Nordisk Panorama News
November 2015
Lots of Nordic Docs at IDFA – Meet Us There
At IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, (18-29 November) no less than 29 films from the Nordic countries can be enjoyed in the different sections of the festival and the Nordisk Panorama team will be there promoting Nordic docs. We are available as your Nordic point of contact, so don’t be a stranger.
The Nordic countries are also very well represented at the IDFA Forum with 16 Nordic projects out of a total of 59 in the official selection, which means that no less than 27% of the projects have Nordic input. Against last year’s 18% this goes to show that Nordic docs are thriving! 9 of these projects have previously been presented at Nordisk Panorama Forum. We congratulate them on being selected and are looking forward to following them at IDFA.
Forum Manager Christina Jul Gregersen and Forum Coordinator Lea Maria Strandbæk Sørensen will be at IDFA attending the IDFA Forum where Christina will work as a matchmaker, facilitating interaction between forum participants.
Reach Christina by email or at +45 6131 8539.
Podcast From This Year’s Festival
A podcast is now available from this year’s edition of Nordisk Panorama – Nordic Short & Doc Film Festival which took place during six intense days in September.
Did you miss out on the festival, or do you happen to feel like the time until next year is going way too slow? Then this is the podcast for you. During the festival in September, podcast makers Frida Anund and Johanna Persson recorded and made interviews with film makers, staff and volunteers.
In this podcast they invite you to enjoy some of the golden moments of the festival of 2015.
6th Finnish NP Town Hall Sparks Industry Discussion Around Partnerships
Earlier this month the 6th Finnish Nordisk Panorama Town Hall took place in collaboration with Helsinki Short Film Festival. The subject up for discussion was “Commercial and Social Partners in Production and Distribution of Short- and Documentary Films”.
The NP Town Hall was moderated by the director of the Helsinki festival, Elina Rislakki. The panelists were: Timo Argillander / IPR VC, Atte Laurila / Lasso Entertainment, Marko Talli / Yellow Film & TV, Arthur Franck / 4KRS Films and Erkko Lyytinen / Yle. The Town Hall was hosted by Sami Jahnukainen, producer of films like The Punk Syndrome and Once I Dreamt of Life and also vice chairman of the Nordisk Panorama board.
Once again the town hall was very well attended and the participants actively took part in the discussion. Many considered the discussion extremely valuable and informative. This confirms the need and will of the industry to gather around important issues under the umbrella of the NP Town Hall.
After the discussion, a new member of the Finnish reference group of NP was selected in an election between candidates who had expressed interest through an open call. One reference group in each Nordic country serves as advisors to Nordisk Panorama in their specific territory. Producer Liisa Juntunen from Napafilms won the election, and she will start in the reference group on 1 January 2016.
THE WHY Calls for Films & New Partners
Non-profit media organization THE WHY (former STEPS International) producing, commissioning and distributing high-quality factual films to a global audience is calling for films and partners for two projects: Why Slavery and World Stories. Read more about THE WHY here.
Why Slavery?
Why Slavery? Is a cross-media global documentary project of powerful and fact-based stories on modern slavery, aimed at creating a global conversation on the issue of modern slavery today – such as discrimination, human trafficking and child labour.
THE WHY is developing six one-hour and a number of short documentary films, directed by internationally acclaimed filmmakers, to be launched simultaneously through a network of more than 70 broadcasters – to an estimated 500 million audience.
THE WHY is looking for new partners to support their effort and great stories to complete the Why Slavery-series – launched in spring 2017. Contact: slavery@thewhy.dk. Phone: +45 3169 9865.
World Stories
World Stories is a collection of 20 thought-provoking and inspiring documentary films targeting a global audience through low and middle income countries as well as world wide satellite channels.
The aim of the collection is to reach otherwise underserved communities with high quality journalism to ensure access to free information globally.
World Stories first season reached audiences in countries such as Bhutan, Palestine, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Columbia, Tanzania and many more. The films are dubbed into local language versions and distributed to broadcasters around the world.
THE WHY is looking for great stories for World Stories Season 2, more broadcasters to show the films, and new partners to support their efforts. Contact: worldstories@thewhy.dk. Phone: +45 3169 9865.
Good Pitch Europe: Returns to the Nordic Countries – Sweden!
