Nordic Animation Summit and the Nordic Film Commissioners Network kicked off in connection with Nordic Talents last week

Last week the Nordic industry gathered in Copenhagen to participate in the Fund’s annual bridge-building pitch event Nordic Talents. In connection with the event, two industry meetings were organised as part of Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s (NFTVF) strategic collaboration work throughout the year. Networks were expanded and collaboration within film commissioning and animation was nurtured.

The Nordic Animation Summit

The very first Nordic Animation Summit was hosted by DR and co-organised by the broadcaster, the Nordic Animation Association, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which in 2025 celebrates its Animation Collaboration theme year.

The one-day event brought together Nordic children & youth heads and commissioners, animation producers, and funders, to explore long-term strategic collaboration in children’s content, focusing on shared challenges and opportunities in the current global media landscape.

Morten Skov Hansen, Head of Children’s and Youth programming at DR, opened the meeting by emphasising the importance of moving from national silos to a unified Nordic market, leveraging cultural similarities to strengthen local IPs against global players.

To inspire new and innovative ways of co-developing animation, Liz Chan from the BBC joined the meeting digitally. After her presentation of BBC’s animation talent development program, BBC Ignite, Chan discussed talent work and fresh pipelines with the Nordic delegates in the packed room.

Through Nordic case studies, producers shared challenges and solutions on funding, sustaining IP beyond the first season, and navigating changing co-production regulations. Henrik Nonnemann from LEGO brought a fresh perspective on IP development, emphasising play and immersive experiences as key cultural values.

Timo Suomi, vice chair of the Nordic Animation Association board and producer at Finnish Anima Vitae, highlighted the shared goals of the room:

"At the end of the day we all have the same goal; to offer stories with Nordic values for children to watch. Most of the time we just look at the challenges from our own narrow perspective. That's why it was great that we were all in one room together, looking at the challenges we face from everyone's angles."

Clara Sætren, Project Manager at the Nordic Animation Association, cherished the first step now taken:

"There’s still a lot to work on, but often the hardest part is where to start, and we thank DR and Nordisk Film & TV Fond for making the first effort to get everyone in the room working on our mutual problem together."

The follow-up meeting will be held in October at Fredrikstad Animation Festival, with a focus on advancing Nordic animation co-productions.

Nordic Film Commissioners Network

During NFTVF’s strategic partner meeting for Nordic commissioners this spring, the need for a structured year-long network between feature film commissioners was expressed by Elina Pohjola, feature film commissioner at Yle. Inspired by the meeting, she summoned her colleagues among the Fund’s parties to form such a group, and they had their first meeting in Copenhagen right after the Nordic Talents Award Ceremony.

Hosted by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the network welcomed all commissioners working with feature-length fiction films from film institutes and broadcasters across the Nordics. The attendees were representatives from the Norwegian Film Institute (Jens Christian Fodstadt), the Swedish Film Institute (Hanna Lejonqvist and Axel Petersén), SVT (Agneta Perman), the Finnish Film Foundation (Ilkka Mertsola), the Icelandic Film Centre (Noemi Ferrer), and Yle (Piia Nokelainen and Elina Pohjola).

Pohjola summoned the fruitful meeting, which will be organised once more in connection with the Göteborg Film Festival in January 2026:

“The discussion was rich and lively, and we quickly realised that the time allocated for this meeting was far too short, with so many interesting topics on the table. During the session, we shared best practices and different approaches on how to best support the filmmakers and the industry.”