The Finnish nominee for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2019 is Aurora
The five nominees for the annual Nordic Council Film Prize were announced on August 20 at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. The Finnish national jury picked Aurora, the debut feature from writer-director Miia Tervo as the Finnish nominee. The film is produced by Max Malka for Dionysos Films.
Aurora is an unconventional love story set in the northern city of Rovaniemi. In the sometimes melancholy comedy Aurora (Mimosa Willamo), a commitment-phobic party animal, meets Iranian Amir (Amir Escandari) one night at a hot-dog stand in Lapland. Amir is running from death and Aurora is running from love.
The film premiered in January at the Gothenburg International Film Festival and it has since screened at SXSW in Austin and festivals in Seattle, Edinburgh, and Oslo among others. The national jury mentioned the film’s timeliness, humanity and compassion in its statement.
The nominees from the other Nordic countries are A White, White Day by Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland), Blind Spot by Tuva Novotny (Norway), Reconstructing Utøya by Carl Javér (Sweden), and Queen of Hearts by May el-Toukhy (Denmark).
The Nordic Council Film Prize will be awarded on October 29. The prize of DKK 350,000 (approximately 47,000 €) will be shared equally between the winning film’s director, scriptwriter, and producer.
Read more: norden.org/en/news/nordic-council-film-prize-2019-nominees