2021 Nordic Talents Pitch Competition selection announced

This year’s 15 selected projects consist of seven fiction films, four drama series, two documentaries, one documentary series and one animation series.

TO PARTICIPATE IN NORDIC TALENTS ON-LINE 2021 EVENT - REGISTER HERE

Among the 18 young talents set to pitch are the National Film School of Denmark graduate Óskar Vignisson, selected for this year’s Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival with his short film Free Men (Frie mænd), as well as Stockholm University of the Arts alumna Elin Övergaard, Palme d’or candidate in Cannes 2019 with her short film Who Talks (Ingen lyssnar).

• 11 of the selected promising talents are women, 6 are men and 1 is non-binary.
• 6 of them are graduates from Stockholm University of the Arts, against 5 from the National Film School of Denmark, 2 each from HDK Valand, Göteborg and the Elo Film School Finland, and 1 each from the California Institute of the Arts (MFA Film Directing course), The Animation Workshop (Animation and Graphic Storytelling course) in Viborg, Denmark, and ARCADA University of Applied Science (Film course) in Helsinki, Finland.

The selected projects will be competing for the NOK 250,000 Nordic Talents Pitch Prize and NOK 50,000 Nordic Talents Special Mention, granted as development support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Commenting on this year’s roster of talents, Project Manager Ann-Sophie W. Birkenes said: “The number of graduation students from the different schools, and programmes they graduate from, vary from year to year. This is naturally reflected in the yearly selection. As opposed to last year, in 2021 we had a low number of Norwegian applicants. Fortunately, we see a good balance between the other Nordic countries among the 15 promising projects selected to pitch. They show a great variation in themes, formats and culture arenas.”

“We look very much forward to the 21st edition of our popular event that continues to build bridges between Nordic up-and-coming talents and established audiovisual professionals.”

This year’s Nordic Talents jury of prominent audiovisual professionals comprises:

• Milad Alami writer/director (Sweden)
• Karoline Leth, producer at Zentropa (Denmark),
• Cecilie Mosli, actress/writer/director (Norway),
• Steven Meyers, script consultant at the Icelandic Film Centre and film educator (Iceland)
• Elli Toivoniemi, director/producer at Tuffi Films (Finland)

Other highlights at Nordic Talents 2021 include:

• a Producers’ Pitch from 12 leading Nordic producers
• a Vimeo Showcase with graduation films from the pitching talents
• a case study (to be announced in August)
• networking opportunities for Nordic talents with round tables and speed-dating with experts from the film and TV industry.

FOR FUTHER INFORMATION ON NORDIC TALENTS: CLICK HERE
or contact
Ann-Sophie W. Birkenes
Project Manager
ann-sophie@nftvfond.com

TO DOWNLOAD THIS FULL PRESS RELEASE: CLICK HERE

FULL LIST OF NORDIC TALENTS PITCH PROJECTS 2021

• A Soviet Love Story
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Angelika Abramovitch, director (graduation film Catcave Hyterica)
  Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
  Tagline: Sex, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll - Soviet style
• Beautiful
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Alireza Teimori, writer/director (graduation film Ziba)
  Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
  Tagline: Inner conflict sourced by culture, religion, society and traditions.
• Feud
  Drama series
  Pitcher: Marion Saares, writer/director (graduation film Feud-pitch trailer)
  ARCADA University of Applied Science
  Tagline: They were told young people learn best by travelling. They ended up in 1661.
• Field Flowers
  Documentary series
  Pitchers: Søren Brydesen, director (graduation film Kraftenlos)
  The National Film School of Denmark
  Tagline: A group of people travel to a small yellow house to express themselves.
• Fleas
  Drama series
  Pitcher: Frederik Ringtved, scriptwriter (graduation film The Hole)
  The National Film School of Denmark
  Tagline: How to disguise a hidden addiction.
• Free Men
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Óskar Vignisson, writer/director (graduation film Free Men)
  The National Film School of Denmark
  Tagline: Sometimes its cheaper to steal.
• Inside Your Border
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Simon Elvås, writer/director (graduation film A Swedish Defence)
  Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
  Tagline: A father/daughter drama portrayed in the surroundings of a Swedish weapon deal in Thailand.
• Lovette
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Hawa Sanneh, producer (graduation film Catcave Hysteria) and Jimm Garbis, producer (graduation film A Swedish Defence)
  Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
  Tagline: They wanted forgiveness but got Love:tte
• Non-binary Bones
  Documentary film
  Pitcher: August Joensalo, writer/director (graduation film Space is Quite a Lot of Things)
  HDK-Valand
  Tagline: Film about four non-binary people fighting for agency over their bodies.
• Sad Girls Club
  Drama series
  Pitcher: Anni Pulkkinen, writer (graduation film Verge) and Meri Itäkodes, director (graduation film Homebound)
  ELO Film School Finland
  Tagline: Don’t miss the target.
• The Blowfish
  Fiction film
  Pitcher: Elin Övergaard, writer/director (graduation film Patient & Undersigned)
  Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
  Tagline: “The biggest roadblock to success is you”. For a 23-year-old blowfish, this is actually true.
• The Great Unknown (Min ljusa stad)
  Drama series
  Pitcher: Inka Rusi, director (graduation film: Bind)
  California Institute of the Arts, Film Directing MFA
  Tagline: A young ambitious woman travels to New York City in the 1930's in pursuit of becoming a great writer, encountering resistance and war as she returns back to Europe.
• The Great Unknown (Det store ukendte)
  Pitchers: Charlotte Brodthagen, director (graduation film Adieu) and Sophie D’Souza, producer (graduation film Adieu)
  The National Film School of Denmark
  Tagline: Prepare for take-off.
• The Last Untouched Wilderness
  Documentary film
  Pitcher: Kirsikka Paakkinen, writer/director (graduation film When the Mill Hill Trees Spoke to Me) HDK-Valand
  Tagline: What if the last untouched wilderness is lost?
• Riot5
  Animated series
  Pitcher: Violeta Fellay, director/producer (graduation film Riot5)
  The Animation Workshop
  Tagline: Cherry finds out it takes more than falling to succeed, both on and off track!