Fifteen projects by Nordic graduating film students have been selected for Copenhagen’s Nordic Talents unspooling September 6-7.

The 2017 talent pool selected by Nordisk Film & TV Fond consists of an exceptional number of writers, directors and producers with some proven track record.

Those include Kirsikka Saari (Finland), 2014 Oscar nominated as scriptwriter of the short film Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?, Thora Lorentzen (Denmark), 2015 European Film Awards nominated for This Place We Call Our Home, Elsa Maria Jakobsdóttir (Iceland), selected for Nordisk Panorama short film competition with Megaphone (2013), and Niclas Caroc Warner (Denmark), production assistant on the award-winning The Hunt and A Royal Affair.

The National Film School of Denmark has the largest slate of Nordic Talents prize contenders with 7 projects out of 15, followed by ELO Helsinki Film School with 3 projects.

Commenting on the selection of the pitch projects for the 17th Nordic Talent edition, Petri Kemppinen, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond said: “The 2017 projects are a bit more ripe and mature than before, and some come with hybrid twists including web and serialised formats. Certainly the students have put more effort on the development strategies. Feature length fiction has a slight dominance, documentaries and animation are represented - and all five Nordic countries are in.”

A prestigious jury of film and television professionals will hand out the NOK 250,000 Pitch Prize and NOK 50,000 Special Mention. Jury members are directors Juho Kuosmanen and Maria Bäck, NRK Head of Drama Ivar Køhn, producer Lina Flint (Nordisk Film Spring), and Julie Bergeron, Head of Industry Programmes at Cannes Marché du Film.

Full list of projects to be pitched:

  • Birth (fiction film). Pitched by director Elsa María Jakobsdóttir of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Birthright (TV series). Pitched by producer Wilde Siem and scriptwriter/director Daniel Fure Schwarz of Westerdals Oslo ACT
  • Defenders of the Snow (documentary film). Pitched by director Lin Alluna of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Denmark (fiction film). Pitched by producer Daniel Mühlendorph and director Ulaa Salim of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Drifting Season (fiction film). Pitched by scriptwriter Anna Brotkin of ELO Helsinki Film School
  • Absolute Beginners (documentary series). Pitched by director Thora Lorentzen of the National Film School of Denmark
  • I Believe I Can Fly (documentary film). Pitched by director Anita Beikpour of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Kim Cannon Arm (documentary film). Pitched by director Mads Hedegaard of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Pension (fiction film). Pitched by director Bård Røssevold of the Norwegian Film School
  • Tero Wants a Girlfriend (web series). Pitched by scriptwriter/director Janne Vanhanen and scriptwriter/producer Veera Lamminpää of Tampere University of Applied Science
  • The Danish West-Indies (animation/doc series). Pitched by director/editor Julie H. Baltzer of The Animation Workshop
  • The Exes (fiction film). Pitched by scriptwriter/director Kirsikka Saari of ELO Helsinki Film School
  • The Night Train is Coming (fiction film). Pitched by scriptwriter/director Heidi Lindén of ELO Helsinki Film School
  • Savannah Camping (animated series). Pitched by producer Niclas Caroc Warner of the National Film School of Denmark
  • Visitors (fiction film). Pitched by director Otto Banovits and scriptwriter Tomas Stark of Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts

Nordic Talents is co-organised by Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the National Film School of Denmark. 

Deadline to register for the event is AUGUST 30, 2017. To register CLICK HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE: Nt 17 Press Release Selected Projects