FkN Newsletter
March #2 2010
FkN News
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Filmkontakt Nord hosts an umbrella stand for Nordic producers at Sunny Side of the Doc and facilitates co-production and distribution contacts on the international market. The event takes place in La Rochelle, France, in June, and the FkN registration deadline is 19 April. To learn more about what FkN is offering and how to participate, read here.
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The more than 250 submissions for the first Nordisk Panorama deadline on 15 February have now been processed, and the films that were entered for Nordisk Panorama Market Online are ready to be launched. Stay tuned for a plethora of new Nordic high-quality content to be released on Monday 29 March! Nordisk Panorama Market Online is available to buyers, festival programmers, distributors and sales agents around the clock at no charge. To learn more, read here. To submit your film for Nordisk Panorama Festival and Market, don't miss the deadline on 15 May. Read more here.
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Katrine Kiilgaard will be attending the International Film Festival Summit's Europe Conference in Amsterdam 8-9 April. Here she will join a panel on "Industry Meetings and Professional Development at Festivals" together with representatives from a.o. IDFA, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, German Film Export Union, and London Independent Film. To see the full conference agenda, read here.
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Katrine Kiilgaard will be attending MIPDoc and MIP-TV 10-14 April to promote the latest short and documentary films available at the Nordisk Panorama Market Online platform. To set up a meeting with Katrine Kiilgaard in Cannes at stand H4.35, send an email or call +45 3311 5152.
New Nordic and International Initiatives
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A new documentary slot on TV and full-length streaming of documentaries online, are new initiatives at SVT.
Documentaries aired on SVT TV can now be watched in full-length on SVT online, in combination with interviews, clips and latest news from the documentary film sector.
Since the sneak premiere in December last year, around 160.000 viewers have clicked a documentary title.
As part of the online initiative, SVT also plans to give exposure to interactive documentaries experimenting with form. Three films made in collaboration with students from the Södertörn Highschool are to premiere soon.
An independent section of SVT online is dedicated to shorts. The Oscar-nominated Instead of Abracadabra and Seeds of the Fall awarded in Cannes, both by Patrik Eklund, and the Nordisk Panorama award-winner Åsa Johannisson’s Fish, are among the titles available.
An additional SVT online initiative is to show clips from films in production.
New SVT DOX slot
From 30 March on, SVT offers the cream of Nordic and international award-winning documentaries on the new documentary slot DOX every Tuesday night at 22h.
Erik Gandini's Videocracy, Fredrik Gertten's Bananas!* and The Invisible Cell by Anders Riis-Hansen, 2009 are among the titles in this spring programming.
Like the Danish DR slot Documania, the intention of SVT's DOX slot is to offer ”riveting, engaging and provocating docs” with focus on newly produced documentaries as well as classics.
Read more here.
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With a new High Five initiative, Nordisk Film & TV Fond aims to support the development of cross media and provide quality content for children and youth on all platforms including film, TV and new media.
The initiative is targeted children aged 3-6 and 7-10.
The Nordisk Film & TV Fund wishes to encourage film and television production companies to collaborate with Nordic game suppliers to develop their skills and knowledge in cross media.
A selection of six cross media projects will receive development funding and access to international expertise.
To read more about the programmes and deadlines, click here.
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As an incentive for established filmmakers to explore and challenge themselves in order to develop creatively, the Norwegian Film Institute has launched a new funding programme.
The Talent Programme, similar to the Danish counterpart New Danish Screen, offers financial support to established filmmakers who want to develop their skills during the development stage.
The programme runs parallel to NFI’s existing support schemes and consists of four development schemes covering feature length films, animation, documentaries and shorts.
In the selection process emphasis is given to the applicant’s potential for artistic development as well to his or hers earlier works.
NFI expects to give development funding to 8-10 documentaries and production support to 4-6 documentaries and short films in 2010.
There are no fixed deadlines for submissions.
The annual budget of the scheme is NOK 21 million. Head of the scheme is Eva Færevaag.
For more details about the scheme, see NFI's website.
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As a result of an agreement between the Tempo Documentary Film Festival and the new digital distribution company Cinestar, several titles screened at the Tempo Documentary Film Festival will now reach a larger audience on new digital platforms.
Cinestar launched in Sweden this March, is operating with VOD and streaming video using a per-per-view model.
Describing itself as an alternative distribution platform, Cinestar will focus on the Nordic territories and invite producers and single right-holders to collaborate on non-exclusive terms.
The Cinestar website will be launched later this spring offering an online catalogue including art house, cinema, documentaries, contemporary world cinema, classics. Special attention is given to films that have been in the festival circuit. A few selected titles will be distributed on DVD and theatrically.
To learn more about Cinestar, contact Head of Distribution is Patrick Sobieski.
