Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel received a major award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his debut feature ‘Armand’, following in the footsteps of his legendary Swedish grandfather, director Ingmar Bergman.
‘Armand’, about the toll on caretakers, was awarded the coveted Caméra d’Or prize on Saturday evening, 25 May 2024. The prize is given to the best first feature film presented in any one of the festival’s selections. ‘Armand’, was included in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section. It’s a section in which both his famous grandparents – Bergman and grandmother, Norwegian actress Liv Ullman – have previously had films.
Halfdan says it was an “incredible” feeling to have won.
“Five hours ago I was playing with my children in Oslo,” the 34-year-old told us at the press conference after the ceremony, “and now I’m here!” His trip to Cannes was so last-minute that he actually got stuck in a taxi and didn’t make it in time to receive the award on stage.
There was a buzz around ‘Armand’ from its first screening in Cannes, something that Halfdan could not escape. “Suddenly I was getting crazy attention,” he admitted. A couple of the actors with cerebral palsy, who were also flown to Cannes, were also surrounded by fans who loved their work in the film.
Halfdan said that to prevent himself getting “too self-satisfied”, he feels it’s important to get on with making his next film. “You’ve got to be careful to stay balanced,” he reckons.
Addressing the fact that he comes from a great cinema family, Halfdan smiled and said: “I can’t do anything about it. It just is. My grandmother and grandfather were great legends of cinema but I didn’t discuss Tchaikovsky with my grandfather when i was seven.”
He says other people can talk about his relatives, but for him, he has to just “focus on my films. He (Bergman) made 57 films, and we can only make comparisons in the end.”
One of the Un Certain Regard jury members revealed the jury was aware that Halfdan was related to Bergman, and that it created a “certain expectation”… but in the end the filmmaker had to deliver something of his own that had nothing to do with being a “nepo baby”. And that he did!
