“Kids are all right - keep challenging them” say panellists at EFM Webinar

Wednesday’s Scandinavian Film webinar “The Kids Are All Right: The Boom in Family Films” was the opportunity to hear first-hand feedback about the market for kids content from industry people including creator/producer Linda Hambäck, LEE Film (Sweden), producer Venla Hellstedt, Tuffi Films (Finland), sales agent/exec producer Solveig Langeland, Sola Media (Germany), Oiii channel editor Kirstine Vinderskov, and programmer/head of Berlinale Generation Maryanne Redpath. The panel was moderated by journalist/festival consultant Wendy Mitchell.

Redpath reiterated the strong presence of Nordic kids movies at Generation, with four films out of 15 in a slimmed down selection due to Covid-19. “The Nordics are good at making classic family films, and just good at making films that we want to screen,” said the programmer who selected Finland’s Any Day Now, Sweden’s Nelly Rapp-Monster Agent for the Kplus section and Norway’s Ninjababy and Denmark’s From the Wild Sea for 14plus.

Redpath explained that she looks for quality, diversity, originality, targeting the younger audience, but she often struggles with prejudice on the market for what is a youth film and the ‘kids ghetto’. “We try to challenge this, and filmmakers who have not made a film primarily for young audiences, for them to discover Generation’s audiences,” she said.

Asked about what is appropriate or not for kids, Redpath said the problem stems mostly from adults’ points of view and own censorship criteria. “If a film deals with war or any difficult issue, we adults project our trauma onto the child to protect them, but we have to be aware that this actually doesn’t allow them to identify with the characters and to get something out of the film experience. I’m all for challenging the kids,” she said.

Kirstine Vinderskov who oversees Nordisk Film’s Oiii kids brand, offered on TV2 Denmark and TV2 Norway, concurred with Redpath: “Kids are able to digest quite a lot,” she said, mentioning that tweens and teens in particular tend to watch content for older age groups and just love it. “In the Nordics, we want to show kids and youngsters the world as it is, push them and let them develop, not stay still,” she said.

LEE Films’ Linda Hambäck said she also looks for stories that help children grow. ‘Kids can take challenging stories,” said the writer/director/producer whose second animated feature The Ape Star for 4-6 years old and their families, was presented at the European Film Market. Hambäck’s first film Gordon & Paddy premiered at Generation 2018.

Tuffi Films’ Venla Hellstedt cited Marja Pyykkö’s youth film Sihja presented at the EFM as another quality Nordic film offering entertainment and food for thought to younger kids. “The film is a realistic fantasy film which explores the notion of what is a ‘normal’ girl or boy,” she said. The film with an eco-friendly message, tells of an unconventional fairy and a young boy who overcome their own fears and obstacles in order to save the environment. “For us quality is the most important. We can’t take kids for granted,” noted Hellstedt.

Looking into the success of kids content, Sola Media’s Solveig Langeland also said that quality is quintessential, and what makes Nordic family films stand out on the market. “The market is very solid as Nordic family films are seen as commercial, for wide releases of up to 300 screen-runs sometimes, even for smaller budget films,” said the sales expert. For her, Nordic animated films in particular have a great value for money - produced for half the price of German productions for instance - and only compete on the market with US studios fare. “If you have good scheduling [in cinemas], you can do extremely well,” she said, referring to the recent BO success of the Danish animated film Dreambuilders (see Langeland’s interview with us: CLICK HERE).

Regarding streamers, Langeland said so far global SVOD platforms are focusing on pre-teens and teens, a segment that is lacking in content, hence global streamers’ push into original commissioning for that target group.

Vinderskov noted that the digital shift and the pandemic have boosted overall kids viewing online, a trend impacting media group’s business models. “We see that in Denmark and Norway, other broadcasters want kids content in a new way. The subscription-based economy is different than the advertising-based economy which made it harder for broadcasters to have kids content,” she stressed. “With Oiii, we offer content for the younger part of the family. There is a whole new market out there,” she said.