In an unprecedented clean sweep, Benedikt Erlingsson’s film picked up four major awards for a combined value of €25,000 at the 60th Nordic Film Days in Lübeck.

Just four days after it received the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize in Oslo, the Icelandic film won the €12,500 NDR Film Prize, the €5,000 Audience Prize, the €5,000 Interfilm Church Film Prize and €2,500 Baltic Film Prize for Best Nordic Narrative at the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, making it the first time in the festival’s history that a single film garnered four prizes. Actor Juan Camillo Roman Estrada was on hand to accept the award on behalf of Erlingsson, currently in Los Angeles to promote Iceland’s Oscar candidate.

The jury of the NDR prize said:

"This is a film that provides hope in an age when positive narratives are few and far between. With cinematic tongue in cheek, it is entertaining and exciting, imaginative, featuring a brilliant protagonist and Iceland’s spectacular natural landscape, and the audience is swept into an emotional and funny confrontation with global problems."

A Woman at War will be released in Germany on December 13 by Pandora Film.

Other awards handed out at the Nordic Film Days include:

  • €7,500 Best First Feature to the festival’s opening film The Little Comrade by Moonika Siimets, Estonia 
  • €2,500 Documentary Film Prize to The Illustrators by Antti Haase, Finland 
  • €5,000 Children and Youth Prize to Summer Children by Gudrun Ragnarsdóttir, Iceland 
  • €5,000 Children’s Jury Prize to Alone in Space by Ted Kjelsson, Sweden, along with an Honorary Mention to The Ash Lad, in the Hall of the Mountain King by Mikkel Brænne Sandermose, Norway 
  • Cinestar Prize, Best Short Film in the Film Forum to Tracing Addai by Esther Niemeier, Germany.