This Year's Winners at the Oslo Pix Film Festival 2024
The winners of the Grand Pix awards at this year's Oslo Pix Film Festival are WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS and PUNISHMENT.
GRAND PIX NORDIC FICTION
This year's section included nine strong fiction films produced in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland.
The jury consisted of: Jorunn Myklebust, Sveinung Wålengen, and Louise Beyer.
Jury's Justification:
The winner of the Nordic Fiction competition program touches on grief in a subtle and complex manner. Despite its short runtime, the film encompasses a great deal: love, care, anger, and jealousy. Through this spectrum of emotions, the two female characters particularly come closer together, and along with them, we as viewers fumble towards a hope that overcomes fear. The winning film is a raw, corporeal, and humanistic story that can create emotional resonance regardless of background. The winner is WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS, directed by Runar Rúnarsson.
The winner of the Grand Pix Nordic Fiction is WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS by Rúnar Rúnarsson.
Rúnar Rúnarsson (b. 1977) is an Icelandic director known for films such as Volcano (2011), Sparrows (2015), and Echo (2019). His films have premiered at several prestigious festivals like Cannes, Toronto, and San Sebastian, where they have been lauded by critics and received numerous awards.
GRAND PIX NORDIC DOCUMENTARY
This year's section included eight strong documentary films produced in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland.
The jury consisted of: Karianne Berge, Aslaug Holm, and Frode Søbstad.
Jury's Justification:
Despair, hope, love. This film makes you reflect on the great human questions and dilemmas. How do you move on after doing the irreparable? Actions that are impossible to forgive. Who has the right to forgive, and when is it time to let go of guilt and the heavy burden, and be forgiven? This story carries a deep philosophical insight and understanding of what it means to be a vulnerable human being.
The film has certain strict frames but provides us with the freedom to breathe. It offers space for the light and the dark in the sober images that reflect human nature. The action takes place in a small and confined area, yet it embraces a vast universe. At times, we are challenged by the film's rhythm and slow presence, but in a good way, as it forces us to slow down and truly absorb its message. The contrast between the quiet and the dramatic ensures the film is never boring. Instead, we become curious, fascinated, and moved by the longing to understand who we are, and why life turns out the way it does. And surprisingly, it is convicted violent offenders, serving the strictest sentences, who possess the deepest insights. Their wisdom makes us introspect and judge our thoughts and attitudes.
This is a stylistically assured film. Every shot is well-thought-out, yet there is an authenticity and documentary quality to the scenes. There are truly excellent scenes where we partake in the relentless struggle of humans against themselves. The director is very true to his stylistic choices. Perhaps because he did not need to discuss with the cinematographer? Thus, it may no longer be a secret that the jury reveals that the director and cinematographer Øystein Mamen, at this year's Oslo Pix Film Festival 2024, is the winner of the award for Best Nordic Documentary with the film PUNISHMENT.
The award for Best Nordic Documentary at the Oslo Pix Film Festival goes to PUNISHMENT, by Øystein Mamen.
Øystein Mamen (b. 1978) is an award-winning cinematographer and director. Mamen has studied at the Norwegian Film School, European Film College, University of Oslo, and University of Copenhagen. As a cinematographer, he has worked on films such as Childhood (2017), Fra Balkongen (2017), Beware of Children (2019), and The Self Portrait (2020). Punishment is his first film as a director.
