Renate Reinsve Best Actress, Juho Kuosmanen Grand Prix Ex Æquo in Cannes

Cannes 2021 was a banner year for Nordic films and co-productions that took home top awards from all sections - the main competition, the official selection’s sidebar Un Certain Regard, the Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight.

In an exceptional year where 24 films were competing for the Palme d’or, both the Norwegian entry The Worst Person in the World by Joachim Trier and Finland’s Compartment No6 by Juho Kuosmanen fared strongly in the final winning grid.

Renate Reinsve made history as the first Norwegian acting talent to win Best Actress for her outstanding performance in The Worst Person in the World. Reinsve was hailed as the next star from Scandinavia by numerous Cannes reviewers, such as The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw who underlined her ‘tremendously mature, sensitive and sympathetic performance” as Julie, a woman in her early 30s, unsure of her love and career choices.

The film produced by Thomas Robsahm of Oslo Pictures, will be released in Norway by SF Studios, October 15. MK2 Films handles sales.

Next to Norway, Finland also triumphed in Cannes, with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No6, which won the second heaviest prize after the Palme d’or - the Grand Prix, ex-æquo with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero - two distinct films which fared equally in the top 5 films of the Cannes competition on Screendaily’s critics’ grid.

Compartment No6 also won a Special Mention from the Cannes Ecumenical Jury.

Kuosmanen’s sophomore film after The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki was produced by Finland’s Jussi Rantamäki and Emilia Haukka of Aamu Film Company.

“It seems that the eyes of the European film industry are turning to Finland at the moment. We have made an interesting and special film, and now it has been noticed. This will facilitate the path of all Finnish filmmakers to Cannes and other festivals,” said Rantamäki to Yle news. B-Plan will release it domestically this fall. Last time Finland won a Grand Prix in Cannes was in 2002 with Aki Kaurismäki’s A Man Without a Past. Totem Films handles sales.

Meanwhile Iceland made a strong impact on Un Certain Regard with Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut feature Lamb, awarded the "Prize of Originality”, six years after Rams won the Un Certain Regard Prize. The supernatural drama starring Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Gudnason and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson was produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim for Iceland’s Go to Sheep. New Europe Film Sales handles sales.

Eskil Vogt’s eery Norwegian drama The Innocents (backed by the Fund), was another buzz title from Un Certain Regard but did not feature in any awards.

In the Critics Week, the Colombian film Amparo by Simón Mesa Soto co-produced by Sweden’s Memento Film, picked up the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for Sandra Melissa Torres’s exceptional performance as a single mother, struggling to free her teenage son after he is drafted by the army and assigned to a war zone. The Match Factory handles sales.

The Director’s Fortnight’s A Chiara by Italian director Jonas Carpigniano won the Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film. The family drama was co-produced by Denmark’s Snowglobe and Scandinavia’s leading regional film fund Film i Väst. MK2 Films handles sales.

This year’s Palme d’or award was handed out to the provocative French film Titane by visionary Julia Ducournau, (Raw) - only the second woman to win the coveted Cannes award after Jane Campion in 1993 for The Piano (shared with Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine). Wild Bunch handles world sales.

For the full list of Cannes main awards, check: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/