Norway’s Amanda Awards Feel ‘Loveable’ As Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s Drama Wins Big

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.”

“It’s an honorary award, so it’s not about the end of my achievements. I’m in the middle of making another film and I have five, six years of projects lined up, God willing. I have many colleagues who are successful in making films well into their 90s, so I have no reason to stop!,” he said after the ceremony.

And as for another film with Skarsgård?

“Every outing with Stellan is an exploration. It’s based on our collective curiosity – we like to go to places we haven’t been before. With the right project, we will make something again.”

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.

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