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Last night saw the opening show of Norway’s biggest film festival, the Amanda Price. Some have argued in the past that this festival is more of a Mutual Admirational Society, than a true representation of the Norwegian film scene; especially when Norway’s biggest film success, and Oscarâ„¢ Nominee Elling did not even get a nomination at the Amanda.

And the winners are

The people’s Amanda
Fritt vilt, Directed by Roar Uthaug, produced by Martin Sundland and Magne Lyngner for Fantefilm

Best Norwegian film for the cinema
Reprise, producer Karin Julsrud

Best director
Reprise, directed by Joachim Trier

Best actor
Raouf Saraj, Vinterland

Best actress
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Fritt vilt

Best supporting actor
Henrik Mestad, Sønner

Best Writer
Reprise, Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier

Best film for a young audience
Jenter, directed by Hanne Myren

Best shortfilm
Janus, directed by Linda Fagerli Søthren

Best documentary
Jenter, directed by Hanne Myren

Best foreign film for the cinema
The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, distributed by Sandrew Metronome Norge

Best straight-to-DVD film
Lady Vengeance, directed by Park Chan-wook, distributor Star Media Entertainment

Special recognition from the Amanda commitee
Aslaug Holm

Honorary price from the Amanda commitee
Knut Andersen

The Norwegian International Film Festival’s and Liv Ullmann’s Honorary Award
Lauren Bacall

Technicians are people too

If it hadn’t been for creative, experienced, hard working (and often underpaid) technicians, none of these films would have qualified. Film is a collaborative process, and it is a pity that Amanda choses to ignore this.

A lamp that intelligently follows your moves – and can alert you:

Today I heard that prices of industrial robots have halved during the past few years. This has, naturally, led to an increased use of robots in manufacturing in Norway. But the interesting thing was that opposite to common belief, these robots actually help protect local jobs. Local/regional companies no longer have to ship out their work to the far-east, instead they can use their qualified local work-force together with low-cost robots.

Here at the office we’ve had a little robot for the past couple of years, that automates DVD duplication and printing. Fun to watch. And a while ago I was shooting (i.e. filming) in a large aluminum plant. At the push of a button, about 10 huge robots started moving in perfect synchronization. Awesome sight that was.