Fifteen projects from 22 graduating Nordic talents have been selected for this year’s Nordic Talents Pitch competition, to be held September 6-7 at the National Film School of Denmark.

The Nordic Talents Pitch competition organised by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, is the highpoint of NORDIC TALENTS, unique networking and talent scouting event for newly Nordic graduated film students and industry professionals.

This year’s competition line-up consists of 10 fiction films, three documentary films and two drama series from Denmark, Finland and Sweden, selected from 69 submissions.


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Among the talents to watch, 10 just graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, eight from Stockholm University of the Arts, two from the University of Gothenburg’s HDK-Valand in Sweden, and another two from Aalto University’s ELO Film School in Finland.

Some of the up-and-coming talents have already distinguished themselves with their short films, such as Danish writer/director Emilie Marlene Lyngstad and her production partner Carl Osbæck Adelkilde, winners of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival’s La Cinef 1st Prize with Norwegian Offspring, and Sami Ömer, winner of the Ekko Shortlist Awards 2019-best documentary for Sam & the Plant Next Door.

The 22 selected talents will compete for the NOK 250,000 Nordic Talents Pitch Prize and the NOK 50,000 Special Mention Prize, to be handed out by a jury of prominent industry professionals, based on the talents’ pitches, motivations and graduation films.

This year’s jury consists of Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd of Mer Film, Danish writer/director/producer Lone Scherfig, the Head of Production at the Finnish Film Foundation Matti Paunio, the CEO of the London Film School Neil Peplow, and Icelandic producer Anton Máni Svansson of Join Motion Pictures.

The 2023 Nordic Talents Pitch competitors are the following:

  • A Face to be Loved (documentary film)
    Stockholm University of the Arts
    Pitchers: director Angelica Ruffier, producer Brynhildur Þórarinsdóttir (joint graduation film Jag har ett ansikte för tt bli älskad/A Face to Be Loved)
    Logline: After losing her father, Angelica is reminded of an old love, her teacher Miss S.
  • Babysitters (drama series)
    ELO Film School Finland
    Pitcher: director Inga Pohjolainen (graduation film Mammutti/Mammoth)
    Logline: Thank you for teaching me to love crows.
  • B-men (drama series)
    ELO Film School Finland
    Pitcher: director Mikael Syrjälä (graduation film Elvis & Onerva)
    Logline: Comedy about Pelle (18) who tries to avoid his problems by faking illness through the army.
  • By the Shimmering Sea (fiction film)
    Stockholm University of the Arts
    Pitcher: writer/director Adam Cronstedt (graduation film Trap)
    Logline: It’s hard to share a heart in three.
  • Elvis On My Mind (fiction/hybrid film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitcher: writer/director Thomas Elley (graduation film Nationen/Wolf Nation)
    Logline: Why be Brian, if you can be Elvis?
  • Givers and Takers (fiction film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitcher: director Sofia Due Rosenzweig (graduation film I Ghosted You)
    Logline: We can’t fuck our way to the top, so how do we get there?
  • Great Acts of Humiliation (fiction film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitchers: director Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, producer Carl Olsbæk Adelkilde (joint graduation film Norwegian Offspring)
    Logline: Stella’s life is structured through repetitive rituals: at work she maintains dead bodies. At home she takes on the identity of a cub-fox owned by her boyfriend, Richard. When Richard’s health is weakened, her systems are starting to disintegrate.
  • How to Hygge (documentary film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitchers: director Rikke Nørgaard, producer Anna Cold Winge Leisner (joint graduation film Once Upon a Time on Twitch)
    Logline: A small town Dane wants to teach the Chinese how to hygge.
  • I Dream About Myself at Night (fiction film)
    Stockholm University of the Arts
    Pitcher: director/editor Irma Bergdahl (graduation film 2008 Loves You)
    Logline: Why care about your legacy if you can't get wasted on the dance floor.
  • London, Oslo (fiction film)
    HDK-Valand
    Pitchers: director Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid (graduation film Extra), writer Ylva Gulpinar (graduation film as sound designer Kosmos)
    Logline: Experiencing a shared trauma, a group of gay women finds new community and direction.
  • MASC4MASC (fiction film)
    Stockholm University of the Arts
    Pitchers: production designer Felix Augustin Greisinger, sound designer Petar Mrdjen
    Logline: Gay Hyper-masculinity- Real men fuck guys.
  • Medicated (fiction/hybrid film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitchers: director Las Dyhrcrone, producer Alma Giese (joint graduation film Fri/Out of Line)
    Logline: Three individuals dive into an opioid rush revealing their former selves.
  • Paper Boy (fiction film)
    Stockholm University of the Arts
    Pitchers: director Solín Bakircian, (graduation film Om döttrar kunde döda/If Daughters Could Kill), producer Carla Mantilla (graduation film Killing R)
    Logline: The awakening of the black sheep.
  • Paradise (fiction film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitcher: screenwriter Amalie Kjeldergaard (graduation film Nationen/Wolf Nation)
    Logline: When the sun hits the shadows.
  • Putting Scott to Rest (documentary film)
    The National Film School of Denmark
    Pitcher: director Ömer Sami (graduation film Eternal Father)
    Logline: What do the stories we tell reveal about ourselves and who we want to be?

Nordic Talents other highlight - the Producers’ Pitch will be held September 7, ahead of the awards ceremony at the National Film School of Denmark.

Past Nordic Talents winners whose pitches turned into award-winning debuts include Lea Glob (Venus), Thora Lorentzen (Absolute Beginners), Gustav Möller (The Guilty), Hlynur Pálmasson (Winter Brothers), Maria Bäck (I Remember When I Die), and Rúnar Rúnarsson (Volcano).

For further information, contact
Nordic Talents coordinator: Tina í Dali Wagner: nordictalents@nftvfond.com
or check our Nordic Talents 2023 website.