FkN Newsletter
May 2010
FkN News
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27.05.2010
Filmkontakt Nord in Toronto, Annecy,
Grimstad and La Rochelle
FkN
will be out and about during June. In the beginning of the month, Jing
Haase will be in Toronto, Canada, where she’s in the international jury
of the Worldwide
Short Film Festival.
Straight back from Canada, Jing Haase is attending the animation market MIFA in Annecy, France, to meet with the Nordic delegates, maintain and expand FkN's international contacts and learn more about the newest films, ideas and projects. To set up a meeting with Jing Haase in Annecy, send her an email.
Mid-June, Karin Johansson-Mex will be in Grimstad for the Norwegian Short Film Festival. Besides watching Norwegian films, Karin is hosting FkN’s Nomadic Office, offering individual project consultancy to documentary producers.
Last but not least, Katrine Kiilgaard is in place at Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France, by the end of the month. Again this year, Filmkontakt Nord hosts an umbrella stand for Nordic producers and facilitates co-production and distribution contacts on the international market. The attending producers will enjoy a wide array of professional and social events arranged by FkN, on top of the official programme offered by Sunny Side of the Doc. You can learn more about FkN's International Market Platform here. To set up a meeting with Katrine Kiilgaard in La Rochelle, send her an email - or simply stop by the stand.
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27.05.2010
Strong Nordic Presence at
Hot Docs
With
an FkN delegation
of around 50 Nordic documentary professionals and 16
Nordic films in the programme, the Nordic presence was quite visible at
Hot Docs documentary film festival and market.
“The
Nordics have a strong documentary brand, and the selection of Nordic
documentary films was excellent,” says Hot Docs first-timer, producer
Louise Køster from Danish Pausefilm. Joining the FkN delegation was a
good opportunity for Louise Køster to meet commissioning editors and
future co-production partners, and to find financing for the
documentary projects, she brought with her. “I hope the meetings I had
with various producers will be the first step towards a co-production
with North America. It will mean a lot to the film and it is something
I work very hard on,” says Køster.
Louise Køster had a busy week at Hot
Docs, attending the Delegate Presentations, workshops, pitches and
financing meetings - not to mention the parties.“There are really a lot
of parties at Hotdocs! But the social aspect of a festival is equally
important. You need to nurse your own regional network as well, and I
always end up meeting a new ‘friend’ who can become a potential future
collaborator, says Køster.
A Nordic delegation to Sheffield is in the planning. Filmkontakt Nord will send out a call soon.
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Nordisk Forum Deadline approaching
The deadline for submission of projects to Nordisk Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries is fast approaching. Check out the guidelines and make sure you have everything ready and shipped on 14 June!
New Nordic and International
Initiatives
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Nordic Culture Action Plan for 2010-2012
The Nordic ministers of culture have agreed on a new vision and Action Plan for 2010-2012. Over the next two years a special focus will be given to globalisation, children, and young people.
To achieve these priorities, the Nordic Council of Ministers will collaborate closely with the Nordic art and cultural institutions.
The full version of the Action Plan and the vision of the Nordic culture ministers will be available online from 1 June.
In addition to the vision and Action Plan, the cultural co-operation reform introduced in 2007 was examined by the Nordic ministers. The structure of the Nordic co-operation has undergone changes in recent years, and the goal is to strengthen the more open and flexible trend with focus on the individual artist and popular forms of culture.
An new evaluation of cultural co-operation with completion in March 2011, has been commissioned.
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All Norwegian Screens Digitised in 2011
In just one year, all cinemas in Norway will be ready for digital screenings and equipped with 2K or 4K projectors.
As one of few countries in the world, Norway has closed deals with six major Hollywood studios for digital screenings. According to the industry organisation for Norwegian cinemas, Film & Kino, the conversion of all of Norway’s cinemas to digital will be the world’s first national non-commercial digital cinema rollout.
Since 2006, Film & Kino has supported two digital pilot projects concerning 33 cinemas all over Norway. Som cinemas and institutions have made individual investments in digital equipment, and the experience from the pilot projects has been decisive for the successful digital rollout.
30 cinemas will have a 4K Sony projector, which is the standard required by the big Hollywood studios to show their films digitally.
The digitisation process will begin this June in 37 theatres in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim and will run until April next year.
For more information, see Film & Kino's website.
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Danish Shorts and Docs on Filmstriben
The Danish Film Institute is in the process of digitising around 750 short- and documentary films for Internet streaming.
