Even though Denmark's largest feature film festival CPH PIX continues until 22 April, the winners of the New Talent Grand PIX and the Politiken Audience Award were already announced on Friday, 17 April, at a ceremony held at the National Museum in Copenhagen.
"Made in a Spirit of Collectivity"
Danish director Thomas Daneskov's low-budget drama The Elite, a portrait of a group of young originals and budding artists struggling to find their own voice, was honoured with the festival's main competition award, the New Talent Grand PIX. The award comes with a 10,000 eruo cash prize intended to pave the way for the director's next production.
"The jury is pleased to have discovered a deeply personal, relevant and contemporary new voice in Danish independent cinema with 'The Elite' by Thomas Daneskov – a disturbing and hilarious portrait of privileged youth, made in a spirit of collectivity," said the international jury consisting of American film director Alex Ross Perry, Danish film and theatre director Katrine Wiedemann and Brazilian filmmaker Gabe Klinger.
Read more: "Denmark's new DIY spirit" and interview with Thomas Daneskov in Screen
Virgin Mountain Wins Audience Award
Dagur Kári's Icelandic feature Virgin Mountain, world premiering earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, claimed the Politiken Audience Award. The story of Fúsi, a bitter-sweet portrait of a man in his forties who hasn't yet found the courage to enter into adulthood, is Kári's fourth feature film.
The runners-up for the audience award were Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó's "White God" and Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez' "Marshland," taking second and third place, respectively.
Closing with Vinterberg
CPH PIX opened with the Danish premiere of Jeppe Rønde's debut feature, "Bridgend," and will be closing on 22 April with the world release of Thomas Vinterberg's Thomas Hardy adaptation, "Far From the Madding Crowd."