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Nordisk Panorama Event 2007
- taking the pulse on the shorts and documentary scene: digital visions & voices of tomorrow!
This year's Nordisk Panorama took place in the City of Oulu, capital in a region uniting unique arctic cultural heritage with cutting-edge new technologies, a most appropriate location for an event that strives to join strong tradition with original vision. Appropriately the Festival's tagline was, "Where Nordic Silence ends and Arctic Madness begins".
The event's guiding light embraced 'digital vision & voices of tomorrow' in a number of ways. The festival launched the new competition, NPIntr07: New Nordic Voices, presenting 15 shorts and docs by new upcoming filmmakers, sponsored by Nordic regional film centres. On the same note, the 2nd Nordic Short Film Circle entitled "Where do all the Short Films go", presented two young filmmakers who are working under the radar of the Film Establishment: Lasse Gjertsen and André Hedetoft, both part of the virtual film community, producing and distributing exclusively on the internet. The Nordic website, dvoted, dedicated to stimulating the filmmakers of the future, was in place in Oulu as well. And finally, new media moguls gave their general view of how the business works in the new forms of media at the The Neo Arena seminar.
Nordisk Panorama 2007 was attended by some 500 professionals from 22 countries, attending festival screenings, taking part in seminars, assessing the 299 films in Nordisk Panorama Market and paving the way for new documentary projects at Nordisk Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries.
Among the international guests NP07 was happy to welcome were representatives from a.o. Canal+ France, ARTE France, ZDF, Netherlands Public Broadcasting, the Nordic public service broadcasters as well as the international film festivals, Clermont-Ferrand Int. Short Film Festival, Curtas Vila do Conde, Indie Lisboa, Animatricks, Tempo Dokumentärfestival, Tampere International Short Film Festival, TekFestival and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, in addition to the international distributors, Italian Villages Srl., Films Transit International Inc., Channel Zero and SND Films as well as Balkankult Foundation.
Although we have barely landed after NP07 in Oulu, preparations are already in full swing for next year's Nordisk Panorama in Malmö, 26 September - 1 October 2008. Reserve the dates right away - we are looking forward to seeing you there!
The FkN Online Screening Room
Since the beginning of October, the FkN Online Screening Room has been visited by buyers, distributors and festival programmers from around the globe.
The feedback from the viewers is very positive and we once again recommend, that producers post your own films and buyers, distributors and programmers sign up for access.
FOCUS: NEW NORDIC AND INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES
The Producers' Strike in Finland
On 3 September 2007, 31 Finnish film producers decided to go on production strike when the government didn't keep it's promise to raise the film budget for 2008 by 8%, from the current €13.5 million to €14.7 million in 2008. In the official statement, the producers stressed that the strike was not directed against The Finnish Film Foundation, distributors or cinemas, and especially not against the audience.
The strike ended 6 November even though no final promises have been made. In an official statement, the 31 striking producers said that the discussions that followed their protest movement have been constructive and that the producers trust the Parliament to make the right decisions and increase the public support for film production in 2008.
New Competition in Tampere
The 38th Tampere Film Festival (5-9 March 2008) introduces a new competition program alongside the International and Finnish competitions. The new competition, titled LAB1O, is dedicated to films with specially innovative substance and technique, films that develop new solutions and are creative in a new way. The LAB1O Competition views and displays works that boldly reside in the frontiers between film, visual art, photography and technology. Read more about the festival, regulations and deadlines on www.tamperefilmfestival.fi.
New Swedish Film Site Launched
The Swedish Film Institute has initiated an online film magazine. The site is aimed at everybody who works with or is interested in films. It contains daily news, interviews, analyses, debates and discussion forums. You can also find the film workers' catalogue, where all Swedish professionals can register. The magazine is in Swedish and can be found on www.filmnyheterna.se.
Skandinavia Makes Deal with Trust Film Sales
Danish TV station Skandinavia has made a deal with Trust Film Sales concerning the sale and distribution of their catalogue to the world market on Skandinavia's coming VoD platform. The platform has received €1m from Media and will be launched 1 May, 2008.
Work in Progress Competition
The online community NomadsLand is partnering with Docs in Progress to curate a special works-in-progress documentaries for international filmmakers seeking to gain feedback on their rough cuts. Anyone can upload a 10-minute segment of their unfinished documentary. Semi-finalists will be included on a special Works in Progress section of Nomadsland.com and 2 winners (one short documentary, one feature documentary) will be selected for a Docs in Progress workshop in Washington DC. Read more about NomadsLand and the competition here.
Major Danish Festivals Set To Merge
The Natfilm Festival and the Copenhagen International Film Festival, the two leading festivals in the Danish capital are set to merge. Both festivals have agreed that having two major film events in a small country like Denmark doesn't make sense and is too costly for all parties involved. The new organisation behind the future Copenhagen film event will also oversee the popular CPH:DOX Documentary Film Festival and Buster Children's Film Festival.
NAMES IN THE NEWS
Nina Refseth has been appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Church affairs as the new head of the national film body in Norway. Like her Nordic counterparts in Sweden and Denmark, Nina Refseth has a background in the publishing world, where she has been running the publishing company Det Norske Samlaget. She will take over her new position effective 1 January, 2008. The new centralised body - which will be established 1 April, 2008 - will replace the existing Norwegian Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Fond, the Norwegian Film Development Agency, and the Norwegian Film Commission.
Production consultant Petri Kemppinen is the new Head of International Affairs and Development in the Finnish Film Foundation.
The Finnish Film Foundation has appointed two new Production Consultants, script writer and dramaturg Jukka Asikainen and Kaisu Isto, who has worked in the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE as an international TV buyer.
The Danish Ministry of Culture has appointed Christian S. Nissen, former General Director of DR, as new member of the board of the Danish Film Institute. Christian S. Nissen succeeds Torben Krogh, who passed away in June.
Norwegian Film Fond has appointed a new board. Director Turid Hundestad is the new Chairman and lawyer Mette Møller Vice Chairman. The board will continue its work until the new national film body in Norway is established.
TV2 Denmark has hired Merete Eldrup as its new CEO. Eldrup has spent ten years at JP/Politikens Hus as the media group's managing director. She replaces Per Mikael Jensen who has returned to Metro International as its new international chief executive after less than a year at TV2 Denmark.
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