Church Film Prize of the INTERFILM Jury, Luebeck 2001

The Norwegian film “Elling” captivates the audience by means of its straightforward and deeply humorous story that shows in the example of two fundamentally different protagonists the fears, needs and possibilities of human existence. The former psychiatric patients Elling and Kjell Bjarne gain self-confidence and thus a greater feeling of self-value by coping with the world as we know it. In this way the director Petter Næss points to the fundamentals of human life and allows hope to arise.