‘Clara Sola’ Tops Sweden’s “Guldbagge” Film Awards

Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s Clara Sola was the big winner at the 2022 Swedish Film Awards, known as the Guldbagges, scooping Best Film and Best Director. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

Mesén also picked up Best Screenplay, shared with co-writer Maria Camila Arias, for the Spanish-language movie set in Costa Rica, which follow a 36-year-old woman who takes off on a journey to break free from social and religious conventions and become the master of her sexuality.

Below the line, Clara Sola also picked up Cinematography and Sound Design, taking its total wins on the night to five.

Further winners included A Christmas Tale, Hannes Holm’s live-action adaptation of the popular Swedish novel, which was previously made into an animated pic that has become a holiday classic in Sweden. Holm’s version won Best Actor for Jonas Karlsson and Best Supporting Actress for Jennie Silfverhjelm.

The Best Actress prize was picked up by Sofia Kappel for Bella In Pleasure, while Best Editing went to Hanna Lejonqvist and Dino Jonsäter for The Most Beautiful Boy In The World.

Elsewhere, Hogir Hirori won Best Documentary for Sabaya, while a documentary also took Best International Film, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, the hybrid animated project that made the International Oscar shortlist this year.

Honorary awards included director and screenwriter Suzanne Osten, who picked up the special Hedersguldbaggen prize, while director, animator and screenwriter Johan Hagelbäck took the Gullspira, which recognizes contributions in films for children.

The Guldbagge trophy, named after the Swedish word for the rose chafer beetle, is perhaps the most distinctive looking award in the world of film (see pic at the top).

2022 Guldbagge Award Winners:

BEST FILM

Clara Sola
produced by Nima Yousefi

BEST DIRECTOR

Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
for Clara Sola

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Sofia Kappel
for Bella in Pleasure

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Jonas Karlsson
for Tyko Jonsson in A Christmas Tale

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennie Silfverhjelm
for Marianne Jonsson in A Christmas Tale

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jonay Pineda Skallak
for Sluggo in JJ+E

BEST SCREENPLAY

Nathalie Álvarez Mesén and Maria Camila Arias
for Clara Sola

BEST EDITING

Hanna Lejonqvist and Dino Jonsäter
for The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Sophie Winqvist Loggins
for Clara Sola

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Erick Vargas Williams, Valène Leroy, Charles De Ville and Aline Gavroy
for Clara Sola

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Lisa Nordström
for Children of the Enemy

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alex Hansson and Torbjörn Olsson
for The Emigrants

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Amanda Wing Yee Lee
for Pleasure

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Michael Higgins
for A Christmas Tale

BEST MAKEUP

Erica Spetzig
for Pleasure

BEST SHORT FILM

Man with Doves
directed by Lina Maria Mannheimer

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

Sabaya
directed by Hogir Hirori

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Flee
directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen