NEWS / REPORTS: Media trends in the Nordic countries

Nordicom's coverage of the media development in the Nordic countries, Europe and worldwide is reported under News and Further Reading and in two newsletters.

The newsletters Media Trends in the Nordic Countries and European Media Policy  are both scheduled to come out three times during 2015. The newsletters can be downloaded in PDF-format below.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents Pitching Competition - Apply Now

03.05.2013 - As of today our on-line application is open for Nordic graduating students from the national film schools to submit their fiction, TV series, documentary, animation or game project for the Pitching Competition which is the highlight of Nordic Talents, co-organized by Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the National Film School of Denmark. Closing date is June 14, 2013.

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NEWS: Nordic Council Creates Kids Literary Award

November 5, 2012 - The Nordic Council has decided to establish a new prize for children and young people's literature. 

The prize will be awarded for the first time in 2013 and will be the fifth of such prestigious awards with the existing awards for film, literature, music, nature and environment. 

"A Nordic children's and young people' literature prize, along with a number of other activities, will give a marked and visible boost for children and young people's reading. We have seen that the other Nordic culture prizes help to draw both Nordic and international attention to culture, and we should exploit this with children and young people too", said Norway's Minister of Culture Hadia Tajik.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents 2012 - Final Deadline for Registration August 15

Over 180 Nordic and international film and television professionals (including 25 financiers) have already enrolled for Nordic Talents set to unspool from September 5-7, 2012 at the National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen. Talent hunters and young Nordic directors, writers and producers anxious to mingle with key decision makers have until August 15, 2012 to register.

"Nordic Talents is one of the best places to spot emerging Nordic talents. It is compact, effective, friendly and a good time and place at the beginning of the festival season" says regular attendee Philippe Bober (Coproduction Office), sales agent and co-producer of acclaimed Swedish directors Roy Andersson and Ruben Östlund.
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NEWS / CHILDREN'S TV: Laugh, Scream And Learn With Nordic Programmes At MIP TV

01.04.2011 - Samples of some of the best new Nordic entertaining and edutainment formats, crime series, children content and documentaries will be introduced to MIP TV participants in Cannes on April 3 and 4 as part of the new ‘Laugh, Scream, Learn: Nordic Screenings' initiative.

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EVENTS: Seven Nordic Kids - Youth Films In Berlin

Seven Nordic Kids - Youth Films In Berlin 14.01.2011

The Scandinavian tradition of quality and entertaining children and youth films will be honoured at the 2011 Berlinale (February 10-20) as no less than seven films from Denmark, Norway and Sweden will compete for the Generation Crystal Bear award.

On top of the previously announced Norwegian film Liverpool Goalie that will screen at the Generation KPlus section for younger kids, two Norwegian titles were announced on Wednesday. Jørgen + Anne (photo) by Anne Sewitsky about a ten year-old girl who falls for the new boy in her class, is produced by Cinenord Kidstory. SF International handles world sales. Last year's Norwegian top grosser Twigson Ties the Knot produced by Paradox, will have its international premiere in Berlin. Sales are handled by Sola Media. The Danish 3D animation film The Great Bear by first time director Esben Toft Jacobsen, is the story of a boy who has to confront a giant bear to rescue his sister. The film produced by Copenhagen Bombay, with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond will open in Denmark on February 10.

In the Generation 14Plus section, the Swedish entry She Monkeys has been added to the pre-selected Danish films Skyscraper and Rebounce. Directed by newcomer Lisa Aschan, She Monkeys is presented by production house ATMO as "a modern western about control, sex and creatures." World sales are handled by Yellow Affair.

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NEWS: Seven Projects Selected for High Five Cross Media Content for Kids (Nordic countries)

01.10.2010 - Nordisk Film & TV Fond announced today that seven Nordic projects have been selected for its new High Five Cross Media Content For Kids initiative. Each project will receive NOK250,000 in development support and access to international experts during development stage.

After receiving an impressive 38 applications from high quality projects, the Fund decided to support seven cross media projects instead of six as was originally planned. The projects aimed at children aged from 3 to 13, represent a wide range of genres for various media-platforms, from live-action to animation and from feature films with augmented reality, to TV-series, console-games and web-universes.

