The Carl International Film Festival in Karlskrona Sweden, host of the initiative - is among the signatories with CPH:DOX, Oslo Pix, Tampere Film Fest and Iceland’s Northern Wave Film Festival.

Initiated by WIFT Nordic (Women in Film and Television), the five Nordic festivals 'Pledge for Gender Parity and Inclusion' signed on Monday (26 August 2019)

Henrik JP Åkesson, Festival Director Carl International Film Festival said: “we are very honoured to be the host of this important initiative and to gather such a great selection of Nordic festivals to sign the Collective 5050x2020. In the Nordic countries, we consider ourselves good at gender equality, but we still have a lot of work to do, especially within the realm of film and film festivals. This initiative is important for this endeavour.”

CPH:DOX festival director Tine Fischer, added: "When it comes to structural and political change, I believe in data and transparency, and I believe in commitment and collective awareness. But before anything, I believe in action! So much can be changed, and it doesn't need to take forever. One year ago CPH:DOX decided to join the 5050x2020 objectives and work towards gender equality. Within a year, without imposing quotas but only by rethinking how we define quality in selection and curation – massive changes have happened.

"In 2019, 45% of the films in our official competition programmes were directed by one or more female directors and 52% of the projects selected for our financing forum were by women (35%) or mixed teams (17%). Our board has a 60% female representation and the organisation 57% women. My point is, don't wait for film schools, funding institutions, production companies and audiences to change. Move. Thanks to their organisational structure, most festivals are in a position to create fast structural change with major impact. We should definitely take that responsibility very seriously.”

The signing of the gender balance pledge kick started the two-day Carl Film Forum industry platform (August 26-27), held under the theme ‘Masters, Investors and Gatekeepers’. The packed programme includes ‘Meet the Master’ sessions with producers Kristina Åberg (Atmo), Helena Danielsson (Brain Academy) agent Maren Olson and writer/director Hannes Holm, a presentation of the Swedish Film Institute’s new funding initiative Glow, set up to boost minority representation in film.

The Carl Film Forum closes Tuesday with the Carl Award, to be given out to the Best Baltic Sea Film.

Films competing this year include Levan Akin’s Directors Fortnight entry And Then We Danced, Henrika Kull’s Jibril, Juris Kursietis’s Oleg, Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm’s Until We Fall and Simona Kostova’s Thirty.

Among the 13 Nordic and Swedish premieres are special screenings of Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein’s Swoon, Benedikt Erlingsson’s Woman at War, Maj Wechselmann’s documentary Moa Martinson-Landsmodern and Mai Zetterling’s classic 1968 The Girls starring Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom.