Aarhus’ THIS festival director: "This year we've focused on quality over quantity”

How does THIS 2023 look like in terms of figures, and keynote speakers?
FEJ: At THIS we have a total of three festivals (AARHUS FILM DAYS, THIS and AARHUS SERIES) over 10 days with 120 speakers and we will host 70 events in total, including our grand award-show.

The program has our most international line-up of speakers to date, and I’m proud to say that we have a lot of defining and leading players in the media industry. For instance, US media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro, Tetris’ Henk Roger (portrayed in Apple TV+’s film Tetris) and Amazon’s Travis Grizzel are among six speakers from Austin’s SXSW attending our showcase. We are putting them in our Nordic context and will ask them relevant questions about industry trends.

What are THIS 2023’s overarching themes?
FEJ: The overarching theme this year is a three-part focus on AI, climate, and the potential of new tech to improve the world for the better.

We’ve been working with these themes, because they are interlinked, not only in the media industry but also in society at large. At THIS, we always look at the big societal themes affecting media and the media industry. For example, on day 1 with THIS GAME, we have a keynote with Henk Rogers, the Chairman of The Tetris Company where he will touch on the gamification of fixing the environment, and another session focusing on how data collected from games can pinpoint players’ feelings towards climate change.

At THIS CONFERENCE, we have a session focusing on how AI can be used to solve problems such as climate change, world hunger and health, while on THIS SERIES, we focus on how AI can be used as a tool in series and film production. There is a lot of confusion and even fear when it comes to AI right now, so we have been working towards a program where we can shed light on it and fend off these fears.

We will also of course bring up the media’s role and responsibility within the representation of climate action. The cultural impact from series, films, games, and so forth is very defining, and therefore we need to take climate representation seriously in our storytelling, just like we do with the representation of gender minorities and ethnicities.

The sessions about how to create franchises with Rob Hudnut, from licence to adaptation with Emmy Yu, and Tetris sound particularly enticing for the young audience. Could you say a few words about these sessions?
FEJ: We have a huge mass of talent in Denmark in the entertainment and screen industries, and we wish to inspire and connect the talented youth and start-ups with the established people in the field, so that they can grow into their full potential. These sessions are all created with a wish to show how you can expand from a smaller scale to a larger scale.

How important was it to secure OXEN as opener of THIS Series?
FEJ: The thriller and crime-genre has always been huge in the northern countries (we are very good at creating them as well!) so securing Oxen as an opener was very important. We know the audience is thrilled about it, and it is one of those series that's possibly going to be 'talk of the town'.

Based on a Jens Henrik Jensen’s best-seller book, the script is written by some of Denmark’s best scriptwriters, Maj Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe, and it also has a star-packed cast - Jacob Lohmann, Josephine Park, Ellen Hillingsø and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen who are all well-known in the Nordics. So, we have very high expectation.

How many series in total will be showcased? How does this compare to previous years?
FEJ: This year we've focused on quality over quantity. Of course, we also can’t deny that the series industry is in a tough spot right now, and it has affected our program too. But that also means that we, now more than ever, need to showcase these series to emphasise that while there are fewer series on the screen, the quality hasn’t suffered at all.

A total of four series will be showcased at Aarhus Series. Besides the opening, we also have screenings of unseen episodes of the Christmas calendar 'Valdes Jul, skolens vogter from TV2 Denmark and Mesterlige Monsterbørn (Monster Loving Maniacs) which is also popular on the BBC.

We are also doing a reunion with the main cast of TAXA, a legendary Danish TV series from the 90’s that has a nostalgic revival among a young audience. Lastly, we also have a special with world-famous Danish actor Pilou Asbæk (Greyzone, Game of Thrones) focusing on his acting career within the series format.

Our biggest event is Series Awards where 11 awards are handed out in 11 different categories. There are three nominees in each category, and the candidates for Best Nordic Series are SVT’s Blackwater, Taelgia and TV2 Norway’s Kids in Crime. The top Danish series with most nominees are Huset (Prisoner), Dansegarderoben (Chorus Girls), Killjoy, and Carmen Curlers.

In addition, we've also added another festival Aarhus Film Days this year, where we will be showcasing a total of 12 movies including all the nominees for Nordic Council’s Film Prize and exclusive premieres such as Hygge!, Anatomy of a Fall, Opponent and Songs of Earth.

What are your views on the current state of TV drama in Denmark?
FEJ: TV Drama in Denmark has of course taken a hit with the production difficulties the past year. However, we continue to produce award-winning shows and series. It is also for this reason that we want to make sure that we’re making room for new talent, taking chances, and taking the viewers seriously.

It’s important that we have strong Nordic films, series, and voices in the global streaming market and global arena, and with these three festivals, we have a powerful platform for showcasing this.

A lot of the nominees for the Series Awards this year are series that take on difficult dilemmas and topics, and handle them with thought and care, and a little bit of humour. A very traditional Scandinavian approach that's defining for our culture, which is also why we need to keep celebrating the series industry.