Long live Nordic Talents! After two-days of pitches of 15 projects from 16 rising talents at the National Film School of Denmark, Nordic Talents closed September 8 with the awards ceremony.

The jury consisting of Margrethe Queen of the North director Charlotte Sieling, Wild Bunch TV Head of Sales and Acquisitions Diana Bartha, NRK’s Head of Drama Marianne Furevold-Boland, Vida Bomben director Carl Javér and MRP Matila Röhr Productions’s Ilkka Matila, unanimously handed out the NOK250,000 Top Pitch Prize to Jesse Jalonen for Return and Exchange.

In the deadpan comedy drama, authenticity becomes questionable when people can change their whole life by stepping out of their shoes and picking up another pair on the street. “We all have more dreams and ambitions than what one lifetime has to offer - and you can certainly be more than what you are, but still need to commit in life. It’s really about what means to be you - with a good laugh along the way,” said the director in his pitch.

Jalonen had already impressed and moved the jury and 200+ Nordic Talents audience with his graduation film Nobody Meets Your Eyes, shot on a Nokia C5 mobile phone, which tackles loneliness, being invisible to others. The film was selected at the last Rotterdam Film Festival.

In its statement the jury said they “have chosen to award a filmmaker who has a unique voice, who is addressing important contemporary issues and who has the ability to make us laugh and cry. Cinema has the power of letting you walk in someone else’s shoes. We are curious to see the movie that this brilliant pitch promises because this promise is loaded by meaningful content and intriguing unpredictability.”

Last time Helsinki’s ELO Film School won a Nordic Talents Pitch Prize was in 2016 with Kajsa el Ramly’s Getaway & Dreams, earlier know as Scenes from a Dying Town.

This year’s Nordic Talents second prize or NOK 50,000 Special Mention went to the Norwegian Film School graduates -writer Sunniva Kviteberg and director Håkon Anton Olav, for their feature project Titanic Club.

The Worst Person in the World producer Thomas Robsahm has boarded the project, alongside producer Tøri Gjendal.

It’s the story of the young Vebjørn and Oona, their fight to overcome barriers within themselves, in order to give in to each other. It’s a tender and ridiculous story about longing, fear, falling behind, and falling in love.

Titanic Club is the feature version of their joint graduation film Superdupermegagigasingle, which won over the film professionals and graduates in Copenhagen.

The jury said: “It’s all inclusive. With lots of humour, vulnerability, and fear of intimacy. We run away from the thing we most want, which is love. The project deals with an under-explored phenomena in the aspects of a young adult’s romantic and sexual life in a very honest way. We want to award a very talented writer and a very talented director on their shared path in this very promising film project.”

Writer Sunniva Kviteberg had also taken centre stage separately to pitch the dramedy series Lame tackling sexuality and disability.

Wealth of Nordic Talent up for grab
After two years of online pitches, the bridge-building Nordic Talents was a ‘re-born event’ as mentioned by Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s CEO Liselott Forsman, with young Nordic film graduates “more network-seeking” than ever and an industry eager to nab the next big writing, directing talent from the region. And as showcased at this year’s Nordic Talents, there was no shortage of fresh new voices to grab.

”The projects were at such a high level - I was amazed, inspired and I even struggled sometimes to find questions to ask [the pitchers]. We’re in good hands for the future,” said Charlotte Sieling, director of the iconic series The Bridge and The Killing.

”The pitches but also the graduation films blew me away” added SKAM producer Marianne Furevold-Boland. ”There was quite a wide variety in form and storytelling, with many projects raising questions about how it is to be a human, as good drama should do. ”

Reconstructing Utøya’s director Carl Javér who attended Nordic Talents for the first time, said he came without any particular expectation, but ”was pleasantly surprised by the ”high level of the projects, that had depth, running from well-written drama productions to world class docu hybrid exploration. I leave with much hope for the Nordic industry,” he said.

Also a first-timer attendee, Wild Bunch TV’ s executive Diana Bartha who represents a handful of top Nordic series such Nudes and C More/TV4’s anticipated Riding in Darkness said she was ”very surprised by this new generation of Nordic writers/directors. ”They know what they are doing and where they are heading. They rely on a great heritage that they carry on. As a distributor, we receive hundreds of projects, but I found the winning projects very unique, disruptive and innovative”, she said.

Finnish producer Ilkka Matila concurred: ”What is interesting is that the next generation seems to be well prepared for the professional world. There was a lot of solid storytelling and visual creativity to tell stories. There isn’t a revolution as such, but we don't really need it. If rising talent can take the best from the past, bring it to the next level, then we’re fine. Film is not only about art but a handicraft and this is what the next generation seems to respect.”

Nordic Talents’ other highlight was a pitch from seven top Nordic production companies: Denmark’s Elk Film, Snowglobe, Sweden’s Filmlance International, Way Creative Films, Finland’s It’s Alive Films, Norway’s The Oslo Company and the Nordic region’s Scanbox. ”Be passionate and approach us, not necessarily with a project but with an eagerness to share ideas. Get us fired up,” was the advice from the seasoned producers.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON ALL THE NORDIC TALENT PROJECTS CLICK HERE.

WATCH OUR FOR OUR PROFILE OF THE WINNERS COMING TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13.