Good Pitch Europe returns to the Nordic countries in May 2016, this time to the Swedish capital, Stockholm. BritDoc is calling out to European filmmakers working on social and environmental justice film projects to apply by the 1 December deadline.
What’s the big idea behind Good Pitch? Take a look at this page on the Good Pitch website for a grounding on what is (and what isn’t) a Good Pitch film, what the opportunities are, and what other films have walked away with.
They are looking for films which tackle a national or global issue, with something important to show us about the world or ourselves. They welcome films of any style – personal, observational, essays, presenter-led, verite… Projects can be at any stage from early production to completion and even early festival circuit (although rough cut stage is ideal), and they should be 60+ minutes in length (although they welcome plans to make shorter versions).
Apply for Good Pitch Europe 2016 here.
Return To Finland: Impact Producers Lab
In preparation for May’s Good Pitch Europe, BritDoc will be returning to the delightful surroundings of Hameenlinna in Finland for an Impact Producers Lab from 13-16 January 2016.
Both in the US and Europe more funds are now available to pay for ‘outreach and engagement’ to ensure films hit their target audiences. However, there is a shortage of professionals to handle this work. Just as films have producers to manage the creative and financial process from script to screen, some films now need specialised impact producers to take the film from completion to impact.
BritDoc is helping to train up this new generation, and this winter they are looking to select eight individuals from Europe who are either already doing this work, or ready to step into this role.
Anyone from the European Union eager to learn more about how to use your film as a tool for social or environmental change can apply. They are looking to work with established professionals from the worlds of film, campaigning, journalism, politics and marketing and PR.
Apply for the Impact Producers Lab 2016 here.
Pulse Britdoc Launch the Genesis Fund: For Boldly Creative Docs
BritDoc and production company Pulse Films have recently launched a new fund, The Pulse BritDoc Genesis Fund, created to champion highly original non-fiction cinema.
The first recipient of a £5,000 funding grant is filmmaker Khalik Allah (Field Niggas) for his upcoming project Jamaica.
The fund has been established to provide much needed early financial support to documentary cinema driven by imaginative and innovative storytelling. Without the requirement of seeing footage, the fund will give out up to 10 x £5,000 awards per year to help filmmakers experiment with form and approach.
Filmmakers don’t need to be already working with either Pulse or BritDoc or work with them afterwards – filmmakers will retain all their rights and options. The two organisations aim to offer further funding and a Pulse/BritDoc co-production offer to at least two of the ten grantees to help take the films through production, completion, launch and distribution.
The fund is open to directors of any nationality, living anywhere. Directors of any level of experience, from first to last film can apply. Projects need to be very early stage. The deadline for application is 29 February 2016.
More information about the fund and to apply click here.
EDN Announces Comprehensive Research on Creative Documentary Financing
In a conference held by European Documentary Network, EDN, during CPH:DOX, EDN Director Paul Pauwels and Eline Livémont from Vrije Universiteit Brussel announced a long-term commitment to researching the development of financing schemes for creative documentaries across Europe. EDN aims to gather facts and data about the status of documentary financing in collaboration with several renowned European universities.
During the conference, Eline Livémont presented the first research results that compare the financing economy for creative documentaries in Flanders/Belgium and The Netherlands. Although the two countries are close to each other, share a similar language and culture, there are considerable differences.
Analyzing the financial support for documentaries over time and in different countries will allow for illustrating trends caused by budget cuts, new business models, economical changes and different policies that determine the overall role of documentaries in our society. The main task will be to look at financial mechanisms supporting creative documentaries on different levels throughout European countries.
Eline Livémont and Paul Pauwels encouraged the audience, and the documentary sector in general, to support the upcoming efforts by contributing with their information and experience on how the financing models affect their work and what tensions the economy has created for their profession, now and in the past.
Documentary filmmakers, funding bodies, broadcasters and a variety of other stakeholders will be involved to contribute to a pan-European study on the current state of financing schemes for creative documentaries in Europe.
Key take-aways of the conference were:
– the research is currently in the early stages but will have a pan-European focus
– the goal is to identify ‘general’ tensions and fields that need research attention
– the results will provide arguments for recommendations based on facts and data retrieved from the documentary industry
Names in the News
Who’s where now. Here are some of the headlines about names in the news:
Nordic Award Winners of 2015
Nordic short films and documentaries take home awards all over the world. Check out the Nordic short and doc award winners of 2015 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!