Comedy Queen awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival

Actors Oscar Töringe and Sigrid Johnson with director Sanna Lenken on the red carpet in Berlin. Photo: Theo Tsappos / The Swedish Film Institute

Sanna Lenken's feature film Comedy Queen has been awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival – the world’s most prestigious award for achievements in film for young audiences. This is the second time around for director Sanna Lenken, who also won the Crystal Bear for her previous feature film, My Skinny Sister, at the 2015 Berlinale.

– I am really happy, and excited that the film has resonated with the audience. And how lovely that my Bear at home gets some company, says director Sanna Lenken.

Motivation of the Jury: "A great protagonist, powerful and vulnerable at the same time, provided us with her captivatingly told, bittersweet story of loss, grief, anger and healing. This film was a rollercoaster ride full of emotions: sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing. The music was always most appropriate and appealing. The camera was occasionally stable, yet also shaky. In a word, the film was superb."

Comedy Queen had its international premiere in the Generation Kplus section at the festival. The film is about 13-year-old Sasha (Sigrid Johnson). She suffers from immeasurable grief but is determined to save both herself and her father (Oscar Töringe) from the sorrow. Her plan is to make everyone laugh again, she wants to become a stand-up comedian – a Comedy Queen!

Sanna Lenken’s latest work is the critically acclaimed and hugely popular tv-series Thin Blue Line for SVT. Recently she also directed episodes of the Viaplay original series Thunder In My Heart. She was nominated for Guldbagge Awards for her short films Eating Lunch (2014) and Night Child (2018) and made her feature debut with My Skinny Sister (2015), which apart from the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale also picked up the Audience Award at Göteborg Film Festival.

Comedy Queen was written by Linn Gottfridsson, based on the novel by Jenny Jägerfeld, and also stars Ellen Taure, Anna Bjelkerud, Adam Daho and Iggy Malmborg. Produced by Anna Anthony and Rebecka Lafrenz, FLX, in co-production with Film i Väst, SVT and SF Studios and with support from the Swedish Film Institute, film commissioner Jenny Gilbertsson. Sales by REinvent International Sales. SF Studios handles distribution in Sweden, where the film premiered on February 11 and is currently showing at cinemas.

Read more about the Swedish films at this year's Berlinale.