NT14 Norway Scoops Top Prize At Nordic Talents 2014

The graduating students from the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer - filmmaker Erika Calmeyer and scriptwriter Johan Fasting - were awarded the coveted NOK 250,000 Nordic Talents Pitch Prize for their project Storm. The event took place at the National Film School of Denmark.

The drama about the difficulty of dealing with uncomfortable truths was the first Norwegian project in 12 years to win the top Nordic Talents development award. The last Norwegian winner was Eric Richter Strand for his project Sons that went on to become the award-winning feature film of the same name. 
This year’s five jury members (main picture left to right) Stine Helgeland (Norwegian Film Institute, Head of Promotion and International Relations), filmmakers Kari Juusonen and Annette Olesen, Roberto Olla (Head of Eurimages) and Åsa Sjöberg (Director of Content for TV4 Group) were unanimous in praising the quality of the pitches and level of the projects. “It was very hard for us to make up our mind because so many projects were strong”, said Sjöberg. Olla concurred with her: “I was impressed by the incredible quality of the graduation works. Some short films were better than first feature films that I’ve seen. “

In their common statement about Calmeyer and Fasting’s project, the jury said: “Stormis a well-thought drama with a strong and meaningful theme. The jury was impressed by the very well-performed pitch and convincing reflections on the plot and character development. This was also supported by watching the previous work of the creative team involved. We’re looking forward to seeing the feature film soon.”

The second prize or Nordic Talents Special Mention worth NOK 50,000 was granted to Fanni Metelius from Sweden for her fiction project The Boyfriend about breaking up and the difficulty of dealing with a sexless relationship. “Fanni Metelius has a strong personal voice and she addresses questions of sexual identity and emotional integrity that young women and men are facing today. The jury is convinced that we will hear more of this voice in the future,” was the jury’s statement. 

The parallel SF Award for Best Children and Family Pitch (SEK 30,000) was handed out to Finland’s Juho Fossi for his feature project Wherever We Go, about the danger of online bullying. "Bullying is not a new phenomenon but digital bullying and the expansion and growth of it is very relevant for young people today, and it’s not something most parents know enough about. We have been very moved by this pitch and the relevance of it”, said SF in its statement. 
A representative of Tampere University of Applied Arts, one of six new Nordic film school in attendance, Fossi was twice on the pitching pad and impressed the 210 participants with his topical graduation film 1,048 about social media and human indifference. 

Norway’s Trond Kvig Andreassen, from another new Nordic film school - Lillehammer University College, was very pleased with the two day pitching workshop offered by Karoline Leth and Paul Tyler prior to Nordic Talents. “The workshop was amazing because we got great tips, and although we were all competing with each other, there was a strong sense of solidarity”. “Comments from the jury were also very constructive,” he added.
Reflecting on the overall themes, Danish director Annette Olesen said: “Many projects dealt with gender and relationship issues. The Finnish graduation documentary My Godfather, His Thai Bride and Me [that moved audience members to tears] was particularly amazing in its honest approach to people’s desire to control everything, even irrational things like love.”
For Olla, the projects were ‘respectful of tradition, storytelling rules and language with their nose into reality and the future’. 
As non-Nordic observer and European co-production specialist he stressed: “Many of the young Nordic talents are probably going to work together in the future, so Nordic Talents is a great opportunity for them to start exchanging ideas at a very early stage. Many regions in Europe should take this initiative as an example like French speaking territories or the Balkans. These territories already collaborate for financial reasons, but here, the bridges go well beyond.“

The 14th Nordic Talents was co-organized by Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the National School of Denmark.  For further details on the projects CLICK HERE. For profiles on five 2014 Nordic Talents to Watch CLICK HERE.

FOR PROFILES OF FIVE 2014 NORDIC TALENTS TO WATCH 
CLICK HERE.

FOR PREVIOUS YEARS CATALOGUES, PARTICIPANTS ETC CLICK HERE.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The Aim of Nordic Talents
The aim is to introduce graduating students from the Nordic film schools to the Nordic producers and financiers, and - equally important - to give the producers and financiers the opportunity to meet the future talent. A Nordic network is essential for the industry - and Nordic Talents is the platform to meet.
From Pitch to Film
Many former Nordic Talents award winning projects have become successful films; among others Norwegian director Erik Richter Strand's feature Sønner (Sons), the Swedish documentary Armbryterskan från Ensamheten (The Armwrestler From Solitude) by Lisa Munthe and Helen Ahlsson, the Finnish feature Run Sister Run by Marja Pyykkö, the Icelandic feature Volcano by Runar Runarsson, the Danish feature Marco Macaco by Jan Rahbek and the Swedish feature Bekas by Karzan Kader.

Who and How To Apply?
Graduation students (who graduated fall 2013 or spring 2014) from the Nordic film schools was invited to send in one, or more, pitch(es) for a fiction, TV-series, documentary or animation project. 

Applicants had to use our online application form (available from 5 May-2 June here on our web site). 

For the application we did require the following information in English:
Applicant information: name, e-mail, school
Who will pitch: name, e-mail, mobile, graduation film, function
Short info on key crew involved in the project
Project information: title, category, genre, length, target audience, tagline (max 15 words), short pitch (max 40 words), short synopsis (max 300 words), visual style of the project (max 100 words), preliminary time schedule, preliminary budget amount
Optional additional project information: detailed synopsis (max 2 A4 pages), visual material (max 4 A4 pages or link/password to visual material on FTP, Vimeo etc.)
Information on the graduation film

Awards
The Nordic Talents Pitch Prize - NOK 250.000 and The Nordic Talents Special Mention Prize - NOK 50.000: Both awards are for development support granted by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
A production company must be on board before the grant can be activated.
The SF Award for Best Children and Family Pitch - SEK 30.000
For details on the prizes see download on the right.

The Jury
This year's jury consists of: Executive Director of Eurimages Roberto Olla, animation film director Kari Juusonen (FI), Director of Programmes at TV4 Åsa Sjöberg (SE), Executive Director - Promotions & International Relations at The Norwegian Film Institute Stine Helgeland (NO) and Director Annette K. Olesen (DK).
What Happens During Nordic Talents?
Selected graduation films will be screened and those students selected to the 'pitching sessions' will have a two day workshop to help them prepare their presentations which will then be pitched to the jury and the audience. 
Moderator Karolina Lidin will run "the show" - NOTE: the language is English. 
A mingle session will be kicked off by a producer pitch. Afterwards we will give participants the possibility to meet to exchange advice and ideas.
A Master Class will be held by Maria Einstein Biilmann & Philip Einstein Lipski.
The Award Ceremony closes the event.
Detailed program TBA in August.

Who is Invited?
The Nordic Film industry and graduation students from selected Nordic film schools are invited. 

Nordic Talents is free of charge and includes lunch, dinner, coffee and tea etc. 

There is a maximum of 200 participants - based on first come first serve. 

FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND ON THIS WEBSITE.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
NORDISK FILM & TV FOND