Nordisk Panorama News
January 2015
Nordisk Panorama Director Katrine Kiilgaard Steps Down
As of 31 March 2015, managing director of Nordisk Panorama Katrine Kiilgaard has resigned in order to move on to new challenges. Associated with the organisation since 2000, Kiilgaard has been a key driver in its development over the years. She took the helm in 2011 when the organisation like many cultural organisations was faced with trying times. Kiilgaard worked with the board to come up with new models for Nordisk Panorama to ensure its future as the most important industry platform for the Nordic short and documentary film community.
Read the full press release here.
The board of Nordisk Panorama is currently calling for a new director across the Nordic countries in addition to a part time programmer for the 26th edition of the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, taking place in September.
NP Nomadic Office: Project Consultancy at Tempo 2015
At this year’s Tempo Documentary Festival taking place 2-8 March 2015, Nordisk Panorama offers individual project consultancy regarding Nordic and international financing of documentaries.
Swedish filmmakers with new documentary projects will have the opportunity to get feedback on their project’s Nordic/international potential as well as tips for further development and possible financiers. A limited number of projects will get consultancy. The consultations will take place Thursday 5 March according to individual appointments.
Deadline for submission of projects: 13 February 2015.
Read more on how to apply here.
Meet Us at GIFF, the Berlinale & in Clermont-Ferrand
Director Katrine Kiilgaard will attend Göteborg International Film Festival 29-30 January 2015. 6-10 February she will be at the Berlinale.
Market Manager Jing Haase already visited Göteborg International Film Festival 24-25 January to be present at the short film fair Sunday 25 January.
In the coming week Jing can be found in Clermont-Ferrand from 1-5 February. Besides promoting Nordisk Panorama to an ever expanding network of professionals, Jing is present in Clermont-Ferrand to promote the Nordic shorts & docs at our streaming service Nordisk Panorama Market Online, available for free to buyers, sales agents and festivals on the look-out for high quality Nordic content.
Four Nordic countries are represented with a film in competition at Clermont-Ferrand. See the list of films here.
To set up a meeting with Jing, send her an email or contact her at +45 3132 0212. To reach Katrine, send her an email or call her at +45 2042 4529.
Get a Discount to Hot Docs with the Nordic Delegation
Registration for North America’s top doc event Hot Docs in Toronto, Canada has just opened! Nordisk Panorama is coordinating the Nordic delegation to Hot Docs, securing Nordic professionals value-for-money access.
Nordic participants can sign up for the Nordic delegation by 18 March 2015 and get a discounted all access pass for only CAD 600 ex. tax (early-bird price CAD 775)! Read more on how to be part of the delegation here.
DFI Cuts Jobs & Restructures the Organisation
To meet the objectives set by the new Film Agreement 2015-18 and create a more flexible, open and efficient organisation the Danish Film Institute is now restructuring and cutting down the middle management from 22 to 14 people.
As of 1 February, the DFI will consist of two main departments instead of four.
Claus Ladegaard, current Head of Production and Development, will oversee all funding decisions for the new department ‘Film Støtte’ (Film Support) with its four units: Fiction, Documentary, Talent/Media and the newly created International division. Noemi Ferrer, current DFI International Producer Feature Films has been promoted Head of International.
Jakob Buhl Vestergaard, current Head of Administration, will manage DFI’s second main department ‘Filmhus’ (Film House) combining the Cinematheque, Archives & Digitisation (headed by Lena Halvor Petersen), IT and Resources.
Ladegaard and Vestergaard will report to DFI’s CEO Henrik Bo Nielsen and together the three senior executives will constitute DFI’s management team. A separate unit, Børn & Unge Univers (Children & Youth Universe) headed by Claus Hjorth will report directly to the CEO.
Steffen Andersen-Møller, current Head of Audience & Promotion will depart at the end of the month to take the helm of Copenhagen Film Festivals.
Good Pitch Europe 2015 Projects Announced
This March Good Pitch will be hosted by the Nordic countries for the very first time, taking place at the Opera House in Oslo, Norway on 25 March 2015. Seven documentaries have been selected to pitch and the European line up of projects include two Nordic teams:
- The Borneo Case by Dylan Williams & Erik Pauser, illegal logging and money laundering in Borneo
- Rebels! by Kari Anne Moe, school dropouts in Norway and the inspiring programme set up to reintegrate them into society
Good Pitch connects social justice films with new allies and partners. It’s an invitation-only event where, after months of careful preparation and strategising, seven filmmaking teams pitch their feature documentary and its associated audience engagement campaign in front of a live audience of funders and changemakers. Good Pitch brings together independent documentary films with organisations that have innovation and social change at their heart.
