Thomas Jackson’s Historjá – Stitches for Sápmi won both Best Documentary and Best Original Score at the January 23 Guldbagge Awards, considered the Swedish Oscars. The film concerns the struggle for the Sámi culture as presented in a 24-metre long tapestry. The film also underlines the importance of land to the Sámi people and how climate change is the latest battleground for the community.
In the Best Sound Design category Ted Krotkiewski won for the documentary All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars, directed by Jennifer Rainsford. Set against a backdrop of the 2011 Japanese tsunami, the debut doc feature is an epic odyssey on how humans and nature rebuild and heal after disaster.
The Best Editing gong went to yet another doc, Daughters by Jenifer Malmqvist, edited by Åsa Mossberg and Line Schou. The film is a sensitive and poignant film about the grieving process of three young girls after their mother’s suicide, told over a period of 10 years.
On the fiction side, Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness was the big winner, picking up six awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Dolly de Leon).
Awarded annually since 1964, the Guldbagge (“Golden Beetle”) is the name of the Swedish Film Institute’s award for achievements during the previous year. The award itself, in the form of a fantastical beetle, was designed by the artist Karl Axel Pehrson.
