This year’s Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary was awarded February 3 to Ibelin by Benjamin Ree. The prize is valued at SEK 250 000 (€21,950) in services from Edisen. Logline: Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world…
The jury “was deeply moved and impressed by this film, which gives life to a world otherwise unseen and invites us into a community otherwise unheard. It changed our view about what is artificial and what is authentic and made us question our conception of real human connection, friendship, love, and loss. The film shows in a captivating way how we can matter, be impactful and make a difference in other people’s lives, not bound by physical limitations.”
An Honorary mention was given to Fifteen zero three nineteenth of january two thousand sixteen by Marius Dybwad Brandrud and Petra Bauer. In the film, a mother recounts the day when her sons were shot outside their apartment in Stockholm in a searingly relevant portrayal of the consequences of gang violence, that refuses to adhere to simplistic explanations.
The jury citation reads how, “we want to acknowledge the achievement of the distinct artistic accuracy of this film, giving depth to an urgent and sensitive topic in Swedish society. And the courageous way of portraying loss, grief and action through a community of women who do not give up hope for change.”
A further Honorary mention was given to Homecoming by Anssi Kömi and Suvi West. In the documentary, Indigenous Sámi people fights to get back their stolen ancestral heritage.
Jury citation for Homecoming: “We want to acknowledge the achievement of the filmmakers, who, through a personal and sensitive lens, manage to give agency to Sámi items that can, at last, reclaim their identity, connecting us to accurate struggles of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
The 2024 Nordic Documentary Competition Jury was comprised of Anna Hints, director (Estonia); Theresa Traore Dahlberg, artist and documentary filmmaker (Sweden), and Tobias Janson, producer (Sweden).