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With an additional DKK 5 million from Danish Broadcast Corporation, DR, the fund to support children's animation films set up by the Danish Film Institute as part of the Danish film deal, now has a budget of DKK 15 million. In 2010 the fund will support 4-8 animated films to be aired on DR's Children's Channel Ramasjang.
The initiative is aimed at younger professional directors, trained in animation, who have not yet signed a feature length film or longer TV-series. The fund supports films of 25-45 minute with a max. price of DKK 80.000. Per minute. Upcoming deadlines are 1 May for development support and 1 October for production support.
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Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s pilot programme High Five International Cinema Distribution Support Scheme is continued until 2012.
This means that non-Nordic distributors interested in acquiring and releasing Nordic films in their territories can apply for non-refundable grants ranging from DKK 7.500 to a maximum of DKK 150.000. The programme is financed by Nordic Council of Ministers.
A broadening of the initial scheme makes all Nordic features and documentary films eligible for distribution on the condition that they have had a previous theatrical release domestically or an international launch after 1 October 2009.
The first application deadline for the High Five International Cinema Distribution Support is 16 August 2010.
For more information, see Nordisk Film & TV Fond's website.
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The Copenhagen Film Festivals: CPH:DOX, CPH:PIX and BUSTER, the Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and youth receive DKK 4 million from the Danish Film Institute.
In 2008 the three festivals merged into the Copenhagen Film Festivals with the objective to strengthen the organisational frame work. Each of the festivals has maintained a distinct profile and over the years the Copenhagen festivals have enjoined an increasing popularity among both local and international audiences.
Next upcoming festival is CPH:PIX that runs from 15-25 April.
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Due to financial cuttings in public budgets, the regional Danish film fund, FilmFyn, loses local investment from the municipality of Langeland.
Out of an annual budget of 12 million of which approx. 7 million are invested in feature films shot in the area, FilmFyn will lose DKK 350.000 in 2010 and in 2011 DKK 600.000, representing the entire local investment from the municipality of Langeland.
In spite of the reduced budget FilmFyn will continue its activities but will turn towards alternative funding from the region and The Danish Film Institute.
Read more here.
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From 22 March, Norwegian households connected to Canal Digital can enjoy documentary programmes on TV4 Fakta that now launches in Norway.
Until 1 June the channel can be watched for free. After this date, TV4 Fakta will be available in selected TV-packages.
TV4 started to broadcast in Sweden and Finland in 2005 and is owned by Sweden's TV4 group, itself controlled by the Bonnier Group.
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The competitive section for short documentaries at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, IDFA, no longer exists. Instead, selected short docs are now included in the non-competitive sections Reflecting Images, the IDFA Competition for First Appearance, IDFA Competition for Student Documentary, Paradocs or the IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary. The latter has changed name from Premieres from the Lowlands.
More about changes of regulations and deadlines on IDFA's website.
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This year’s edition of the global web-based short film festival Babelgum will provide a simultaneous mobile and online viewing platform and voting features for the worldwide community of viewers.
Created in 2007, the Babelgum festival is dedicated to independent short films and aims to provide a global showcase for emerging film talents all over the world.
Films running up to 15 minutes are eligible for four categories: Animation, Narrative, Non-narrative and Documentary.
Read more about the festival here.
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The Tampere Film Festival and the digital distribution company reelport join forces to implement a festival submission workflow without DVDs by digitising all short film submissions to European film festivals.
The Tampere Film Festival will be responsible for the digitisation process and reelport will do the encoding and make the films available for streaming and downloads.
More than 3.500 titles have alreday been digitised for the Video Library in Tampere, and the festival estimates that more than 10.000 short films will be available by the end of the year for festivals participation in the digitising scheme.
Festivals interested in joining the distribution scheme, read more here.
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A good pitch is essential for raising interest and money for a project. It’s the first step towards bringing an idea to the screen, so a lot is at stakes when pitching.
On the regional film initiative Filmkraft Rogaland's website, Mike Robinson, advisor and moderator for Cartoon Forum and Cartoon Movie and a pitch expert, offers advice on how to succeed your pitch in his mini-guide.
The Guide is divided in a To Do and a To Avoid section, for example: Know your market, Be prepared! And Show passion!
The Guide can be found here.
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Illegal downloads and file sharing is happening every day, and the creative industries in Europe suffer important economic losses as a consequence of digital piracy.
A new study carried out by The International Chamber of Commerce’s BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy) shows how piracy has provoked massive losses of jobs in the European creative industries.
According to the study, 185.000 jobs were lost in 2008 as a consequence of piracy, and it predicts losses up to 1.3 million by 2015.
14 million people work in the creative industries in Europe, representing 6.5% of the total work force and these workers contribute with 6.9% to the total European GDP.
The study emphasizes the need to call for action towards a legislative initiatives in the area.
Read more about the study here.
