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Swedish screenwriter Pelle Rådström has won the first Nordic Series Script Award for his show Pressure Point.

The award, previously known as the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, was handed to Rådström this evening at the Göteborg Film Festival. The award comes with a Nok 200,000 cash prize.

The award jury featured Henriette Steenstrup, Actor and Screenwriter, Norway; Joanna Szymańska, Producer and CEO at SHIPsBOY, Poland; Linus Fremin, TV Critic and Creative Director at Make Your Mark, Sweden.

“In a time when authentic, brave storytelling is rare, Pressure Point stands out as a series that resonates with the intelligence of its audience,” the jury said in a statement. “Instead of simplifying complex human experiences, it delves deeply into themes of freedom of expression, criminal justice, and rehabilitation, presenting characters in a profoundly human way. Inspired by a real-life tragedy, it masterfully explores the consequences of good intentions going awry, challenging us...

“The School of Housewives,” a popular Icelandic drama that debuted last year on public broadcaster RÚV, is a major contender for this year’s Göteborg Nordic Series Script Award, the biggest prize for TV screenwriting in Scandinavia.

The series turns Hekla, who, after being in and out of rehab since she was a teenager, enrolls in The School of Housewives – a real facility based in Reykjavik – in order to get her daughter back from foster care. But she, and several characters, can’t help but wonder, is learning to knit, bake and clean going to make any of them more fit mothers?

Through their shared struggles, these women find strength in one another, forming a community that empowers them all.

“The School of Housewives” is directed by Arnór Pálmi Arnarson, who co-wrote with Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir. It’s produced by Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir at Glassriver, the company behind the Icelandic standout Berlinale Series player “Black Sands.

The Göteborg Film Festival and Nordisk Film & TV Fond have announced the five inaugural Nordic Series Script Award nominees.

The nominated series are Families Like Ours, Money Shot, Pressure Point, Quisling, The School of Housewives.

The award was launched last year and comes with a Nok 200,000 cash prize. The jury for the Nordic Series Script Award is Henriette Steenstrup, Actor and Screenwriter, Norway; Joanna Szymańska, Producer and CEO at SHIPsBOY, Poland; Linus Fremin, TV Critic and Creative Director at Make Your Mark, Sweden.

This year the festival will also launch the Creative Courage Award to honor the producer and commissioner of a series that boldly pushes creative boundaries and embraces innovation.

Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours,” “Pressure Point” from the writer of “Black Crab” and Erik Poppe’s “Quisling” count among nominations for a high-powered Göteborg Nordic Series Script Award, the biggest plaudit for TV screenwriting in Scandinavia.

Replacing the Göteborg Festival’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, the Script Award nominations also take in feminist porn comedy “Money Shot,” a Canneseries winner, and “The School of Housewives,” co-written and directed by Iceland’s Arnór Pálmi Arnarson, who helmed “The Minister,” starring Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.

With regard to artistic ambition, ranging broadly in style from “Families'” near-future survival drama-thriller to “Pressure Point’s” nervy and compelling true-events recreation and “Quisling’s” boldly-told period drama, these three series explore modern-times horror.

“Families” charts an apocalypse that tears Denmark’s upper middle class apart across Europe and plunges them into a merciless and sometimes violent new world; “Pressure Point” plumbs neo-Nazism, “Quisling...

GÖTEBORG, Sweden All3Media is to handle international rights on Icelandic crime series “Black Sands” which, currently in development, is to be pitched at the Göteborg Festival’s TV Drama Vision confab on Thursday.

“Black Sands” marks the first crime thriller to be created by Icelandic helmer Baldvin Z (“Trapped”) since the hit series “Case.” Commissioned by Iceland’s Channel 2, the eight-part series is co-penned by Baldvin Z (aka Baldvin Zophoníasson) with Ragnar Jonsson and “Valhalla Murders”’ actor Aldís Hamilton, who has cornered the title role. Co-stars include Baldvin Z regular collaborator Thorsteinn Bachmann and New York The Julliard School alumnus Thorvaldur Kristjansson (“Dracula Untold”). Production is slated to start next year.

“Black Sands” is produced by Baldvin Z’s own shingle Glassriver, which he set up in the wake of “Case”’s success in 2016, along with writer/creator Andri Óttarson seasoned producer Abby Haflidadóttir, and producer/CEO Hörður Rúnarsson.

Cineflix Rights, a leading U.K. content distributor, has acquired “The Minister,” the anticipated political drama series headlined by Icelandic star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”).

Produced by the Icelandic company Sagafilm, “The Minister” centres on Benedikt Ríkhardsson (Ólafsson), a populist politician who becomes Iceland’s Prime Minister. However, Benedikt is suffering from an underlying bipolar disorder which progressively worsens. The Prime Minister’s team and their allies are forced to endanger both the stability of the government and their private lives to hide his illness while others abuse it.

“The charm and charisma that Ólafur Darri brings to the conflicted character is unique and we are extremely excited to see how his unorthodox way of doing things touches viewers around the world,” said Sagafilm’s CEO, Hilmar Sigurðsson.

Ólafsson’s credits include “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” as well as the series “Trapped,” “True Detective” and “The Missing.