John Skoog, Camilla Magid, Mani Maserrat, among latest fund recipients

Production support

Feature Films

• Biru Unjárga
  Grant: NOK1,500,000
  Recipient: Rein Film Finmark
  Producers: Mathis Ståhle Mathisen, Pål Røed
  Writer/director: Egil Pedersen
  Domestic distribution: Scandinavian Film Distribution
  Logline: Biru Unjárga is set in in the northernmost part of Norway, following a young Sámi teenager Elvira, who believes her mother got pregnant at a Danish fertility clinic. One day her real father turns up and Elvira’s world will never look the same again.
  
  Pedersen’s feature debut was shot this summer between Nesseby and Vadsø, Northern Norway. The story is based on the director’s personal experience of growing up as a Sámi. “This journey of embracing and accepting his identity has been at the core, while developing this story,” said producer Mathisen.
  
  The film produced by Norway’s Rein Film with Paasan, is co-produced by Finland’s Bautafilm and Finland’s Oktober, with support from the International Sami Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute, Filmfond Nord, The Norwegian Sami Parliament, The Sami Council, YLE, and Filmpool Nord. Delivery is set for March 2024.
• Redoubt
  Grant: NOK 1,500,000
  Recipient: Plattform Produktion, Sweden
  Producers: Erik Hemmendorff, Caroline Drab
  Writer/director: John Skoog
  Cast: Denis Lavant
  Domestic distribution: TriArt
  Logline: Affected by the powerful images in the pamphlet ‘If war comes’, farmhand Karl-Göran Persson begins fortifying his house. Through years of harvesting scrap-metal, he transforms it into a fortress meant to protect him and neighbours against potential enemies or disasters.
  
  Ridge director John Skoog has started filming in August his long-gestated visionary feature inspired by the real-life of the eccentric farm labourer Karl-Göran Persson turned war prepper who spent 30 years building a fortress in Skåne until his death in 1975. In the title role is French actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors).
  
  The film is being produced by Ruben Östlund’s regular production outfit Plattform Produktion, in co-production with BCD Film, Paloma Production (DK), Bufo (FI), Lemming Film (NL), Film i Väst, Film i Skåne, SVT, with support by The Swedish Film Institute, Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, NL Film Fond, Region Skåne, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee. The film will be released in Denmark by Øst for Paradis and in Finland by B-Plan.

Documentaries

• G
  Grant: NOK 500,000
  Recipient: Story AB, Sweden
  Producers: Melissa Lindgren, Göran Hugo Olsson
  Director: Loran Batti
  Domestic distribution: SVT (theatrical TBA)
  Logline: An aspiring filmmaker sets out to make a farewell film to his childhood friends and to Gottsunda, the infamous suburb where he grew up.
  
  Rising filmmaker and playwright talent Loran Batti won the Swedish Film Institute’s Wild Card talents scheme for the development of his documentary project. The film explores the feelings of togetherness in exclusion, and the tragedies that afflict young people in the racialized class society that permeates Sweden today. The project is being co-produced by SVT, Film i Väst, Denmark’s Monolit Film with backing from DR, DR and VGTV in Norway.
• Fighting Demons with Dragons
  Grant: NOK 700,000
  Recipient: Final Cut for Real, Denmark
  Producer: Heidi Elise Christensen
  Director: Camilla Magid
  Domestic distribution: DR
  Logline: Coming-of-age documentary about Josefine, Ask and Luca at Østerskov Boarding School, the only school in Denmark where imagination and role playing is an integral part of teaching. Will these teens, who always felt like outsiders, finally fit in?
  
  The latest project by the director of Land of Free (Nordic:DOX Award 2017) is currently in post-production, with a delivery date penned for spring 2024. |
  
  The documentary co-produced by Kerstin Übelacker from Malmø-based We Have a Plan has received co-financing from DR, NRK, SVT, Film i Skåne, support from the Danish Film Institute, and the Swedish Film Institute.

• North South Man Woman
  Grant: NOK 600,000
  Recipient: Studio Kozlovski, Norway
  Directors: Morten Traavik, Sun Kim
  Producer: Verona Meier
  Domestic distribution: TBA
  Logline: North South Man Woman follows Mrs Yujin Han, a matchmaker originally from North Korea, and her marriage agency in Seoul exclusively bringing together South Korean men with North Korean women.
  
