Finnish director Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää's The Visitor (Muukalainen) haswon the Nordic Film Prize - $12,800 (SEK 100,000) and a dragon statuette - at Sweden's Gothenburg International Film Festival.

Valkeapää's cinematographer, Tuomo Hutri, received the
Nordic Vision Award.

The 32nd edition of the festival - Scandinavia's largest film event - registered a record number of 124,500 admissions for the 700 screenings of 450 films from 65 countries, according to festival director Marit Kapla.

The Cinemix programme of 46 seminars attracted more than 20,000
participants, with US animator Bill Plympton's masterclass and Swedish
director Markus Öhm's Magic Bullet project - a 49-hour film of all cuts
made by Swedish film censors - among the major attractions.

Mexican director Enrique Rivero's Parque Via was awarded the Ingmar
Bergman International Debut Award.

Danish director Heidi Maria Faisst's The Blessing (Velsignelsen) bagged both the ecumenical and the international critics' FIPRESCI awards.

Best Short went to Swedish director Andreas Ömann's My Life As A
Trailer (Mitt Liv Som Trailer).

Swedish producer Erik Hemmendorff left with the new Lorens Award which will pay for the development of his next feature.


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