28th Göteborg Film Festival
January 7 -  February 28, 2005

4th Svenska Kyrkans Filmpris/The Church of Sweden Film Prize

In 2002 the Church of Sweden has established a special film prize endowed with 30’000 SEK to a film in the Nordic Competition with a high quality in it’s artitistic expression, that will address social issues, existential questions and themes and aspects on justice. The winners were 2002 "Joki" (The River) by Jarmo Lampela, Finland; 2003 "Noi Albinoi" by Dragur Kari, Iceland and 2004 "Fyra nyanser av brunt" by Tomas Alfredsson & Killinggänget, Sweden.

This year the jury consisted of

Katrina Mathsson, head of information at Folkets Bio, Stockholm
Mia Lövheim, PhD in Sociology of Religion at the University of Uppsala
Mikael Ringlander, manager on cultural projects in the Church of Sweden, Göteborg

The award this year went to

Paha Maa (Frozen Land)
directed by Aki Louhimies, Finland

The jury motivated its choice with these words: "A brave film that depicts a frozen society where there is a thin line between success and exclusion. The film shows with frightening clarity how responsible we are towards each other, both as individuals and in society at large. A chain of tragic destinies eventually leads to belief in a possibility of change."

The film is based on a novel by Leo Tolstoi where he addresses the idea that anxiety, misery and feelings of unhappiness always gets transferred to others. In Frozen Land we meet seven different people who lives somehow get affected by a fake bill. It tells the story about how things can suddenly change and how we all are equipped to handle life’s bad days differently. We can all end up lonely and poor and the line between who is successful and wiped out is very thin. Feelings such as frustration, hopelessness and anxiety are dealt with through different types of abuse – violence, theft and drugs for instance. Even if desperation and destruction lies at hand there is also a small light of hope, which makes this dark film quite warm.

Frozen Land also received the awards Nordiska Filmpriset (the Nordic Film Prize) and the International Prize of the film critics (FIPRESCI).

Synopsis and Credits (Finnish Film Foundation)