Göteborg Dragon Award goes to R

Noer and Lindholm swept up Göteborg's top prize and the international critics award for their drama R, portraying the harsh realities of life in prison. 

The feature film debut "R", by directors Michael Noer and Tobias Lindholm, received this weekend the distinguished Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at Göteborg International Film Festival (29 Jan-8 Feb 2010). The award is accompanied by a cash prize of SEK 100,000. The film is produced by René Ezra for Nordisk Film.

The jury, of which Danish producer Vibeke Windeløv was the Danish member, gave the following motivation: "The film introduces us into a world that is an integral part of society, yet remains outside. Its tough unsentimentality comes close to our pain threshold and emphasizes the rigidity of the prison system".

At Göteborg "R" was also honoured with the FIPRESCI Award from the International Federations of Film Critics. Furthermore, at Rotterdam, "R" was one of the contenders for the VPRO Tiger Awards competition.  

"R", a hard-hitting drama portraying the harsh realities of prison life, is about R who has been sentenced to prison for violence. He's insistent on staying out of harm's way and in doing so he is faced with the challenge of navigating through prison culture with its notions of honour, hidden agendas and contracts.

Read the article Doing time ain't cool by Kim Skotte in FILM#68.

Kodak award to Danish D.o.P. Rasmus Videbæk

The Kodak Nordic Vision Award presented at Göteborg went to Director of Photography Rasmus Videbæk for his contribution in Icelandic film "The Good Heart". Accompanying the honour is a cash prize of SEK 50 000.