Psycho-thrillers and fantasy dominated the third and final round presented at Haugesund’s Coproduction market on August 23.
Well prepared by pitch tutor Helene Granqvist, the seven Nordic teams delivered convincing pitches for their feature projects, each backed by NOK 200,000 in development support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Genre expert and distributor Annick Mahnert (Screen Division) felt that the Nordic Genre Boost proved once again that ‘Nordic genre film reserves are not running dry yet’. She said: “This year's selection showed ‘a shift from pure horror into fantastic arthouse. This is a sign that the newer generation doesn't necessarily want to do bloody films anymore, but rather explore a subtler genre, and I can't wait to see the finished features.”
The pitching session closed two residential workshops held at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films, after a first session at Helsinki’s Night Visions International Festival in April.
Commenting on the initiative, writer/director/producer Olivier Guerpillon (Silver Films) who pitched the Swedish project CAR:Y said: “We really loved the Nordic Genre Boost experience. It did exactly what it was meant to do: boost the project in so many ways, from improving the script thanks to great feedbacks to helping us develop and package it. Meeting other Nordic teams with similar tastes and ambitions has also been very useful and a great pleasure.” For veteran Icelandic producer Hrönn Kristinsdóttir (Go to Sheep), the programme ‘opened a lot of doors’ and connected her and Lamb creators, with potential co-producers and sales companies.
Norwegian up and coming producer Kristoffer Sindre Vittersø (Vittersø Media) said that ‘without Nordic Genre Boost, he would probably ‘still be sitting in a café’, talking about his project PUKK with director Øyvind Holtmon. “Now, we've discussed it with tens of people from the industry, from sales and distribution to fellow filmmakers and even a post-production supervisor, and this has helped us a lot in our process.” The pitching to a large in Haugesund also contributed to making his project ‘more focused and appealing’.
Danish producer Jacob Jarek (Profile Pictures) enjoyed being surrounded by ‘like-minded people’ and the initiative helped him nail his project in terms of genre.
Initiated by Nordisk Film & TV Fond CEO Petri Kemppinen and managed by Valeria Richter, Nordic Genre Boost has provided development support and mentoring to 21 genre projects since December 2014. We will continue to monitor each project on their road to final delivery.
Here under are details of the 2017 Nordic Genre Boost projects: