Organised by Nordisk Film & TV Fond in conjunction with the Danish Film School, the Nordic Talents has become a 'must attend' for Nordic professionals - film institute consultants, broadcasters, producers, film schools, former and future graduates - who can meet in a friendly atmosphere, keep track of who is doing what and discover new talents.
Svend Abrahamsen, founder of NT who now teaches film at the Danish Film School, says that the event has fulfilled his original wish. "I wanted to do something for Nordic graduate students ready to enter the Nordic film industry and thought that we should create a platform where people could get to know each other and talk about how they felt about film. This has totally succeeded," notes Abrahamsen. "Unlike at film festivals where professionals come to watch movies, here, those who come are interested in each other and interested in the people."
Year after year, the popularity of the event has not worn down, looking at the list of participants. This year's jury alone consist of five top industry people: Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kari (The Good Heart), Peter Gustafsson, Film Consultant at the Swedish Film, Institute, Molly Malene Stensgaard, Film Consultant at the Danish Film Institute, Dag Alveberg, CEO and producer for Norway's Maipo A/S, and Pirjo Airaksinen, Senior VP for Finland's Nelonen Media. The pitching session will be monitored by Karolina Lidin, Documentary Consultant at Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
The graduate films shortlisted are carefully selected, and according to Tine Sørensen from the Danish Film School who has been involved in the event since Day One, "the quality of the projects is getting better and better every year". This is also due to the preparation work that goes behind the pitching session and the coaching of students by Karoline Leth (managing director of SF Production Denmark) two days prior the event. "At the beginning, we thought that the pitching could be improvised, but we quickly understood that students had to be prepared. They had to know how to present themselves and their project," explains Sørensen.
During those two pre-NT pitching days, Leth goes through each project with the graduates, asking them to think of what they really want to tell the audience, and explain, with simple words, the meaning of their project. "I also teach them how to choose their words, to use their body language, "says Leth who has three key advises to the students: "be yourself, be passionate, and explain your motivation, i.e. why you have chosen to do your film."
For Sørensen, NT has definitely succeeded in easing the access of graduate students to the Nordic film world. "Usually it can take between five to seven years for a film-making graduate to make his first film. With NT, a very high percentage of those who have won the pitching sessions have made their first film within two years," she noted.
Financiers and film producers watch out: the next Erik Richter Strand or Lisa Munthe are just waiting to be discovered next weekend.