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ARTICLES: Nordic Talents To Watch

10.09.2010 - Fourteen film graduates from the National Film School of Denmark, the University of Aalo, Finland, Göteborg University and Dramatiska Institutet in Sweden, and the Norwegian Film School of Lillehammer were on hand at Nordic Talents 2010 to pitch their projects. We selected the two winners and two other promising talents whose works have drawn attention from festivals and financiers.

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OPPORTUNITIES: High Five Cross Media Content For Kids - Deadlines Sept. 6

September 1, 2010

High Five Cross Media Content For Kids is a unique one time development initiative - both offering 6 x NOK 250.000 as a direct development grant and a development process including a 3 day workshop with some of the best international experts in the cross media field.

Deadline for application is 6 September 2010. See our latest press release below.

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INTERVIEWS: Former Nordic Talents Winner Speaks About Her First Feature

13.08.2010

Finnish filmmaker Marja Pyykkö (photo) won a Special Mention at Nordic Talents 2008 for the pitch of her debut feature Run Sister Run. Solar Films immediately came on board to produce the film. The coming of age story about a 15 year-old girl opens this Friday on Finnish screens via Nordisk Film. A few days before the delivery of her first feature (and of her second baby) Pyykkö spoke to us.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents 2010 Programme Announced

25.06.2010 - The 10th Nordic Talents is to be held at the National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen from 1-3 September and Nordisk Film & TV Fond has just published the Nordic Talents 2010 Catalogue with the full list of 24 graduation films, 12 pitching projects and one game from the Nordic region that will be introduced to about 200 film professionals attending. Here are the highlights and you can download the full catalogue here.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents 2010

Nordisk Film & TV Fond will be celebrating its 20th anniversary and 10 years of Nordic Talents in Copenhagen from September 1 - 3, 2010. To mark this double celebration, film students and professionals from the Nordic region will be invited on Thursday September 2 to a Masterclass from the world established producer Andy Harries (The Queen, Wallander, Prime Suspect) and on Friday 3rd to an anniversary Dinner, Bar and DJ following Nordic Talents awards ceremony.
Nordic Talent 2010 -

Joint organisers Hanne Palmquist, head of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Tina Sørensen from the Danish Film School and their respective team will welcome participants on Wednesday September 1rst at 19:00 at the First Hotel Skt Petri in Copenhagen. The main programme of Nordic Talents will unspool at the Danish Film School on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 where 24 graduation films from the Nordic region, one game and approximately 12 pitches will be introduced to attendees. The projects pitched will be evaluated by a jury of well established Nordic film and TV professionals.

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NEWS: Nordisk Film & TV Fond Unveils Details Of High Five Kids

Nordisk Film & TV Fond announced last month the launch of its new initiative ‘High Five Cross Media Content for Kids'. Guidelines and invitation to apply are now available on line.

The goal of this new initiative is to ensure that innovative and adventurous Nordic universes are available for children in cinemas and on TV as well as on various new platforms. "It felt natural for us at Nordisk Film & TV Fond to invest in cross media for kids at a time when entertainment consumption habits are rapidly evolving, in particular within the target group of children and youngsters who are among the most avid and nomadic consumers of audiovisual content," said the Fund's CEO Hanne Palmquist.

Projects submitted by Nordic film and TV production companies can deal with all genres or themes, but must be suitable for children within the age groups of 3-6, 7-10 or 11-13. Six of them will be selected and offered development support of NOK250,000 each. As part of the development process the selected projects and their producers will be invited to attend two workshops supervised by international experts.

The first workshop will be held mid October 2010. The second workshop in February/March 2011 will be wrapped by a pitching session and a Financing Forum. Deadline to apply for ‘High Five Cross Media Content for Kids' is September 6, 2010. Projects selected will be announced on September 27, 2010.

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For full details, click here.

EVENTS: Nordicom Research Forum Children, Youth and Media

Next World Summit on Media for Children and Youth is hosted by the city of Karlstad in Sweden 2010. The programme introduces more than 100 sessions with a focus on children, youth and media. International well known experts and researchers will present keynote speeches, panels, round table discussions, seminars and workshops.

