Norwegian Film Awards - 2006 Amanda Winners

by Andre Soares

The biting drama Den Brysomme mannen / The Bothersome Man, the apparent favorite at Norway’s 2006 Amanda Film Awards, did win three of the six top awards this past Friday, Aug. 18: Best Director (Jens Lien), Best Actor (Trond Fausa Aurvåg, who also directed the winning short film, Alene menn sammen / Lonely Together), and Best Original Screenplay (Per Schreiner). But strangely the "best directed" and "best written" Norwegian film of the year lost the Best Film award to the CGI-animated Slipp Jimmy fri / Free Jimmy, Christopher Nielsen’s bizarre tale about a bunch of misfits who try to free a drug-addicted elephant (that’s Jimmy).

The Best Actress was Ane Dahl Torp for her late 1960s Communist sympathizer in Gymnaslærer Pedersen / Comrade Pedersen.

Walk the Line beat Brokeback Mountain and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Best Foreign Film award.

According to the Norwegian Film Institute, after 20 years as a public broadcasting presentation the Amanda ceremony was aired for the first time on a commercial broadcaster, TV2. The event took place at the Haugesund Concert Hall, as part of the 34th Norwegian International Film Festival.

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