Tobias Lindholm’s A Hijacking wins at Les Arcs

The film, which first screened at Toronto, follows the hijacking of a Danish ship by Somali pirates. It is Lindholm’s solo directorial debut and is sold internationally by TrustNordisk.

At a ceremony at the Alpine ski resort on Friday evening, the drama also picked up a second award. Søren Malling won Best Actor for his lead role in the film.

A Hijacking, which picked up the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki last month, was one of 12 titles in competition at the Les Arcs festival.

Blancanieves, from Spanish director Pablo Berger, scored a hat trick of awards.

The fairytale-inspired drama picked up the Grand Jury Prize, Best Music for composer Alfonso de Vilallonga and the Young Jury Prize, decided by students from nearby Bourg Saint Maurice.

The Fifth Season (La Cinquieme Saison), from directors Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens, also won three awards.

Aurelia Poirier was named Best Actress while the film also picked up Best Cinematography. In addition, it won the Cineuropa Award, presented to a film produced or co-produced by countries participating in the MEDIA programme or a member of the Eurimages programmes.

When Day Breaks (Kad Svane Dan), a Serbian film from director Goran Paskaljevic, won the Audience Award, presented in partnership with Ciné+.

The jury, chaired by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, included actress Marie Gillain, singer/actress Héléna Noguerra, director Gilles Porte, writer Michel Quint and composer Jean Philippe Verdin.

The festival, programmed by artistic director Frédéric Boyer, reported nearly 14,000 admissions to screenings across the week – a boost of more than 10% on last year.