The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at NORDICOM, University of Gothenburg, organizes four special sessions of a Research Forum in co-operation with the Summit. The aim of each Forum is to provide a space for knowledge and dialogue between the different groups of delegates at the Summit and for researchers to reach out to interested parties in and outside the research community - teachers, media professionals, decision makers, regulators, etc.

The Research Forum will be introduced in a Plenary Session where current research on children, youth and media is presented by well reputed scholars from the international research community. There will also be Poster Sessions where researchers attending the event can present findings from their recent and on-going projects.

All the presentations given in the four sessions of the Research Forum will be published in the Yearbook 2011 of the International Clearinghouse of Children, Youth and Media at Nordicom.

This Research Forum is a very real opportunity to contribute to the international discussion on the increasingly important issue of young people and media in the world. Multilateral solutions to vital global issues are more essential than ever in the age of rapid digitization. Several of these have a strong media and communication component - not least issues regarding children and media. Issues that touch on vital democratic values.

For further information see http://www.wskarlstad2010.se/researchforum.php

NEWS / PROJECTS / TV: New High Five Cross Media Content For Kids (EUROPE / NORDIC COUNTRIES)

Nordisk Film & TV Fond has just launched a new ‘High Five Cross Media Content for Kids' initiative aimed at supporting the development of cross media content for children aged 3-6 and 7-10.

The goal for this new initiative is twofold: to expand the world famous Nordic tradition of quality content creation for children and youth, from film and television to new media (mobile phones, games and online platforms), and to make sure Nordic culture is available to Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish children on all platforms.

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Videotivoli arrives n the city for the 7th time

The international children’s and youngsters’ film event, Videotivoli, takes place on the 9th - 14th March in Tampere. A record number of films – 650 – from 38 different countries were sent to Videotivoli. All the films are under ten minutes long and made by under 16 year olds. Half of the films are part of the Videotivoli programme, and half of them take part in the Nordic and Baltic Kids for Kids competition.

Videotivoli comprises of six different screenings presenting films from all around the world. The films have been made by kids themselves, and they approach our world of today from various aspects, some of the subjects being friendship, imagination, climate and the joy of youth. A new feature this year is rock videos for the young. This category includes videos illustrating both self-made and popular songs, and experimental and animated musical follies. Most of the screenings of Videotivoli are at the Pakkahuone of Tullikamari (The Old Customs House), but interesting things happen both in the Niagara and Hällä cinemas as well.

KFK film competition held for the third time
The Nordic and Baltic films compete with each other in six different categories in Niagara Cinema. The jury will pick the best animation, best fiction/documentary and best one minute film made by both under 12 year olds and 13-16 year olds. A globally distributed DVD, Best of Kids for Kids, will then be compiled of the award-winning films. The KFK event is held in cooperation with the international children’s film organisation, CIFEJ.

Mexican Colours – Los Colores de México
The theme of the festival is Mexico and its culture. Mexico presents itself both on the screen in a separate screening and in an exhibition. The screening includes animated films made by Mexican kids and films that are based on Mexican folk tales. The exhibition is in the lobby and hallway of Niagara Cinema, where you can meet some of the characters of the animated films and also get inside Mexican culture through the pictures and objects on show. The exhibition is open daily 9. -14.3. from 10 am to 8 pm. Free admittance.

School workshops
There is a tradition of holding film workshops in schools in Tampere during the Videotivoli week. The first guest is Vahid Vahed, an Australian-Iranian film and festival director, who holds a Farsi-speaking workshop in North Hervanta School. The Danish animation director, Annemette Karpen, will introduce the pupils of Amuri School to animated films in her workshop. Patrik Eklund, a Swedish short film director and an Academy Award Nominee, will give an interesting Master Class lecture to the pupils of the Swedish Coeducational School of Tampere.

Interesting guests
In addition to the aforementioned guests, two young filmmakers from the Netherlands, Jacob Perk and Yonan Orjubin, will introduce their enchanting film, “Butterflies”, which was made last summer in a Master Class under the guidance of the Hollywood actor, Rutger Hauer (known, amongst others, from “Blade Runner”.)

