Dutch-born filmmaker Malou Reymann picked up the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival Saturday evening with her second feature Unruly.
Co-written by Reymann and Sara Isabella Jønsson, the pic follows a teenager in 1930s Denmark who is forced into an institution to treat her rebellious behavior.
The story is inspired by real-life events from a notorious women’s institution on the Danish Island of Sprogø. The film debuted in Toronto last year and went on to play Zurich and the Lithuania Scanorama Film Forum before hitting Göteborg.
The Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film comes with a SEK 400 000 ($38,000) cash prize. The festival jury, headed by Holy Spider actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi, with members including Danish actress Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Ukrainian filmmaker Antonio Lukich (Luxembourg, Luxembourg), and composer Matti Bye described the pic as a story told with “great sensitivity and power.” “The jury is grateful to lighten a universal story about the human spirit against the oppressive system,” the Jury said. “Although it is rooted in the past, it transcends time and borders and speaks strongly to our time, our minds, and hearts.
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