Call Girl leads Swedish film award nominations

The drama is up for leading awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Pernilla August), Best Original Screenplay (Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten) and Best Cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema).

Inspired by a brothel scandal of the late 1970s, Call Girl looks beneath the polished surface of the country’s model utopian society. The film centres on a 14-year-old girl who is recruited into a ruthless underworld.

The film was previously reported to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice for “gross defamation of character” by the son of the late Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme, over a scene in which a politician who resembles Palme pays for sex with an underage girl.

Swedish director Jan Troell’s The Last Sentence, which won Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival, will be considered in six Guldbagge categories, while Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, also secured six nominations.

A 46-member jury has voted in a secret ballot for most of the nominations, while special committees have decided for shorts and documentaries.

The trophies, including an Audience Prize, will be awarded at an SVT-televised gala on Jan 21 at Stockholm’s Cirkus, hosted by Swedish actress-comedian Babben Larsson.

FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS

Best film: Call Girl. Prod: Mimmi Spång. Searching for Sugar Man. Prods: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn. Eat Sleep Die (Äta sova dö). Prod: China Åhlander

Best Director: Mikael Marcimain, for Call Girl. Gabriela Pichler, for Eat Sleep Die. Jan Troell, for The Last Sentence (Dom över död man)

Best Actress: Pernilla August, for Call Girl. Nermina Lukač, for Eat Sleep Die. Linda Molin, for Bitch Hug (Bitchkram) 

Best Actor: Johannes Brost, for Avalon. Bengt CW Carlsson, for Good Luck. And Take Care of Each Other (Lycka till och ta hand om varandra). Matias Varela, for Easy Money II (Snabba cash II)

Best Supporting Actress: Léonore Ekstrand, for Avalon. Yohanna Idha, for Certain People (Katinkas kalas). Ulla Skoog, for The Last Sentence

Best Supporting Actor: Peter Carlberg, for Avalon. Milan Dragišić, for Eat Sleep Die. Fares Fares, for Easy Money II

Best Original Screenplay: Malik Bendjelloul, for Searching for Sugar Man. Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, for Call Girl. Gabriela Pichler, for Eat Sleep Die

Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, for Call Girl. Måns Månsson, for Avalon. Jan Troell, Mischa Gavrjusjov, for The Last Sentence

Best Editing: Andreas Jonsson, Hanna Lejonqvist, Niels Pagh Andersen, for Palme. Kristofer Nordin, for Call Girl. Malik Bendjelloul, for Searching for Sugar Man

Best Costume Design: Cilla Rörby, for Call Girl. Katja Watkins, for The Last Sentence. Jaana Fomin, for Metal Brothers (Mammas pojkar)

Best Sound Design: Jonas Jansson, for Easy Money II. Petter Fladeby, Per Nyström, for Call Girl. Malik Bendjelloul, Per Nyström, for Searching for Sugar Man

Best Make-Up:Eros Codinas, for Call Girl. Jenny Fred, for Easy Money II. Maria Strid Zackrisson, for The Last Sentence

Best Musical Score: Benny Andersson, for Palme. Malik Bendjelloul, Sixto Rodriguez, for Searching for Sugar Man. Johan Söderqvist, Andreas Unge, for El Médico – the Cubaton Story

Best Set Design: Lina Nordqvist, for Call Girl. Sandra Lindgren, for Bitch Hug (Bitchkram). Pernilla Olsson, for The Last Sentence

Best Visual Effects: Tim Morris, for Call Girl. Torbjörn Olsson, for the visual effects in Agent Hamilton - In the Interest of the Nation (Hamilton – I nationens intresse). Andreas Hylander, for The Ice Dragon (Isdraken)

Best Documentary: Palme. Dirs: Kristina Lindström, Maud Nycander. She Male Snails(Pojktanten). Dir: Ester Martin Bergsmark. Searching for Sugar Man. Dir: Malik Bendjelloul

Best Short: Dance Music Now. Dir:  Johan Jonason. The Photographer(Fotografen). Dir: Vanja Sandell Billström. The Clearing (Gläntan). Dir: Peter Grönlund

Best Foreign-Language Film:Amour. Dir: Michael Haneke (Austria). Laurence Anyways. Dir: Xavier Dolan (Can). Moonrise Kingdom. Dir: Wes Anderson (US)