Set under the aegis of director Felicia Elisabeth Jackson, THIS (November 1-3) and the Aarhus Series Festival (November 2-6) will be a place for storytellers and professionals to be inspired and share their experiences, at a time of major challenges, particularly for scripted creators in Denmark.

As explained by Jackson, through its three industry tracks THIS SERIES, THIS GAME and THIS CONFERENCE, the event will explore today’s most important trends in the media landscape to “try to decipher and to predict how it will evolve in the future”. “We will look at which stories are deemed most culturally important, how they are told, and how to ensure being relevant to audiences,” she said.

Set under the theme ‘Declaration of Content’ the event will tackle the blurring between genres and formats to attract viewers.

“Series and films mix fact with fiction, AI is producing art, and gaming universes increasingly copy the real world,” notes Jackson. “With the concept of the “metaverse”, the borders between the digital and analogue realities are being washed away. New technologies and tendencies create innovative opportunities for storytellers that are trying to captivate their audiences, but this also creates a need for producers and distributors to become more transparent about what they are putting out into the world and how they are creating their stories,” said the festival director.

Among keynote speakers who will discuss the blurring between non-fiction and fiction at the ‘Kind of True-The Declaration of Content’ session are documentarist Jesper Dalsgaard (Kandis for livet), Nicole Nielsen Horanyi, Viaplay Head of Documentary and Piodor Gustafsson, Director of Scripted Content-TV4 Media/C More.

Other guest speakers include Evan Shapiro (Media Universe Cartographer, professor at NYU and Fordham Schools of Business), who will talk about who owns the streaming services and the institutions behind them, and where the media landscape is heading.

Elsewhere Ivar Køhn (Rubicon), Anne Ahn Lund (SF Studios), Sabrina Vitting Seerup will discuss sustainability in ‘A Better and Healthier Industry in the Nordics’.

THIS Series will invite the creators behind the Swedish event series Blackwater, Apple Tree producer Piv Bernth, director Mikael Marcimain, actor Magnus Krepper and SVT’s head of Drama Anna Croneman, as well Dunja Gry Jensen, creator of The Dreamer, while’ New Nordic Storytelling’ will be discussed by Lisa Ambjörn (Young Royals), Tina Rygh (Below), director Amalie Næsby Fick and head-writer Nikolaj Feifer behind Netflix’s series Baby Fever.

Among top Nordic commissioners set to take centre stage are NRK’s Head of Drama Marianne Furevold, Viaplay’s VP Scripted Content Camilla Rydbacken, TV2 Denmark’s Senior Executive Producer Pernille Bech Christensen, and C More/TV4 Media’s Piodor Gustafsson.

This year’s political talk on November 3 dedicated to the current and upcoming Film Agreements and 6% culture levy, will give the platform to Denmark’s Culture Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, the CEO of the Danish Film Institute Claus Ladegaard and media analyst and THIS host Keld Reinicke.

In a separate keynote, the latter will explore ‘Streaming Wars-The Nordic Perspective and will no doubt tackle the current dispute of streamers with Creatives and Producers unions over rights of scripted content on VOD services. (See our separate story: CLICK HERE).

“We’re a-political, but we want to be a platform where Danish industry people can talk about the situation. As a media festival, our role is to build bridges and facilitate dialogue, all the more in a time of crisis”, said Jackson.

To help especially the young talent, students as well as entrepreneurs hit by the streaming crisis in Danish scripted production, the festival will be handing out complimentary tickets.

No doubt the 20,000+ series fans and creators will enjoy the wide-range of new TV shows-mostly Danish - presented at the Aarhus Series Festival by their talents and creators - from Carmen Curlers (DR) - opening of the festival, Chorus Girls (TV2), DNA season 2 (TV2), Nordland ’99 (DR) The Orchestra (DR), Norway’s Headhunters(C More), HBO’s The White Lotus 2, to three YA Danish series Salsa (DRTV), Drenge (Viaplay) and Grænser 3 (Youtube) from hot director Jonas Risvig.

Finally, for the second consecutive year, the Series Awards celebrating the best Danish series of the year - from audience voters- will be handed out, and for the first time an Acting Award will be added to the 10 existing categories, including as well Best Nordic Series.

The awards ceremony will take place November 3, 2022.

Aarhus Series and THIS created by Filmby Aarhus are co-funded by seven organisations including Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and several sponsors.

For further details, check: www.aarhusseries.com or https://thisaarhus.com/.