FkN Newsletter
June 2009
FkN News
Nordisk Forum Update
The
deadline for submissions to Nordisk Forum has come and gone. We have
received 74 applications for the 16th Nordisk Forum for Co-Financing of
Documentaries - a record number in the history of Nordisk Forum! The
projects have been submitted by producers from five Nordic and three
Baltic countries: 6 from Denmark, 5 from Estonia, 8 from Finland, 8
from Iceland, 2 from Latvia, 1 from Lithuania, 27 from Norway, and 17
from Sweden.
The
selection of the 22 projects to be pitched at Nordisk Forum will take
place in the beginning of July. The selected projects will be presented
in the next edition of the FkN Newsletter.
The
16th Nordisk Forum takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland 28-29 September in
conjunction with Nordisk Panorama - 5 Cities Film Festival.
International Guests in the FkN Video Library
During the summer, the following guests have visited Filmkontakt Nord's Video Library at the office in Copenhagen:
Festival Directors, Conrad Fields and André Babikian from Copenhagen Shortfilm, Denmark
Programmer, Grit Lemke from DOK Leipzig - International Festival for Documentary and Animated Films, Germany
Festival Director, Niclas Gillberg and programmer Andreas Gejke from Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden
Summertime at Filmkontakt Nord The
summer
is upon us, the sun is shining and we're all looking forward to getting
away from the hot office and into the beautiful weather. However, the
FkN office will be open all summer ... just for you!
Focus: New Nordic and International Initiatives
New Producers Association in Sweden
The
three
Swedish trade bodies, Swedish Film Producers, Swedish TV Producers and
Swedish Commercial Producers have joined forces and merged into one
organisation: Swedish Film & TV Producers Association. Representing
105 member companies, the new association is headed by Björn Rosengren,
former Swedish Minister of Industry, Employment and Communication. Read
more about the new association here.
MiniTV Launched in Norway
The
three leading broadcasters in Norway, NRK, TV 2 and MTG/Viasat, have
launched a new service called MiniTV. The service is on a trial basis until
July 2011 and will be free of charge upon the launch. Behind the MiniTV
initiative is Norges Mobil-TV (Norway's Mobile-TV), which is co-owned
by the three involved broadcasters.
With
the help of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), around a million
people in the area of Oslo will be able to watch 6 TV channels and
listen to 15 DAB radio channels through a mobile DMB device. The six
channels are: NRK1, NRK2, NRK3, TV 2, TV 2 Nyhetskanalen (News channel)
and TV3.
Norges Mobil-TV aims to
expand the service to areas outside of Oslo and to look for ways of
making the service cost effective until the trial period expires. Read
more about MiniTV here.
Film Censorship to be Abolished in Sweden
Sweden
was the first country in the world to introduce film censorship in
1911, and now the country is about to be the last of the Nordic
countries to abolish censorship for adult audiences. The proposal to
abolish adult cesorship includes the creation of a new body to protect
children and youth, that will oversee the film classification for
children under 15. It will be presented to the Swedish Parliament for
approval and is expected to be introduced in 2011.
Extra Millions for the Danish Public Service Fund
The
Danish Government has granted an extra DKK 20 million funding to the
Danish Public Service Fund. The new cash line comes on top of the
initial DKK 75 million grant that has been administered by the Danish
Film Institute, since the Public Service Fund's inception a year and a
half ago. The Public Service fund prioritises original and innovative
TV production and emphasises quality, versitility and variety.
DOK Leipzig with Nordic Focus
This year, DOK Leipzig looks to the north. The 5th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting
will a.o. focus on the Nordic countries and offer detailed insights
into the documentary film markets of these countries. DOK Leipzig
therefore urges producers from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to
come to Leipzig to network with their German collegues and kickstart
co-production projects.
Projects can be submitted until 27 July. See the call here (pdf) and check out DOK Leipzig's website.