NT 2008 AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Our two part news coverage of Nordic Talents starts with the winner Jan Rahbek, the young ‘Danish Nick Park (creator of Wallace and Gromit)' who was bestowed the Nordic Talents Pitch Prize for his animated comedy Carlo's Casino, during last Saturday's closing night of the 8th Nordic Talents (NT) event in Copenhagen, co-organised by Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the National Film School of Denmark.
The NOK 250,000 cash award in development grant from Nordisk Film & TV Fond will help Rahbek bring to the silver screen the story of the monkey Mani who has to rob the gangster Carlo's Casino in order to prove that Carlo is a fraud, although Mani has never robbed anything before...
Based on Rahbek's pitch and Space Monkeys, his graduation film which had the NT audience roar with laughter, the jury consisting of Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári, Peter Gustafsson (Film Consultant, Swedish Film Institute), Molly Malene Stensgaard (Film Consultant, Danish Film Institute) Norwegian producer Dag Alveberg (Maipo Film), and Pirjo Airaksinen (Senior VP Nelonen Media, Finland) made the following statement: "Entertainment is great and having the ability to entertain us in every sense of the word is a true gift. The prize goes to a gifted director who manages to conceive a film in every word and movement, making it come to life in front of our eyes."
The Nordic Talents Special Mention Prize of  NOK 50,000, went to Finland's writer/director Marja Pyykkö and her teenage comedy If I Stay It Will Be Double (Sisko, tahtoisin jäädä). It's the story of 15 year-old Emilia who is always responsible and well behaved. When she meets Venni (15), she finally dares to break the shackles of her family. But soon, the girls' friendship turns into a similar bind.

Pyykö's graduation film from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, the tragicomedyHere Lies Aino Koski, had impressed NT participants with its moving and original portrayals of human beings. The NT jury said about Pyykkö "The Special Mention is given to a young talent that captivated the jury by both previous work and pitch plus a strong sense of originality and an eye for odd human behaviour. The jury hopes that this strong grip will influence her new project in pursuing an original story."
If I Stay It Will Be Double will be written by Laura Suhonen and produced by Piia Nokelainen for Solar Films.


PART 2: Nordic Talents To Watch
12.09.2008 
Some 16 upcoming Nordic filmmakers were on hand at Nordic Talents 2008 to introduce their graduation films. We picked five new faces from the four Nordic film schools represented whose works were praised by NT attendees.
JAN RAHBEK  
Writer/director, Denmark
Background: Jan comes from a small town in Jutland. He used to watch Indiana Jonesagain, and again, and again, until he bought a video camera and shot his first short film aged 14. Jan attended the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark, where he discovered animation. He then applied to the animation course at the Danish Film School.
His graduation film Space Monkeys just won the Talent Award at the Odense Film Festival in August and his pitch for his feature film animation project Carlo's Casino won the Nordic Talent Pitch Prize 2008.
Pitch line: "I love cartoons because you can exaggerate things and make them universal."
Films he wants to make: Jan is passionate about filmmaking in general, but more particularly about animation and action films.
References: Wallace & Gromit and Pixar movies like Wall E.

MARTIN LUND 
Writer/director, Norway (1979)
Background: Martin was educated as an art director at Westerdal's School of Communication, but his true passion was always film. He applied a first time to enter the Norwegian Film School of Lillehammer, but didn't make it. While getting ready for a second entry test at the school, he directed the short film Home Game (Hjemmekamp), nominated for an Amanda Award in 2004. He then entered the Lillehammer Film School from which he just graduated with the film Balloon Moods. The Bothersome Man Jens Lien is his mentor.
Pitch line: "I'd like to see a film where someone says it's OK to be glad and it's OK to be sad."
Films he wants to make: Wants to tell stories about human beings with a lot of humour.
References: the Coen brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson
MARJA PYYKKO, 
Filmmaker/writer, Finland (1975)
Background: Marja is the daughter of Nadja Pyykkö, one of Finland's most established assistant directors. Since the age of 14, she has been working on Finnish film sets, first as an actress, and more recently as assistant director on films like Bad Boys, Vares, or 8 Days to premiere. She then decided to enter the filmmaking course at the Helsinki School of Art and Design. Her graduation film Here Lies Aino, was made as a TV film for YLE, and her next project If I Stay It Will Be Double, to be produced by Solar Films, just won the second prize at Nordic Talents.
Pitch line: "I'm a lyrical filmmaker willing to use all creative tools to lift and stylise reality and to create the same energy that the story requires. "
Films she wants to make: Films with strong emotions that have a comical side.
References: Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Pedro Almodovar.
MARTA DAULIUTE, 
Filmmaker/writer/producer, Sweden (1984)
ELISABETH MARJANOVIA CRONWALL,
Filmmaker/writer/producer, Sweden (1983)
Background: Marta was born in Siauliaj, Lithuania and studied there in various art, drama and writing schools. She arrived in Sweden six years ago and entered Göteborg Filmhögskolan (School of Film Directing). She has a lot of experience as production assistant. In her graduation film Tri Dnya, she explores the life of Lithuanian seasonal workers in Sweden. The film was produced and photographed by her school friend Elisabeth.
Elisabeth was born in Stockholm and studied film studies at Stockholm University, then Stockholm Film School. She moved to Gotland University where she studied documentary filmmaking before enrolling at Göteborg Filmhögskolan. Her graduation film Chaque minute, featuring an adult birthday party, was produced by Marja.
At Nordic Talents, both girls pitched for the same project, to be written and directed and Martha and produced by Elisabeth. Forsai is about young Lithuanians, guest workers in Sweden.
Pitch line: "We want to capture the wasted life of those people, stuck between two societies, considered as second class Europeans. Forsai will be based on research to give the maximum authenticity to the project. We want our film to be like a warm Import/Export"
Films them want to make: Films inspired by true stories that show reality the way they see it.
References: Dardenne brothers, Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Ulrich Seidl, Bruno Dumont
August 29, 2008
To find out about Nordic Talents 2008 (September 4 - 6, 2008) including programme of events, pitch sessions, jury members, screening schedule, contact details and more - download the catalogue.