Planes in the Night flies all the way to the top

Danish director Tobias Gundorff Boesen’s Planes in the Night, which was earlier this year nominated for the Danish Film Academy’s Robert, received four prizes when Danish film magazine Ekko for the second time celebrated new film and talents from its on-line Shortlist at Copenhagen’s Bremen Theatre on Saturday 28th November.

The Anders Wøldike Schmith 38-minute production for Super 16 and Zentropa Stormtroopers was awarded the top Shortlist Prize, for Best Fiction, Best Cinematography (Lis Dyre) and Best Original Music (Christian Rohde Lindinger). Starring Pelle Falk Krusbæk and Søren Malling, Boesen’s film (scripted with Jacob Katz Hansen, Tommy Oksen) follows nine-year-old Valdemar, who lives with his father Bo in a country house in the province; Bo has alcohol problems, so Valdemar must often be the adult and take responsiblity for himself.

The 15 most popular films which enter Ekko’s weekly updated Shortlist during the year before 19 October, are automatically nominated for the prize. A jury including Danish directors Janus Metz, May el-Toukhy, Esben Toft Jacobsen, actress Paprika Steen, cinematographer Niels Thastum, has picked the winner as well as decided the top five nominations in 12 categories. Ekko readers have had their votes for the Audience award, which went to Danish director William Sehested Høeg’s jalousy drama Tyrant, produced by Mads-August Grarup Hertz and Andreas Bak, for Zentropa Entertainments.

Saturday’s prizes also included:

Best Actress: Natasja Juul, for Natasja Jensen (Dir: Emil Falke)

Best Actor: Elliott Crosset Hove, for Debut (Dir: Mads Riisom)

Best Script: Sigurd Kølster and Kasper Schlüter, for Out in the Sea (Dir: Sigurd Kølster)

Best Editing: Gustav Wisti Johansen, for Red Room (Dir: Gustav Wisti Johansen)

Best Sound Design: Lars Halvorsen, for A Painter (Dir: Hlynur Pálmason)

Best Documentary: Malek Means Angel. (Dir: Lea Hjort Mathiesen. Prod: Lea Hjort Mathiesen, for the Danish National Film School.)

Best Animated Film: The Reward: Tales of Alethrion – The First Hero. (Dirs: Mikkel Mainz Elkjær, Kenneth Ladekjær.
Prods: Bo Juhl Nielsen, Charlotte de La Gournerie, for Sun Creature Studio)

(Photo: Danish actress Natasja Juul – Best Actress winner for Danish director Emil Falke’s Natasja Jensen. (Photo credit: Søren Rønholt)