Malmö’s Nordisk Panorama unveils its full festival and industry programme

This year’s Nordisk Panorama Film Festival will run from 19-24 September. As usual, the Malmö-based gathering will showcase a variety of films, special screenings and events to celebrate the best of Nordic short and documentary filmmaking.

In detail, the doc competition will be made up of 21 titles, including Nordic gems and festival favourites such as Sissel Morel Dargis’ Balomania (premiered at CPH:DOX 2024), Juan Palacios and Sofie Husum Johannesen’s As the Tide Comes In (Før stormen) (IDFA 2023), Zara Zerny’s Echo of You (Ekko af kærlighed) (IDFA 2023), Loran Batti’s G – 21 Scenes from Gottsunda (G - 21 scener från Gottsunda) (CPH:DOX 2024), Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s Homecoming(Máhccan) (Toronto 2023), Mohamed Jabaly’s Life is Beautiful (Al Haya Helwa) (IDFA 2023), and Pamela Hogan’s The Day that Iceland Stood Still (Hot Docs 2024).

Meanwhile, the 36 selected shorts will be showcased across 12 different strands – Nature’s Echo; Family Tapestry; Turn a Blind Eye; Parallel Paths; Ages of Change; Navigating the Storm; Comedy Night, Through the Looking Class; Make a Change; Prank, Cats and Game Over; Know the Feeling and Malmö Konsthall.

On this occasion, the Nordic Documentary Award Jury will see the participation of WDR commissioning editor Jutta Krug, filmmaker Lea Glob (IDFA 2022 winner Apolonia, Apolonia) and Venice programmer Francesco Giai Via. The Nordic Short Award Jury will be made up of France TV rep Aurélie Chesne, Ouat Media’s general manager Inga Diev and filmmaker Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, whilst the New Nordic Voice Award Jury will host The Norwegian Short Film Festival director Anita Svingen and critic Ann Lind Andersen alongside filmmakers Arman Zafari and Markus Toivo.

Zooming in on the fest’s industry sidebar, accredited guests will be able to take a closer look at six work-in-progress doc projects: Tova Morzard’s ILOVERUSS (produced by Sweden’s Picky Pictures, and also present at the festival as a multi-screen video installation exhibited at the Hypnos Theatre); Trond Kvig Andreassen’s Kyiv Soloists (a Norwegian-Ukrainian-Dutch co-pro led by Indie Film Producer); Viktor Nordenskiöld’s Lust for Life (staged by Sweden’s Sisyfos Film Production); Susanne Kovács’s Techplomacy (produced by Denmark’s Good Company Pictures); Markku Heikkinen’s The Arctic Circle of Lust (Pohjoinen intohimo) (a co-production between Finland, Germany and Sweden spearheaded by Zone2), and Christian Sønderby Jepsen’s The Father, The Sons and The Holy Ghost (courtesy of Danish outfit Moving Documentary).

Meanwhile, 46 new non-fiction projects will take part in the Forum as observers or will be pitched to the industry audience in attendance – some of the buzziest include Angelica Ruffier’s A Face to Be Loved (Jag har ett ansikte för att bli älskad) (produced by Sweden’s MDEMC), Gunnar Hall Jensen’s Lights (produced by Norway’s UpNorth), Max Eriksson’s Bachman: The Story of Stephen King’s Pseudonym (also produced by Sysifos), Camilla Pedersen and Nikolaj Viborg’s Investigating Putin (produced by Denmark’s Impact TV), and Terese Mörnvik and Caroline Troedsson’s Violence of the Lonely Heart (produced by Sweden’s Auto Images).

Once again, Nordisk Panorama will also host The Nordic Short Film Pitch. The initiative sees short filmmakers from the Nordics meet, exchange experiences and find partners for potential future collaborations and co-productions. The event is held in close co-operation with the region’s short film commissioners and pubcasters. This year’s edition will see Nordisk Panorama collaborating with the Scottish Documentary Institute and Screen Scotland, and welcoming a delegation of Scottish professionals.

Next, the three highlights of the Conference programme are the Town Hall open discussion “Confronting the Echo Chambers”, the session “10 Things I Hate about Shorts – *A Hands-on Approach to What Programmers Love”, and the Elevator Pitch “30 Seconds to the Top”.

Notably, more than 70 Nordic and international decision-makers are expected to visit Malmö during the event’s industry days (21-23 September).

Moreover, Nordisk Panorama will also host Archives of Oblivion, a suite of poems by Felicia Mulinari and Athena Farrokhzad written in dialogue with social movements about memory, grief and racist violence, with Malmö as the backdrop. Directed by Saga Gärde, the piece features a video portraying children and youth leaders who perform the poem and examine the role of memory and forgetting in the anti-racist struggle. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Farrokhzad, Gärde and director Suvi West.

Finally, on 23 September the Scanian gathering will host a conversation with docmaker Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Concerning Violence (Om våld), and his latest Venice-bound Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 (Israel Palestina på svensk TV 1958-1989)). The talk, titled “Reframing Documentary” and moderated by Cecilia Lidin, will see the helmer exploring his thirty-year career and sharing his approach to art, politics and activism. Ahead of Olsson’s talk, the festival will host two more conversations with Emily Norling (director of Megaheartz) and Patricia Bbaale Bandak (about her new film Death of a Saint), slated on 20 and 21 September, respectively.