  The director first came across an article from The Guardian (CLICK HERE) about the topic of female refugees from North Korea being paired with husbands from the south. He teamed up again with Sun Kim with whom he worked earlier on the acclaimed Liberation Day, about the first Western rock band (Laibach) allowed to perform in North Korea.
  
  North South Man Woman is co-produced by Studio Kozlovski, Norway, VFS Films from Latvia and Mirror & Story from South Korea, with support from the Norwegian Film Institute, FFLB, Fritt Ord, the National Film Centre of Latvia, Seoul Film Commission, co-financing from NRK, DR, and Latvian TV.
  
  Woolly (WT)
  Grant: NOK 600, 000
  Recipient: f(x) produksjoner, Norway
  Producer: Benedikte Bredesen
  Director: Rebekka Nystabakk
  Domestic distribution: NRK
  Logline: Woolly follows life on a small farm in northern Norway, as it is passed on to the next generation, from father to daughter. The film is about making major life choices, about finding your own path in someone else’s footsteps, and about the high stakes of small-scale farms. And it is about sheep.
  
  Woolly is the directorial debut of actress Rebecca Nystabakk (Twin, Home for Christmas, Out of Nature) who draws from her own experience of growing up in a sheep farm.
  
  Bredesen says Woolly is a “heart-warming film packed with magic and funny moments”. “It’s about traditional agriculture in the face of a new age and new demands, about the conditions under which our food is produced, about how our demands for production come at the expense of animal welfare and the balance in the nature of which we are a part.”
  
  The feature film version is expected to premiere this winter in Norwegian cinemas (distribution TBA) and the six-part series in the spring 2024 on NRK. A short version will also premiere on The Guardian early 2024, says Bredesen who is working with Together Films on an impact strategy for the UK/US.

TV series

• The Mafia (Maffia)
  Format: 6x45’
  Grant: NOK 1,500,000
  Recipient: Nexiko, Sweden
  Producer: Maria Nordenberg
  Writers: Axel Stjärne (head-writer), Stefn Thunberg and Dennis Magnusson (episodic writers)
  Directors: Mani Maserrat, Thomas Jonsgården
  Key cast: Katia Winter, Peshang Rad
  Commissioner: Viaplay
  Logline: Set between 1991-1999, The Mafia is the story of how Sweden transformed during the 90s, from a moderate country, spared from organised crime to a country today characterised by violent gang wars and shootings.
  
  Peshang Rad (Bäckström, Before We Die) stars as a criminal visionary who redraws the borders of Sweden's underworld. Katia Winter (The Boys, The Catch) is police office Gunn, who does her utmost to stop him and his criminal activities that are starting to take root in the local community.
  
  The thriller series was shot late spring in Stockholm and will premiere at a later date on the streamer Viaplay.

Distribution and Dubbing Support

• NOK 200,000 to SF Studios, for the dubbing into Finnish, Norwegian and Danish of the Swedish animation film Who Are You, Mamma Moo?
• NOK 100,000 to Mydform, Iceland for the dubbing into Icelandic of the Norwegian animation film Just Super.
• NOK 190,000 to Nordisk Film, Denmark for the distribution of the Swedish film Second Act.
• NOK 130,000 to Nordisk Film, Finland for the distribution of the Swedish film Second Act.
• NOK 100,000 to Njutafilms, Sweden for the distribution of the Icelandic film Operation Napoleon.
• NOK 100,000 to Film Bazaar, Denmark for the distribution of the Icelandic film The Swan.
• NOK 75,000 to Another World, Norway for the distribution of the Danish film Fathers & Mothers.
• NOK 70,000 to Another World, Denmark for the distribution of the Icelandic film Operation Napoleon.
• NOK 65,000 to Myndform, Iceland for the distribution of the Norwegian animation film Just Super.

Industry Initiatives Support

• NOK 200,000 to the Helsinki Film Festival-Love & Anarchy for Finnish Film Affair & Nordic Flair
• NOK 200,000 to Nordic Film Commissions (NFC), Network of 18 Nordic film commissions.
• NOK 120,000 to WIFTI (Women in Film & Television International) for their Helsinki Summit 2023-Facing the Future.
• NOK 35,000 to Filmgreb for Nordic Producers Club+.