STOCKHOLM -- With eight nominations, Swedish director Bjorn Runge's "Daybreak" took the leadin the race for the Golden Bug -- Sweden's Oscar --Thursday. "Daybreak," which has domestically taken 50,000 admissions in eight weeks, is nominated for Best Feature (producer Claus Gunnarsson), with Klaus Haro's "Elina" (producers Charlotta Denward, Anders Landstrom), and Mikael Hafstrom's "Evil" (producers Hans Lonnerheden, Ingemar Leijonborg).
The film is also nominated for Director, Actress (Ann Petren), Actor (Jakob Eklund), Supporting Actress (both Pernilla August and Marie Richardson), Supporting Actor (Ingvar Hirdwall) and Screenplay (Runge).
Hafstrom's "Evil" came in second with six noms, including Director, Actor (Andreas Wilson), Supporting Actor (Otto Silverhielm), Screenplay (Hafstrom, Hans Gunnarsson) and Cinematography (Peter Mokrosinski). The film has sold more than 850,000 tickets in Sweden during a 16-week run.
Pernilla August won a second slot, in the Actress category for her performance in Kristian Petri's "Details," the film version of Lars Noren's play, which also garnered Petri a Director nom. Pic also snagged noms for Actor (Jonas Karlsson) and Screenplay (Jonas Frykberg).
Tapped for best non-Swedish film are "Dogville," "Good Bye, Lenin!" and "The Hours."
The Golden Bugs -- this year celebrating their 40th anniversary -- will be awarded at the Swedish Film Gala, organized at Goteborg's Opera House Jan. 26 as part of the Goteborg Film Festival, and televised by Swedish pubcaster SVT.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com