Nordic Talents Pitch Prize winner Maria Tórgarð wants to break the silence on the strict abortion laws in the Faroe Islands

“Did you know that abortion is still illegal in one of the Nordic countries?”

That’s how Faroese documentarist Maria Tórgarð opened her project pitch. As confusion sweeps through the room of industry professionals, she goes on to share the touching and personal story behind her documentary Knots – the project that earned her the NOK 250,000 Pitch Prize at this year’s Nordic Talents.

Tórgarð started working with film when she was 16 years old, and discovered she wanted to become a director when she was 18. She started making fiction short films, but soon discovered the documentary format, and fell in love. She debuted as a 23-year-old with her documentary Skál (2021), which competed in the Main Competition at CPH:DOX and was awarded the New Nordic Voice Award at Nordisk Panorama and Best Documentary at Chicago International Film Festival in 2021.

After her successful debut, Tórgarð began studying film at Stockholm University of the Arts, and now she says she’s ready to enter the industry again. This time with her new documentary Knots.

"The idea of the documentary comes from a very personal place. When I was in the position of needing an abortion, I truly believed I was the only person in the Faroe Islands who had ever had one. I didn’t know anyone who had done it before, and there was no help to be found anywhere. But when I started talking about it, I realised that I actually know quite a few people. It’s just that no one talks about it."

The silence was the hardest part about going through an abortion in such heavily regulated circumstances, Tórgarð says.

"I went to the doctors, and they told me to wait. ‘Are you sure you understand the consequences of what you are about to do?’ That makes you feel alone. The lack of information contributes to the situation being like this."

In Knots, she confronts the silence, shame, and unawareness of abortion in the Faroe Islands. She documents Faroese women who have shared her experience, showing how they are forging a new language of resistance. Together, they stand at the centre of a political turning point. The Nordic Talents jury praised Tórgarð’s bravery and commitment to change: “She is not shying away from complex questions, she is not hiding behind anything, and she is – fortunately – unstoppable.”

The second prize at Nordic Talents, the Special Mention (NOK 50,000), was awarded to the Swedish director Sepehr Nosrati for his pitch of the feature film Snowfall in April.

Nosrati is also a graduate from Stockholm University of the Arts. But his path into the film industry hasn’t been obvious. He has a background in economy and marketing.

"I don’t come from an artistic family. It took me a long time before I dared to pursue filmmaking. I finished my studies in economics and marketing, worked in the field for a year, and felt: ‘I’m doing fine, but it sucks.’ It was depressing, because I wasn’t doing what I truly wanted. I applied to Stockholm University of the Arts, miraculously got in, and it changed everything."

Snowfall in April was pitched as a suspenseful drama-thriller set at a ski resort, where a work conference takes a dark turn, and the protagonist is forced to navigate revenge and his moral compass. The work conference setting is what sparked Nosrati’s initital idea for the film.

"I’ve photographed and filmed many conferences in my life for big companies, and I’ve always found them very interesting. Everyone is deeply committed to what they do, but it’s a kind of fake world. So I thought: ‘What if something truly serious and terrible happened in this setting?’ When these two very different worlds collide, it can create an interesting absurdity that I can explore in my work."

The jury was impressed by the intensity of Nosrati’s storytelling: “This filmmaker manages to explore vital topics in a way that simultaneously has a possibility to engage broad audiences. This combination of genre and thematic substance is truly something that we need more of in the Nordic region,” the jury stated.

Both Maria Tórgarð and Sepehr Nosrati say that the conversations their films spark are the driving force behind their filmmaking.

"I’ve had so many meaningful conversations with people who have gone through similar experiences as I have. And that’s what film does; it allows you to reach people," Tórgarð says.

"I don’t make films for the industry, I make films for my family, my friends, for the audience. I’m trying to explore and understand something, and to have conversations with people afterwards. I gain so much from those conversations, and that’s really what I seek, more conversations,” Nosrati concludes.

Both talents are now applying to various Scandinavian programmes to continue developing their films.

"In a few days, I’ll be heading home to the Faroe Islands, where I’ll wait for the responses and switch off my phone," Tórgarð says.