FkN Newsletter
February 2008
FkN News
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New Director at Filmkontakt Nord
Since 10 January, Karin Johansson-Mex is the new director of
Filmkontakt Nord. Karin started out studying documentary filmmaking
at the Nordens Folkhögskola Biskops Arnö and continued her studies at
The Academy of Art College in San Francisco, USA. Since then she has
worked as a producer of film and cultural production in many various
forms. Karin first got aquainted with Filmkontakt Nord working as the
festival director of the Nordisk Panorama in Malmö, 2003. She has
recently worked as the Regional Coordinator of Film Production at the
Department of Economic Development & Innovation of Skåne, Sweden.
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Nomadic Office and Receptions in Stockholm and Tampere
There will be time for work as well as party when FkN's Nomadic Office
once again settles in respectively Tampere and Stockholm during this
year's Tampere Film Festival and Tempo Documentary Festival – both
taking place next week. At these events, Swedish and Finnish
filmmakers who have signed up and sent their new documentary projects
beforehand will benefit from individual consultancy regarding their
project's Nordic/International potential as well as get tips for
further development and possible financiers. The meetings take place at
respectively Hotel Scandic Malmen in Stockholm and the Tampere Film
Festival Centre, Bravo Plaza. Here, FkN also hosts the now traditional
FkN receptions. Once again, we hope to see old and new contacts for a
drink, while we inform about the highlights of this year's Nordisk
Panorama – 5 Cities Film Festival and introduce our new director Karin
Johansson-Mex as well as this year's festival director Lisa Nyed. Come
meet us Thursday 6th at 17:30-18:30 at Hotell Scandic Malmen in Stockholm and Saturday 8th at
18:00-19:30 in Tampere. We are looking forward to see you!
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Nordisk Panorama Market Goes Digital - and 24/7!
As of this year there won't be any DVD cassettes handed over the
counter at Nordisk Panorama Market, since all the films will be digital
and available through the brand new FkN video on demand system. This
allows several people to watch the film at the same time and thus
optimizes the single film's possibility of being screened more by
attending international festival programmers, buyers and sales agents
on the look-out for Nordic high quality content.
The system is already up and running online. Last October FkN launched
a so called VIP Screening Room in a password protected area at www.filmkontakt.com,
accessible to festival programmers, buyers, distributors and sales
agents. As of now, some 50 films are available for streaming in full
length, but the number will increase to include the newest 250-300
titles by this year's Nordisk Panorama festival and market in the end
of September. After the festival, users of the online VIP Screening
Room can be sure to find the films that were selected for the short and
documentary competitions at Nordisk Panorama if they didn't catch them
during the festival or along the way. Filmmakers should be prepared to
deliver their new films in the right format for the digital platform.
You can find all the information you need here and register your films here.
Also, you are more than welcome to deliver full-length films as well as
trailers for the digital platform for already registered titles. See
you online!
Focus: New Nordic and International Initiatives
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Channel 4 Finland and Kanal 5 Sweden New Partners in Nordisk Film & TV Fond
Finland'
Channel/Nelonen and Sweden's Kanal 5 have joined Nordisk Film & TV
Fond (NFTF), thereby increasing the number of Partners from 15 to 17,
allowing producers more options to seek funding and access NFTF's
top-up financing scheme. Hanne Palmquist, CEO of NFTF, explains the
key benefit of the additional 2 partners: "One of our key guidelines
for funding is that producers must have a broadcasting contract with
one or more of our Partners. The addition of Channel 4 and Kanal 5
brings our broadcasting partners from 9 to 11, so this increases the
number of potential investors production companies can seek funding
from." To read more about NFTF, click here.
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New Partnership between Nordisk Film and Zentropa
Nordisk Film and Zetropa join forces. Nordisk Film has acquired 50% og
the shares in Zetropa Folket Aps. The ambition is to create a basis
for further creative and commercial growth in Zentropa, including
expanding the number of international productions. Peter Aalbæk Jensen
continues as Managing Director of Zentropa, which in the future will be
managed in an equal partnership between Nordisk Film and the existing
shareholders.
