‘Kids In Crime’ Writer Kenneth Karlstad Wins 2023 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize
01.02.2023 - 23:31
/ deadline.com
Norwegian writer-director Kenneth Karlstad has won the 2023 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for his gritty coming-of-age series Kids in Crime.
Karlstad was awarded the prize Wednesday evening during a ceremony on the first day of the Göteborg Film Festival’s series focused sidebar TV Drama Vision.
As part of the award, Karlstad receives a NOK 200,000 ($20,000) cash prize, funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
This is the seventh year Göteborg has been awarded the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize. This year’s jury comprised actor Amanda Collin, producer Nebojša Taraba, journalist Wanda Bendjelloul, and producer Leif Holst Jensen.
Announcing Karlstad’s win, the jury said: “We have based our evaluation on three main criteria: craft, relevance, and originality. The winner has it all. It’s based on a true universe from a certain time. The authenticity, honesty, brutality, and friendship drive the story and engage the audience. Accuracy, details, music, it’s all in the script. The writer really owns the story.”
Set in the year 2001, Kids in Crime is billed as an “unusual coming-of-age series” about the three teens, Tommy, Pål, and Monica, who get into trouble after incurring a large debt to the local drug lord Freddy Hell. In the midst of this chaos, they move into a house, to party and use as much drugs as possible. But all parties come to an end, and this particular end could be bloody.
The series was commissioned by TV2 Norge and produced by Einar Film Drama. Audun Fagervold Hansen is a co-writer on the project and Karlstad directs all eight episodes. The series debuted in Norway in November 2022 and is currently courting international buyers. Federation Studios is handling sales.
Kids in Crime is Karlstad’s long-format debut. He