In its second year, the Directors Fortnight’s Factory for emerging filmmakers, has set its focus on the Nordic region.

Thanks to the support from New Danish Screen, the Finnish Film Foundation and the Copenhagen Film Fund, eight new talents were able to work together in Copenhagen and Helsinki over a six month period and create in tandem four short films to be shown at the opening of the Cannes’ prestigious sidebar on May 15.

The four 15 minute films are The Girl and the Dogs by Oscar-Nominee Selma Vilhunen (Finland) and Guillaume Mainguet (France); Void by Milad Alami (Nordic Talents 2011 Special Mention) and Aygul Bakanova (Kirghistan) starring Lars Mikkelsen; Listen by Hamy Ramezan (Finland) and Rungano Nyoni (Zambia) and Sundays by Kræsten Kust (Denmark) and Natalia Garagiola (Argentina).

The initiator of Nordic Factory Dominique Welinski (an experienced French art-house distributor turned producer) picked up the talents, created the filmmaking couples and hooked up with local producers Valeria Richter (Torino FilmLab), Helene Grandqvist (DoDream) and Nynne Selin Eidnes (First Lady Film) to pull off the four short film projects. “My idea with the Factory is to use cinema as a universal language and to help emerging talents from smaller filmmaking countries  co-direct short films with talents from ‘welcoming countries’, hereby Denmark and Finland. The films that resulted from these encounters are typically Nordic in the atmosphere with a deep human and emotional core”, noted Welinski.

Following the world premiere on the Croisette of their short films and industry entry ticket cards, the eight emerging directors will be invited to pitch their first feature film projects to selected film professionals (institutes, European producers, sales agents) and attend various industry networking platforms in Cannes such as the Short Film Corner and Producers Workshop.

For further information on Nordic Factory, click here.