The networking and industry platform to be held in Helsinki February 14-16, 2019, is a natural extension of the former collaboration between Frontières (co-run by Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival and the Marché du Film in Cannes) and Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s Nordic Genre Boost development initiative. 

Between 2015 and 2017, Nordic Genre Boost provided development support and mentoring to 21 genre projects, some of which were independently selected by Frontières, such as the Finnish horror feature project Birds of a Feather by Hanna Bergholm and the dystopian drama Memory of Water by Saara Saarela. 

Nordic Factory Copenhagen, headed by Valeria Richter (former Nordic Genre Boost project manager), will together with Frontières staff handle the practical organisation of Helsinki’s Finance & Packaging Forum, supported among others by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Finnish Film Foundation and the City of Helsinki. 

For further information and to apply for the Helsinki Finance & Packaging Forum: CLICK HERE.

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS NOVEMBER 30, 2018.

Lindsay Peters, Frontières’ Executive Director said: “We are so thrilled to be bringing the Forum to Helsinki next year with Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Our work together has been incredibly successful, and we're very excited to have this opportunity to build on that. Nordic genre only continues to flourish, so Helsinki is a perfect meeting point for us.”

Petri Kemppinen said: “Nordic Genre Boost was a very successful initiative that provided development funding and coaching to projects at an early stage. Lake Bodom by Taneli Mustonen and Border by Ali Abbasi have already been completed and we know many more will follow. We are extremely pleased to tell Nordic genre specialists that our initiative will get a second life through our collaboration with the prestigious Frontières.”

Twelve genre projects from Europe and North America will be selected for the 3rd Frontières Finance & Packaging Forum. During the tree-day co-production event, genre film creators will be able to attend a proof of concept development lab and will benefit from one-to-one meetings with 25 industry experts and roundtable sessions. 
Peters says genre storytelling seems to be ‘more and more ambitious and high concept’. “The intelligence and sophistication of genre audiences is very much being recognised, and rewarded, with films like the new Suspiria by Luca Guadagnino. And the definition of a genre film is being expanded in the best possible way, with films like Border by Ali Abbasi. More specifically, the slasher film is making a comeback, with Halloween by David Gordon Green and Knife + Heart by Yann Gonzalez's.”