Gullspång Miracle opens Nordisk Panorama - full programme announced

A cash total of €25,000 will be handed out between September 21-26 to the best Nordic documentary, best Nordic short film, New Nordic voice, kids and youth films part of the Young Nordic programme, and the audience’s favourite sponsored by the City of Malmö.

Kick-starting the event will be the Swedish documentary The Gullspång Miracle by first-timer Maria Fredriksson, which received rave reviews at Tribeca in June and competes in Malmö for best New Nordic Voice. The eerie depiction of a family reunification that spirals out of control is produced by Ina Holmqvist for Ballad Film, with MetFilm Sales handling sales.

Also opening the major Nordic film event is Iceland’s short film Fár for which Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter earned a Special Mention at the last Cannes Film Festival. The film produced by Sara Nassim (Lamb) and Ingi Einarsson for Nordur is also selected for the upcoming Toronto Int’l Film Festival.

This year’s best Nordic Documentary competition line-up takes in 15 titles, many successfully platformed at earlier festivals such as Apolonia, Apolonia (best film at IDFA), Theatre of Violence (DOK.fest Viktor prize winner) or Motherland (DOX:Award winner).

"Each selected film has made a strong impression on us for different reasons, they are all unique stories with strong audiovisual and artistic ambitions. Together they shape our story of 2023, from football lovers in Iceland to lynx followers in Finland, stretching from the Nordics and further out into the world,” said documentary programmers Cecilia Lidin and Manolo Diaz Rämö.

Eight of the titles in the Nordic Documentary strand are backed by the Fund:
Denmark’s Apolonia, Apolonia, Theatre of Violence and Vintersaga, Finland’s The Last Seagull, Iceland’s Soviet Barbara, the Story of Ragnar Kjartansson in Moscow, Norway’s Praying for Armageddon, Songs of Earth and We Are Still Here.

Six up-and-coming documentary filmmakers have been selected for the New Nordic Voice competition, such as the aforementioned The Gullspång Miracle and A Silent Story by Anders Skovbjerg Jepsen, both supported by the Fund.

In the short fiction form, nine newcomers will be vying for the €5,000 prize sponsored by AVEK and Film i Skåne. Meanwhile 11 short films will compete for the €1,500 Young Nordic prize.

Next to the festival, Nordisk Panorama’s industry events-the Nordisk Panorama Market will present 250 completed, while the Forum for Co-financing Documentaries will introduce 24 works in progress between September 24-26.

Best Nordic Documentary competition line-up:

• Apolonia, Apolonia, Lea Glob, Denmark
• Heartist, Marianna Mørkøre & Beinta á Torkilsheyggi, Faroe Islands.
• Hypermoon, Mia Engberg, Sweden, 2023
• Lynx Man, (Ilveskuiskaaja), Juha Suonpää, Finland/Estonia
• Motherland (Motherland), Hanna Badziaka & Alexander Mihalkovich, Sweden/Norway/Ukraine
• Praying for Armageddon, (Praying for Armageddon), Tonje Hessen Schei, Norway/Finland/Sweden
• REVIR - Everything You Hold Dear, (REVIR - En fortælling om det dyrebare), Peter Hammer, Denmark
• Songs of Earth, (Fedrelandet), Margreth Olin, Norway/UK/Germany
• Soviet Barbara, the Story of Ragnar Kjartansson in Moscow, (Soviet Barbara, sagan um Ragnar Kjartansson í Moskvu), Gaukur Úlfarsson, Iceland
• The Gamer, (Pelaaja), Petri Luukkainen & Jesse Jokinen, Finland/Germany
• The Home Game, (Heimaleikurinn), Smári Gunnarsson & Logi Sigursveinsson, Iceland
• The Last Seagull, (Viimeinen rantaleijona), Tonislav Hristov, Finland/Norway/Bulgaria
• Theatre of Violence, Lukasz Konopa & Emil Langballe, Denmark/Germany
• Vintersaga, Carl Olsson, Sweden/Denmark
• We Are Still Here, (Mii leat ain dás), Gunilla G. Bresky, Norway/Sweden

Best New Nordic Voice competition line-up:

• A Silent Story,(En tavs historie), Anders Skovbjerg Jepsen, Denmark/Sweden
• Baghdad on Fire, (Baghdad on Fire), Karrar Al-Azzawi, Norway
• Rahčan - Ella's Riot, (Rahčan - Ellas opprør), Anne Marte Blindheim, Norway
• The Gullspång Miracle, (Miraklet i Gullspång), Maria Fredriksson, Sweden/Denmark/Norway
• Twice Colonized, (Twice Colonized), Lin Alluna, Denmark/Greenland/Canada
• Under Construction, (Wanha Markku), Markus Toivo, Finland

For the complete competition programme, check www.nordiskpanorama.com