Nordic Star Festival

Welcome to Nordic Star Festival.
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Nordic Star Festival takes over the direction of the film industry and the future perspective from Västerås Film Festival, which founded the festival and has run it for 10 years.

Västerås Film Festival transitions into a genre festival that can be found here at FilmFreeway. This festival is only available in Västerås.

The coming edition will take place in autumn of 2025 Oct. 18-26 in Västerås and Stockholm.

We have open the submissions for Nordic Star Festival the 2025 edition.
The film must be no more than 2 years old, with a premiere date between fall 2023 and fall 2025. Previous competition entries are not a disqualifier for acceptance into our festival.

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Västerås Film Festival is an international film festival held in autumn every year since 2015. The festival will be moved to the summer and August month permanently. Västerås film festival shows films in different genres from around the world. We have prizes in different categories. The festival also contains workshops, lectures, debates, film cafés and exhibitions. Västerås Film Festival is one of the most interesting festivals in northern Europe.

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WINNERS 2024
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Short film International
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Best Short Film
- 10
The end is my beginning France

Best Short Film
+ 10
CLOUD STUDY Germany

Best Director
CLOUD STUDY Esa-Lu Lorenz Germany

Best Screenplay
CLOUD STUDY Esa-Lu Lorenz

Best Cinematography
CLOUD STUDY Daniel Schua Germany

Best Actor
The cap Gaëtan Wenders Belgium

Best Actress
Marie-Luise Maria Maegdefrau "Marie-Luise" Germany

Short film Nordic
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Best short film
-10
Curl, Sweden

Best Short Film +10
The Purpose , Estonia

Best Director
The Purpose: Dimitri Nasennik Director Estonia

Best Screenplay, Nauðr, Connor Ryan Iceland

Best Cinematography
The Purpose, Mykhailo Sukhomlyn Estonia

Best Editing
Good Girl, Mira Thu Denmark

Best Actor
BETA MALE, Marcuz Jess Petersen "Daniel Denmark

Best Acress
The Purpose, Natalia Shevchenko "Kristel" Estonia

Best Child Actor
Boy: Elliot Greenberg Søderlind "Luca" Norway

Best Child Actress
Girl: Celine Cederlund "Olivia" Sweden

Other categories
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One Minute
Skinny Dip 60 sec Ireland

Animation
From The Top United Kingdom

Music Video Canon - Knocked Out Sweden

Documentary Int -10 Winter blossom Germany

Documentary Int +10 To The Dancers United Kingdom

Documentary Nordic -10
Entropy Greenland

Documentary Nordic +10
Motortjejer Sweden

Best Audience Film
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The winner of the International prize is the Japanese film I Wish You Were Here, directed by Laurent Ibanez, in the category Short Film 10+ min (International), Japan.

The winner of the Nordic prize is the Swedish film Perro Means Dog in Spanish, directed by Marie Strömberg, in the category Short Film 10+ min (Nordic), Sweden.

Special Award
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Empathy Award

Dancing Amid Fire, Rising Above Ruins
Director Essmat Sophie
in Animation 1-10 min (International)
Norway

The Empathy Award – To highlight artistic works that evoke strong empathy through depictions of vulnerability and human suffering, in a creative and innovative way.

Gender equality Award

The thirteenth year
Director Samad Alizadeh
Iran, Islamic Republic of

To draw attention to works that create awareness of gender equality, as well as inspire social change.

The Conscience Award

SATURDAY NIGHT SUNDAY MORNING
Directors Rémi Potisek, Théo De Oliveira
in Shortfilm 10+ min (International)
France

To draw attention to works that create awareness of violence and vulnerability, as well as inspire social change.

The Monologue Award

Overthinker
Director Nemanja Mladenovic
in Shortfilm 10+ min (International)
Serbia

The prize is awarded to a work or a creator who in a creative and insightful way captures and conveys the human inner monologue. It honors artistic expressions that highlight an individual's inner life – thoughts, feelings, and introspective reflections – and that create a deeper understanding of the human psychological and emotional journey.

Aesthetic Award

ETCETERA
Director Noel Heath
in Short film 1-10 min (Nordic countries)
Sweden

This award is awarded to the film that, through its visual style and aesthetic overall experience, creates an outstanding artistic impact

The Regional Award

Say it with a smile Sweden

This award is given to a film that is made in Mälardalen, either by depicting the region's culture, history, social issues or geography. Here you can highlight films that creatively use the region as a stage.

Talent Award x 3

Curl Sweden
En kväll i mars Sweden
A Young Mind Sweden

A talent award in film, which highlights new and promising filmmakers, actors or technical talents, can be based on several important criteria. Here are some aspects that could form the basis for such an award

Honorary award 2024

Tom Alandh
He is receiving this award for his contributions to highlighting important social issues through his documentary films and for his ability to portray real-life stories with empathy and depth.