The film by Dag Johan Haugerud did almost a clean sweep on Friday at the Norwegian film awards in Haugesund by collecting nine wins out of ten nominations, including Best Film. 

 Beware of Children (Barn) produced by Mostlys’ Yngve Sæther also won Best Director, Best Script, Best Actor among others.

The drama beat the last Amanda record holder The King’s Choice which collected eight wins in 2017. 

The film’s triumph in Haugesund crowned a successful festival run which kick-started at last year’s Venice Days, and continued with a FIPRESCI Award-Human Values Award at Thessaloniki and a Dragon Award-Best Nordic Film in Göteborg among others.  

The second Amanda favourite with eight nominations - Maria Sødah’s drama Hope -gave Andrea Bræin Hovig her first Amanda statuette for Best Actress. The latter thanked the director on stage for the demanding role of a woman, struggling with brain cancer, based on Sødahl’s own experience. The film also won best production design. 

The period film The Spy by Jens Jonsson also won two awards for best costume and best make-up. 

The Best Documentary award went to The Self Portrait, directed by Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin and Espen Wallin for Olin’s Esperanza Film. The raw portrait of art photographer Lene Marie Fossen and her life with anorexia has received rave reviews in the press and won numerous festival awards such as Best Documentary at Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival and the Audience Award the Krakow Film Festival.

According to NRK, one of the most poignant moments of the awards ceremony was when Olin thanked Lene Marie Fossen’s parents for “daring to open up” to the enormous pain they went through since their daughter first stopped eating aged 10. Lene Marie Fossen passed away aged 33 last October. 

The award for Best Children’s Film went to Johanne Helgeland’s The Crossing, which is enjoying a successful theatrical run, while Pål Øie’s thriller The Tunnel won Best Supporting Actress (Ingvild Holthe Bydgnes). 

The People’s Amanda was handed out to Rasmus A. Sivertsen’s animated film Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond co-directed by Marit Moum Aune, watched by more than 256,000 Norwegians in local cinemas.

This year’s Honorary Award handed out by Norway’s Culture Minister Abid Raja, went to producer, director and influential cultural figure Bente Erichsen. 

The Amanda Awards ceremony Friday August 14 was broadcast live on NRK.

Nordisk Film & TV Fond is associated to 14 Amanda awards for the films Beware of Children, Hope, The Spy and Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond. 

Full list of Amanda Awards 2020: 

  • Best Film: Beware of Children by Dag Johan Haugerud (Motlys)
  • Best Director: Dag Johan Haugerud (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Screenplay: Dag Johan Haugerud (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Actress: Andrea Bræin Hovig (Hope) 
  • Best Actor: Jan Gunnar Røise (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Supporting Actress: Ingvild Holthe Bydgnes (The Tunnel) 
  • Best Supporting Actor: Thorbjørn Harr (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Documentary: The Self Portrait directed by Katja Høgset, Margreth Olin, Espen Wallin 
  • Best Children’s Film: The Crossing by Johanne Helgeland (Maipo Film) 
  • Best Short Film: The Manila Lover by Johanna Pyykkö (Barbosa Film)  
  • Best Cinematography: Øystein Mamen (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Editing: Jens Christian Fodstad (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Sound Design: Gisle Tveito (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Original Score: Peder Kjellsby, Arnaud Fleurent-Didier (Beware of Children) 
  • Best Costume: Ulrika Sjölin (The Spy)
  • Best Make-up: Siw Järbyn (The Spy) 
  • Best Production Design: Jørgen Stangebye Larsen (Hope) 
  • Best Visual Effects: Stephen Coren/Bert Deruyck (The Ash Lad-In Soria Moria Castle
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Joker by Todd Phillips, distributed by SF Norway
  • People’s Amanda: Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond