Photo by Still from the movie

Hlýnur Pálmason’s debut feature ‘Vinterbrødre’ (‘The Winter Brothers’) received on Sunday the annual Robert Award for Best Film from the Danish Film Academy. The movie also received the Best Actor Award for Elliott Crosset Hove’s performance, as well as the Best Supporting Actress Award for Victoria Carmen Sonne.

‘Vinterbrødre’ follows the story of two brothers struggling through a rough winter while working at a limestone factory in the middle of nowhere. It’s a psychological drama dealing with the subject of a violent family conflict while dissecting the darker aspects of human nature amplified by isolation.

The grim setting and faded colours mirror the tension between characters with striking precision, but it’s the sound that gives a unique quality to the movie—raspy, raw and violent. “We wanted the sound to differ from the picture, to be coming from the core, while the visuals would be the outside surface,” writer/director Pàlmason told RÚV. “We wanted the sound to be expressive and give its own character to the story.”

The sound design together with costume design and make-up where also honoured by the Danish Academy.