Mot Naturen wins Europa Cinemas Label

Launched for the first time in 2003 within the Cannes Film Festival, the "Europa Cinemas Label" has been created in order to help European films increase their distribution and raise their profile with audiences and media. The Label is since then awarded by a jury of five member exhibitors to a European film selected in the Directors' Fortnight section in Cannes and since 2004 in the Venice Days. Since 2005, Europa Cinemas has been cooperating with the Berlinale to award the Label in thePanorama section.

PRIZE WINNER 2015

Mot Naturen

by Ole Giæver and Marte Vold

In a small Norwegian town the working week comes to an end. Thirtysomething Martin imagines the monotonous lives of strangers behind the windows of neighbouring offices. Then he takes a look at himself. His stream of thought makes him begin to have doubts about his own life. Embarking on a journey inside his head, he feels the need to be alone in nature. After asking his son about his day and sleeping with his wife, he packs a rucksack and jogs away from his family, into the mountains. Whether it is an unexpected confrontation with a hunter at an inopportune moment, an involuntary dip in an icy lake or turning into an eagle: Martin’s imaginary expedition constantly provides him with new ways to confront – relentlessly but with humour – his anxieties, dreams, neuroses and sexual desires. How is it supposed to work? How can he participate in his own life as son, partner and father? As with his directorial debut Fjellet (Panorama 2011) Ole Giæver once again allows the mountains to become a physical and emotional force field for naked existence that provides new ways of seeing life. He himself plays the role of Martin – his performance is both charming and disarmingly funny.

Members of the Jury 2015

Elsie Roose

Andrea Stosiek

Pedro Barbadillo

Artem Ryzhkov