Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s “Loveable” won big on Saturday night at the Amanda Awards, Norway’s national movie prizes, ultimately picking up four plaudits, including best Norwegian film.
The film, which premiered at Karlovy Vary, has been praised at international festivals for its observant portrayal of a relationship going sour.
“There are thousands of traditional love stories about couples,” said Ingolfsdottir. “We have high divorce rates, but before a person leaves, something must have happened. What is that? We have such a hard time trying to connect,” she told Variety.
Helga Guren – cast as Maria, who is shocked to discover her husband wants a divorce – was awarded the prize for best actor in a leading role. It was Guren’s first Amanda win.
“I just wanted to have a flawed, multilayered female character who is a human being like all of us. She’s empowering herself by looking at her dysfunctionality and she’s brave enough to acknowledge her patterns. She doesn’t need superpowers,” added Ingolfsdottir, opening up about Guren’s complex character. She also wrote the award-winning screenplay.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s “Armand” was also recognized, with Ellen Dorrit Petersen picking up her second trophy after “Blind,” while Mats Lid Støten took sound design and its DP Pål Ulvik Rokseth’s best cinematography. The film, starring Renate Reinsve in the lead, already won Cannes’ Caméra d’Or for best first feature.
Lea Myren won debut performance for her turn in Sundance revelation “The Ugly Stepsister” by Emilie Blichfeldt, described by Variety’s Peter Debruge as a “scary Scandinavian Cinderella” complete with “broken noses, severed toes and other gory details befitting the Grimm bros.”
This year’s Honorary Amanda was awarded to director Hans Petter Moland, known for his collaborations with Stellan Skarsgård including “A Somewhat Gentle Man,” “In Order of Disappearance” – which he later remade as “Cold Pursuit” – or “Out Stealing Horses.”
2025’s Golden Clapper went to the composer duo Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud; Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” was named best foreign language film.
‘Armand‘
IFC FIlms
You can find the full list of awards here:
Best Film
“Loveable” (Director Lilja Ingolfsdottir, producer Thomas Robsahm)
Best Director
Lilja Ingolfsdottir for “Loveable”
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Helga Guren for “Loveable”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ellen Dorrit Petersen for “Armand”
Best Debut Performance
Lea Myren for “The Ugly Stepsister”
Best Documentary Film
“Stoltenberg: Facing War” (Director Tommy Gulliksen, producers Anne Marte Blindheim and Danielle Turkov Wilson)
Best Children’s Film
“The Polar Bear Prince” (Director Mikkel Brænne Sandemose, producer Cornelia Boysen)
Best Short Film
“As We Forgive” (Director Hedda Mjøen, producers Oda Kruse and Stian Skjelstad)
Best Foreign Language Film
“The Brutalist” (U.S., director Brady Corbet, distributor UIP Norway)
Best Screenplay
Lilja Ingolfsdottir for “Loveable”
Best Cinematography
Pål Ulvik Rokseth for “Armand”
Best Editing
Jens Christian Fodstad for “Dreams (Sex, Love)”
Best Sound Design
Mats Lid Støten for “Armand”
Best Original Score
Thomas Dybdahl for “Everything Must Go”
Best Costume Design
Karen Fabritius Gram and Ingjerd Meland for “Quisling – The Final Days”
Best Make-Up Design
Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg for “The Ugly Stepsister”
Best Production Design/Scenography
Kate Van Der Merwe for “Safe House”
Best Visual Effects
Alf Martin Løvvold for “No. 24”
The People’s Amanda:
“No. 24” (Director John Andreas Andersen, producers Espen Horn, Kristian Strand Sinkerud, Terje Strømstad and John M. Jacobsen)
The Honorary Amanda
Hans Petter Moland
The Golden Clapper
Geir Bøhren, Bent Åserud