A funding of DKK 6 million has made it possible to move part of the Danish film heritage from the archives to the Internet. Short- and documentary films from the period 1975-1990, some of them originally produced for general educative purposes, will now be available on the streaming platform Filmstriben.
Around 80% of the Danish population will have acces to Filmstriben and be able to see the films on their home computers if they have Windows Media player installed.
For more information, visit Filmstriben.
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Nordic ‘ARTE’ Channel Closer to a “Go”
The talks of establishing of a joint Nordic TV channel based on the model of the bilingual French-German channel ARTE, are getting more concrete.
The plan has attracted serious attention in the Nordic countries, and a working group has been set up by the Nordic Council's Culture and Education Committee to work on a solution. The parliamentarians are inviting the Nordic film- and TV-industry and the Nordic public service TV-stations to take part in talks about a possible collaboration in the establishment of a cultural channel.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to establish a Nordic Culture channel will be taken by the governments of the Nordic countries.
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Regional Film Training Initiative
18 Frames is a new Danish initiative to create and secure a regional film environment in the areas outside the city of Copenhagen.
The aim of the association is to develop the members’ skills and qualifications to a level that makes them able to work professionally with film production.
18 Frames provides a two year professional film training course tailor-made to the students’ needs of qualifications. All tutors are industry professionals, and training includes class-room courses, workshops and practical film production.
In addition to the film training courses, the association plans on developing a mobile knowledge centre, a socalled FilmBus intended for external film training courses and events.
For more information about 18 Frames, see here.
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IRIS Goes Online
A free online edition of the monthly legal media journal IRIS from the European Audiovisual Observatory, (EAO), is now available on subscription.
The European Audiovisual Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 36 member states and the European Community, represented by the European Commission. Its mission is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe.
IRIS reports on the latest legal developments concerning the audiovisual industries in the 36 European countries.
Articles deal with new court laws adopted, copyright issues, advertising, media concentration, content regulation and other important decisions in Europe related to the audiovisual industries.
The new electronic newsletter will also provide information on other legal publications from EAO, book tips about the latest publications on media law as well as news on related conferences and seminars.
For subscription to IRIS click here.
The European Audiovisual Observatory also launches the KORDA database online.
KORDA offers information on more than 170 public funding bodies and funding schemes to film and TV works in Europe.
The database is still in the process of completion, but the content is made available while the processing work is still going on.
See more on the KORDA website.
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DKK 25 mio. to Danish Film in New Media
Agreement
A new media agreement for 2011-2014
has been reached. One of the main headlines concerns TV's funding to
film production. The agreement will secure a better balance in the
production support to Danish films by reducing the economic obligations
of the two Danish public service TV stations and instead transfer a
corresponding DKK 25 mio. from the licence fees to the Danish Film
Institute.
According to the Media Agreement, the two public service
stations, DR and TV2 will contribute with each DKK 60 mio. over the next
four years.
The concluding negotiations taking place later this year
will show how the 25 mio. will be used.
Since 2007 DR has had
to invest DKK 77 mio. TV2 to DKK 68 mio each year in Danish film. This
gave the TV stations a certain right to decide which films should be
made and which not, a situation that was much criticized by the Danish
film industry. Through the new agreement, the private production sector,
as part of the audiovisual production for DR should be produced
externally of the corporation.
The current Media Agreement runs until
the end of the year. To read the full text of the media agreement (in
Danish), click here.
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Film Screenings in Somalian Refugee Camp
A group of people calling itself Ihle wants to set up film screenings in the refugee camp Al-Kharaz in Yemen where 13000 Somalian refuges live.
The initiative is taken in collaboration with the UN and ADRA and is an attempt to better the understanding and contact between Somalian refugees and the members of the humanitarian organisations. The idea is also to entertain and encourage as well as creating a learning environment for the camp habitants.
The Ihle group calls for donations of films of all genres and all topics to be shown in the camp. Films should be subtitled in English and a short synopsis should be included.
Until 15 June, films can be sent to Ihle.
For more information about Ihle and how to send a film copy, email.
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60 Second Film Competition 2010
2010 is the European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, and the European People’s Party calls on young European filmmakers to make a one-minute film about the subject: "Poverty in Europe: Can you picture a way out?"
The idea is to ask young people to show how they imagine their life would change if they lived on very low income and how the issue of poverty in the EU can be solved.
The film competition is open to all EU citizens who will be between the ages of 15 and 30 on 15 July 2010. The film should be no more and no less than 60 seconds, and it is allowed to send in more than one film. Deadline is 15 July 2010, and the winner will be announced in Brussels in October.
To read more about the EPP Group and the competition, see here.
