Five of the eight titles running for the Best Nordic Film Dragon award, were supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Those include the directorial debuts of Norway's Margreth Olin (The Angel), Sweden's Babak Najafi (Sebbe - see separate story) and Finland's Zaida Bergroth (Last Cowboy Standing), as well as Dagur Kári's English language The Good Heart and Sara Johnsen's Upperdog. The two Danish first feature films Brotherhood and R round up the Nordic competition programme.
This year's jury members are filmmakers Johan Jonason and Asdis Thoroddsen, writer Erlend Loe, producer Vibeke Windeløv and export manager Kirsi Tykkyläinen.
Eight international feature debuts will vie for the prestigious Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, including Denmark's Applause, supported by the Fund. For artistic director Marit Kapla, the key words for this year's GIFF are Africa, India (Beyond Bollywood cinema) and Sharing, in the sense ‘sharing each other's reality'. This theme will be explored as well in the 50 seminars where film professionals will give the audience access to their knowledge and craft, such as Italian world renowned cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, (produced by and in collaboration with The Film Training Company), filmmakers Claire Denis (France) and Goran Paskaljevic (Serbia).
Over 200 international film professionals are expected at the parallel Nordic Film Market held February 4-7.