The independent documentary film projects will be pitched to an invited group of leading European foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, policymakers, brands and media with the aim of creating unique coalitions around each film to maximise its social or environmental impact.
Good Pitch is made by BRITDOC – a nonprofit foundation based in London – in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. See the full Good Pitch Europe line up here and read more about Good Pitch Europe here.
New Talent Association in Northern Europe
The independent film and media workshops in Northern Europe have until recently lacked an association to unite them, but now a number of film workshops and media centres in Northern Europe have founded Screen Talent Europe, a new network organisation aimed at helping talented filmmakers in the region.
The ambition is to have a united Northern European network organisation to help nurture and further develop the work of talented filmmakers in the region. The organisation wants to share ideas, information and experiences, create cross-national co-productions and contribute to further internationalisation within the environments of talent development.
The new organisation is to be a strong platform for a professional and political network organisation that will also improve on and develop the Nordic film workshop model – as well as helping countries like Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Greenland create and develop film workshops according to similar educational and professional principles.
The workshops and media centres represent support talent development through access to equipment, seminars and workshops rather than financial support. Their work is reflected by a “learning by doing” ethos, collaborating closely with companies within the industry.
Danish Animation Award is Now Oscar™-Qualifying
The grand prix of the animation competition at Odense International Film Festival becomes a short cut for animators to Hollywood’s golden statuette in 2015.
In 2013, Odense Intl’ Film Festival, became the first Danish festival to be ’Oscar-qualifying’, being granted the privilege of sending the two winners of the Danish and International competitions on to be judged in The Academy Awards’ Short Film category. Now the winner of the animation prize, receiving the Børge Ring Award will also have the chance of getting screened by the selection jury at the Short Film Branch of the Academy.
According to an overwhelmed and proud Søren Fleng, Head of the Danish Animation Society (ANIS), this new status raises the stakes for Danish animators: ”Danish animators are already featured in the biggest Hollywood productions and in best-selling computers games around the world. Danish animation is a field with overwhelming growth potential – if we play our cards right!”
OFF15 recently opened for submissions and the deadline is 1 April 2015. Read more at Odense International Film Festival’s website.
NFTF Celebrates 25th Anniversary
2015 marks the 25th anniversary of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which will be celebrated today in association with the opening of the Nordic Film Market at Göteborg International Film Festival as a celebration of Nordic films, TV productions and talents.
Set up in 1990 by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the five Nordic film institutes and selected local broadcasters to promote film and TV productions in the five Nordic countries, the fund has evolved over the years and what started as a political initiative has become a content hub.
A total of 1,400 features, creative documentaries and TV dramas have received cumulative funds of more than NOK 1.6 billion during the past 25 years and the number of projects supported annually has grown from 22 the first year to 57 in 2014. You can read much more about the fund at its website.
NFTF will continue to support Nordic flagship productions that clearly build the global image and benefit the entire region, while fostering the new voices of tomorrow. And as Nordisk Film & TV Fond is entering its new five-year Agreement, the fund is tuning up for the digital age, adapting to new distribution models and targeting designated audience groups, for instance with the new ‘Nordic Genre Boost’ initiative.
A big congratulations goes out to Nordisk Film & TV Fond from the Nordisk Panorama team!
Names in the News
Who’s where now. Here are some of the headlines about names in the news:
- Steffen Andersen-Møller New CEO of Copenhagen Film Festivals
- Sheffield Doc/Fest CEO & Festival Director Heather Croall Steps Down
- Claire Aguilar Joins the Sheffield Doc/Fest Team
- New Shorts & Docs Commissioner for Children at DFI
- Kari Moen Kristiansen New Short Film Commissioner at NFI
- New CEO of the Nordic Culture Fund
Congratulations to the Nordic Award Winners of 2014
Nordic short films and documentaries take home awards all over the world. Check out the Nordic short and doc award winners of 2014 here. If your film receives an award this year, please let us know.
Dates & Deadlines Coming Up
Don’t be late! Find upcoming international deadlines for shorts & docs festivals, workshops, funding opportunities and much more here!
Nordisk Panorama – Nordic Short & Doc Film Festival
Malmö, Sweden, 18-23 September 2015
5-days of the best recent Nordic shorts & docs, seminars, workshops, great parties and not least the industry events NP Market and NP Forum. Organised by Nordisk Panorama, an organisation by and for the Nordic filmmakers.