A jury consisting of Honorary Chairman Helen Mirren has just awarded Pernilla August´s directorial debut BEYOND the most prestigious prize in the North; the Nordic Council Film Prize.
The award goes to director Pernilla August, screenwriter Lolita Ray and producer's Helen Danielsson and Ralf Karlsson from Hepp Film with the following acknowledgement from the jury: "BEYOND is a tough, complex drama, raw and sensitive at the same time, dark and yet still full of light of life. Pernilla August and her team have an amazing eye for details and nuances and a talent for making the difficult look easy. The acting is unique and unforgettable. BEYOND is something as unusual as a very personal and original interpretation of a literary bestseller."
Criteria´s for being nominated are that the film must be embedded to a significant degree in Nordic culture, must be of high artistic quality, stand out in terms of artistic originality, and combine and refine the many elements of film in a convincing and integrated manner.
Previous winners of the Nordic Council Film Prize are Thomas Vinterberg (SUBMARINO, 2010), Lars von Trier (ANTICHRIST, 2009) and ROY ANDERSSON (YOU, THE LIVING, 2008).
This year's other four Nordic Council Film Prize nominees were Denmark's TRUTH ABOUT MEN (Nikolaj Arcel), Finland's THE GOOD SON (Zaida Bergroth), Iceland´s UNDERCURRENT (Ãrni Ólafur Ãsgeirsson) and Norway's OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (Joachim Trier).
BEYOND is also selected as Sweden´s entry for the Academy Award´s Best Foreign Language Film 2012.