At the same time, Nordisk Film International Sales and Trust Film Sales - Zentropa's sales division - have made a historic co-operation deal, aiming to establish a united international sales set-up. The new collaboration was lauched at the Berlinale's European Film Market. The sales team for both companies remain unchanged but there will be one common name, and sub labels, for the new sales operation. All family films, genre films and films for TV will be launched under the Nordisk Film whether it comes from Trust or Nordisk. The Trust label will represent Zentropa's titles, Nordisk's quality arthouse films, as well as a few selective pick ups with real potential on the theatrical market. On the Nordic distribution front, all Zentropa titles will be represented by Nordisk Film.
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Extra Film Funding in Finland
Following the 3 month strike by
Finnish producers, the Finnish Minister of Culture and Sport, Stefan
Wallin, has announced that an extra €2 million grant coming from the
Lottery funds will be earmarked for film in 2008. Of this amount, €
1.7 million will go towards production support, and the rest for the
digitalisation of small cinemas in the countryside as well as for
children's film production.
The Finnish film producers started their
historical stike on 3 September, when the government failed to keep its
promise to increase production funding for 2008 by €1.2 million. Now
with the extra €1.7 million in public funds, the overall 2008 budget
for film will be approximately €14.2 million and the Finnish Film
Foundation has promised to raise the maximum support per film from
€700,000 to €840,000.
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New Public Service Fund For Danish TV
Aim of the new Public
Service Fund is to contribute to the development of original and
innovative quality TV by supporting the development and production of
TV Dramas and TV documentaries on commercial terrestrial channels in
Denmark. The DKK 75 million fund is administered by the Danish Film
Institute on behalf of the Danish government. A three-member steering
committee, consisting of Claus Ladegaard (Head of Production and
Development/Danish Film Institute), Bo Damgaard (former programme
director /TV2 Denmark) and Magdalena Jangaard (former Head of
Drama/SVT), will oversee the selection process. The first round of
applications will be on 11 February. For more information, criteria and
conditions, click here.
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Dramatiska Institutet Re-launches Documentary Programme
This
autumn Dramatiske Institutet - University College of Film, Radio,
Television and Theatre (Stockholm, Sweden) re-launches a documentary
programme. The former programme, 'Regi dokumentärfilm', was shut down
in 2001 and is now re-launched as a three year course. The new
programme teaches not only directing but also provides knowledge of
photo, sound and editing. Read more on Dramatiska Institutet's website.
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New Children's Channel at NRK
In December, NRK lauched a new
Children's Channel, NRK Super. The channel will air every day between
07.00 and 19.00. 80 % of the programmes will be in Norwegian and only
25 % will be inhouse productions. The early slots (07.00-13.30) are for
the youngest children (2-7 years) and the later slots are dedicated the
older children (8-12 years). Furthermore, Manaid-tv, Samian children's
TV, airs 4 times per week.
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Scanpix Launches Stockshot Archive
The digital online
service, Scanpix, is launching a stockshot archive. The service will be
built on the same principle as the traditional archives with advanced
search systems and consists of 3 main elements: an online archive, a
research service and a copyright clearance. The film and TV production
industry will be able to both buy and sell images through the new
archive.
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Umeå Filmfestival Closes
The cultural department of the municipality in Umeå has decided, after
22 years, to stop its financial support for Umeå International Film
Festival. As a direct consequence, the festival is closing down.
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Eave and Strategics Merge
From January 2008 Eave and Strategics have merged thus combining their
unique experience in professional media training. Following the merge
of the two organisations, Strategic's well known and successful Film
Finance Forum and Marketing Workshop will be managed by Eave. The Eave
and Strategics pedagogical and management teams will come together to
continue their programmes.
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EFA Awards in Copenhagen
For the first time, The European
Film Awards will be staged in a Nordic country, moving North this year
from Berlin to Copenhagen. The 21st European Film Awards will take
place on 6 December. When the members of the European Film Academy,
film stars, winners and nominees gather in the Danish capital for this
year’s European Film Awards, they will for the first time be joined by
members of the European high nobility. Their Royal Highnesses The Crown
Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will be among the
1,500 guests at the glamorous ceremony at the Forum in Copenhagen.
The European Film Academy (EFA) currently unites 1,800 European film professionals with the common aim of promoting European film culture. Throughout the year, the EFA initiates and participates in a series of activities dealing with film politics as well as economic, artistic, and training aspects. The programme includes conferences, seminars and workshops, and a common goal is to build a bridge between creativity and the industry. These activities culminate in the annual presentation of the European Film Awards. For more information on EFA and the Awards, click here.
