, won by Adam Price for Ride Upon the Storm. 

The winners of the International Drama Awards will be announced on November 28 during the Content London event.