Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 22:00:41 +0100 (MET)
From: skolander@bahnhof.se (Bjoern Skolander)

SWEDEN: Gay Icon awarded film prize (including German and English summery)

The Swedish film prize, the Guldbagge, the equivalence to the Oscar prize,
was on 12 February 1996 awarded Jonas Gardell (who's career I mentioned in a
recent mail regarding a possible Scandinavian Coming Out Day) in the
category best script. Gardell is the major Swedish male gay icon.

In the movie, called 'Pensionat Oskar', the father Rune Runeberg, played by
the operah singer Loa Falkman, has an affair with the magician Petrus, but
he gives in to the pressure of conventions and continues his heterosexual
marriage. Falkman was awarded a Guldbagge in the category: best male actor.

'Pensionat Oskar' also includes an elderly, happy, lesbian couple played by
the Swedish actress Sif Ruud and the Danish actress Ghita Noerby. In the
movie Gardell lets them symbolize, that there is another way for gays and
lesbians then to follow the dictate of the majority. Sif Ruud was awarded a
prize in the category: best female subordinate role figure.

One of the movie's comical scenes is when a little child who sees the
lesbian couple in the restaurant, loudly asks her parents:
 - Are they homosexuals?

The parents are doing their best to silence the child, but Ghita Noerby
answers in an intimate way:
- Just a little, my child, just a little!

In his speach Jonas Gardell was joking about what he would have done if the
movie had not been awarded any prizes.

- I would have accused the jury of being homophobic, and would have demanded
a special prize for gay and lesbian movies.

He finally kissed his partner, TV-director Mark Levengood, in front of a
large live and TV-audience.

Bjoern Skolander <skolander@bahnhof.se>

PS: Thanks to Martin Andreasson and Calle for information regarding plot and
Gardell's speach.
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German and English summary:

 PENSIONATE OSKAR - Like It Never Was Before
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       Land: Schweden 1995
      Country: Sweden 1995
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      Regie/ Director: Susanne Bier
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      Drehbuch/ Screenplay: Jonas Gardell
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      Kamera/ Camera: Kjell Lagerros
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      Schnitt/ Editing: Pernille Bech Christensen
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      Musik/ Music: Johan S=F6derkvist
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      Produktion/ Production: Stefan Baron, Sveriges Television
      Kanal 1 Drama, mit Unterst=FCtzung von /with support by SF 1
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      Laufzeit, Format/ Length, Size: 108 Min., 35 mm,
      Farbe/colour
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      Fassung/ Version: Englische Untertitel/English subtitles
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=20
    =20
 Rollen/ Cast:
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      Rune Runeberg: Loa Falkman
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      Gunnel Runeberg: Stine Ekblad
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      Petrus, der Zauberer: Simon Norrthon
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      Pensionatsleiter: Philip Zand=E9n
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      Evelyn: Sif Ruud
      Hj=F6rdis: Ghita N=F8rby
=20
 Inhalt/ Summary:
       Das Pensionat Oskar liegt in einem ganz normalen Ort und
      besteht aus einer Gruppe kleiner, h=E4=DFlicher H=E4user
      unmittelbar am endlosen Meer. Es gibt auch eine Minigolfbahn
      und ein Caf=E9. In diese Welt kommen die Runebergs. Eine ganz
      normale Familie =96 mit drei b=F6sartigen Kindern, einer leicht
      reizbaren Mutter und einem hypochondrischen Vater. Sie alle
      hoffen auf perfekte Ferien. Die Wirklichkeit sieht ganz
      anders aus. Daf=FCr sorgt Zauberer Petrus, der auftaucht und
      mit seinen Tricks alles auf den Kopf stellt. Ein Film =FCber
      Freiheit und Verr=FCcktheit, Wunder und Liebe. Regisseurin
      Susanne Bier studierte an der Bezalet-Akademie f=FCr Kunst &
      Design in Jerusalem, au=DFerdem Architektur in London und
      Regie an der D=E4nischen Film-Schule. Erfolgreich produziert
      sie Werbefilme, die verschiedene Auszeichnungen gewonnen
      haben. Auch f=FCr =84Pensionat Oskar=93 wurde sie bereits geehrt:
      mit dem Fipresci Prize beim Montreal World Film Festival in
      Kanada.
=20
      Oskar=92s boarding-house lies in a perfectly ordinary holiday
      village with small, ugly houses by the mighty sea. There is
      also a miniature golf course and a caf=E9. Enter the
      Runebergs. They are a perfectly normal family, consisting of
      three vicious children, an irritable mother and a
      hypochondriac father. They believe they are in for a
      perfectly ordinary holiday. At least, that=92s what they
      think. And it would have been, if it hadn=92t been for the
      magician Petrus, a young man who shows up and plays tricks
      on the perfectly normal family. A film about freedom and
      craziness, magic and love. Director Susanne Bier studied at
      the Bezalet Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem. She also
      spent two years in London studying architecture, after which
      she returned to Denmark for a course in film directing at
      the Danish Film School. The director of =93Freud Leaving Home=93
      (1991) and =93Family Matters=93 (1993), she is also a keen
      director of commercials, for which she has won several
      prizes. =93Like It Never Was Before=93 was awarded the Fipresci
      Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival in Canada.
=20