For more information:

Maikki Kantola
Festival Director
mobile: +358 40 – 507 4487
maikki@videotivoli.fi
www.videotivoli.fi

AWARDS: Nordic Talents 2009: The winners are... (EUROPE)

11.09.2009 - Last Saturday, last day of the 9th Nordic Talent in Copenhagen, the National Film School of Denmark that hosted the event could be proud of its alumni. Three of its graduates were handed out awards: the Danish/Egyptian May el-Toukhy won THE NORDIC TALENTS PITCH PRIZE of NOK 250,000 for Cairo, and in a unique move, two Special Mention Awards (instead of one) were given out to Iceland's Rúnar Rúnarsson and Denmark's Kristoffer Kiørboe.

"Giving out two Special Mentions - on top of the NORDIC TALENTS Pitch Prize - is really extraordinary, but this was the right thing to do because the three projects stood out and deserved the prizes," said Hanne Palmquist, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, who finance and run Nordic Talents in close collaboration with National Film School of Denmark.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents - register now!

NORDIC TALENTS - REGISTER NOW

07.08.2009

Nordic Talents takes place at The Danish Film School starting with the welcome reception on Thursday September 3 at The Danish Film Institute and runs Friday and Saturday September 4, 5 at the Danish Film School. Our jury this year is: Roy Andersson (Sweden), Ditte Christiansen (Denmark), Finn Gjerdrum (Norway), Baltasar Kormákur (Iceland) and Mia Haavisto (Finland).

Register now - applicants are accepted on a first come-first served basis. To register click here.

Further information and to download our 2009 Nordic Talents catalogue and schedule of events click here.

For further information please contact:
Sigurd-Mikal Karoliussen, sm@nordiskfilmogtvfond.com
Tel: +47 6400 6082

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OPPORTUNITIES: Nordic Talents 2009 (NORDIC COUNTRIES)

NORDIC TALENTS 2009 - Registration Open

For the 9th successive year Nordisk Film & TV Fond will present this year's New Nordic Talents event. The Welcome Reception on Thursday September 3 at the Danish Film Institute, will be followed by the event itself on Friday and Saturday September 4th and 5th at the Danish Film School.

Find out more and register now. Nordic Talents - September 3, 4, 5, 2009 - Register Now

The aim of Nordic Talents is to introduce graduating students from the Nordic film schools to the Nordic producers and financiers, and - equally important - to give the producers and financiers the opportunity to meet the future talent.

A Nordic network is essential for upcoming filmmakers - and Nordic Talents is THE platform for graduating students to meet many of the key industry players from the Nordic region - to show your talents, discuss your ideas, future projects and ambitions. If some films become ‘must-see' films - this event is a ‘must attend'.

Several former Pitch Award winners have become successful films among others Norwegian director Erik Richter Strand's feature film Sønner (Sons) and the Swedish documentary Armbryterskan från Ensamheten (The Armwrestler From Solitude)by Lisa Munthe and Helen Ahlsson.

Nordic Talents is arranged in collaboration with the The National Film School of Denmark, Tina Sørensen.

To register click here.

For further information click Nordic Talents.

NEWS / ARTICLES: Kids - Youth Films Score On Nordic Screens

Kids - Youth Films Score On Nordic Screens

20.02.2009

Winter school holiday is on and Nordic kids have flocked into cinemas to see Walt Disney's Bolt last weekend. Nordic movies for small and older kids have also put their mark on local Top charts, such as Denmark's Karla & Katrine, Finland's Forbidden Fruit, Norway's Junior Olsen Gang and Sweden's Glowing Stars.

In its second weekend on 80 Danish screens, Charlotte Sachs Bostrup's Karla & Katrine has climbed from a fourth to second position in the Top Ten, pushing admission figures up to 106,466 for Nordisk Film. With her second film adaptation of Renée Toft Simonsen's Karla's stories, Bostrup should easily beat the 150,000 admissions for Karla's Game in 2007.

In Finland, Dome Karukoski's original and delicate portrayal of forbidden love in Forbidden Fruit, has made it straight to number two at the local Top Ten in its opening weekend. The Helsinki filmi production supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond was released by Sandrew Metronome on 48 screens for 17,978 admissions. Aleksi Mäkelä's Hellsinki has sold another 10,003 tickets from 59 screens in its sixth week. Total admissions are now at 208,970 for Nordisk Film.

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