Michael Madsen's "Into Eternity" wins the Nordic Documentary Award at Nordisk Panorama (24-29 September), balancing convincingly, as the jury emphasise, between a journalistic and poetic approach to a daunting subject matter:
"By transforming the cinema into a time machine, the director tackles what could have been a dry specialist subject matter or a piece of engineering-porn in a way that is surprising, poetic and mezmerising. His creative ambition is fully realised in a compelling visual style, a rich soundscape and a treatment of interviewees that takes them way beyond the usual 'expert talking heads'."
"Into Eternity" is produced by Lise Lense-Møller for Magic Hour Films, who also stood behind Anders Østergaard's immensely successful "Burma VJ".
Honorary mention
An honorary mention goes to "The Guest" by Henrik Malmgren. The film springs from the Animation Workshop in Viborg, which is one of Denmark's two programmes in animation education – the other being at The National Film School in Copenhagen.
See "The Guest" at www.theguestfilm.com
More about The Animation Workshop at www.animwork.dk