Amanda Awards
| Amanda Award | |
|---|---|
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| Awarded for | Excellence in Norwegian film. |
| Country | Norway |
| Presented by | Norwegian International Film Festival |
| First awarded | 1985 |
| Official website | Official Website (English version) |
The Amanda Award (Norwegian: Amandaprisen) is an award given annually at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, Norway, to promote and improve Norwegian film. The award originated in 1985, and has since 2005 been exclusively a film award (not television). Winners are awarded a trophy by the Norwegian sculptor Kristian Kvakland, and the name—and theme—of the sculpture comes from a legendary local woman from the 1920s. The award ceremony is marked every year by a major, nationally televised, event.
The Amanda Award was instituted in 1985 as part of the Norwegian International Film Festival "to increase the quality of and further the interest for Norwegian films". The year 1993 marked an exception to the norm, when the so-called "Nordic Amanda" included contribution from all the Nordic countries. From 2005 onwards, TV-drama was no longer included among the categories honoured, as the TV-specific award "Gullruten" had taken over this function. Instead the award became exclusively for films. Around the same time another change occurred also. Since the beginning, the award ceremony had been produced in cooperation with the Norwegian state broadcasting corporation Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK). In 2006, however, NRK ended the partnership, and the show has since that time been the responsibility of the private broadcasting company TV 2.
In the year 2007, a "People's Amanda" ("Folkets Amanda") was awarded for the first time, where the winner was arrived at by popular vote. The first winner of the award was the horror movie Fritt Vilt, directed by Roar Uthaug.
The name "Amanda" is derived from a song, or sea shanty, titled "Amanda fra [from] Haugesund". Supposedly the song in turn refers to a real woman from the 1920s – a lone mother who made a living from selling liquor to sailors during the prohibition period.
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