Thomas Daneskov wins five Shortlist Awards for Puff, Puff, Pass

“We've really found the new, big talent in Danish cinema,” said Claus Christensen,chief editor of Danish film magazine Ekko (and who also served as a jury member). “His film has the rare combination of mature precision and playful, humorous energy. Many directors take their entire career to find this delicate balance.”

Twenty-five-year-old Danish director Thomas Daneskov’s second short, Puff, Puff, Pass, swept the first Shortlist Awards at Copenhagen’s Øksnehallen last week (Friday 21 November), leaving with five trophies: Best Film, Screenplay and Editing (Daneskov), Best Actor (Søren Spanning) and Best Cinematography (the actor’s son, Jasper Spanning).

Self-taught – he never went to film school but just started making films, the first of which was the eight-minute Calm Waters in 2011 – Daneskov’s new, offbeat comedy follows a father and son as they travel to a summer cottage while smoking hashish and drinking Fernet Branca, with their aim being “to realise themselves”.

The jury, which also included Danish director Janus Metz and actress Danica Curcic, bestowed awards upon another nine titles from Ekko’s Shortlist, while the Audience Prize went to Stefan Kjær Olsen’s Blood Brothers, a novella film starring Bjarne Henriksen, among others, set in the underworld of the provincial city of Vejle.

FULL LIST OF AWARDS 

The Shortlist Award for Best Film: Puff, Puff, Pass – Thomas Daneskov. Producer: Kirstine Barfoed, for Killit Films 

The Audience Prize: Blood Brothers – Stefan Kjær Olsen. Producers: Preben Steen Nielsen and Claus Thomsen, for Idéfabrikken
 

Best Fiction: Ladyboy – Aske Bang. Producer: Nina Helveg, for Goumet Film



Best Documentary: The Time We Have – Mira Jargil. Producer: Elisabeth Victoria Poulsen, for Den Danske Filmskole

 

Best Animation: The Saga of Biôrn – Benjamin Kousholt. Producer: Michelle Nardone, for The Animation Workshop 

Best Experiment: Satellite – Maia Elisabeth Sørensen. Producer: Mille Haynes, for Friishaynes

 

Best Actress: Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, for In Absentia (director: Bebiane Ivalo Kreutzmann)

Best Actor: Søren Spanning, for Puff, Puff, Pass 

Best Screenplay: Thomas Daneskov, for Puff, Puff, Pass

Best Cinematography: Jasper Spanning, for Puff, Puff, Pass 

Best Editing: Thomas Daneskov, for Puff, Puff, Pass 

Best Production Design: Charlotte Bech, for Les amours perdues (director:
 Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm) 

Best Sound Design: Jess Wolfsberg, for Junk Love (director: Nikolaj B Feifer) 

Best Musical Score: Povl Kristian, for Father (director: Per Dreyer)