Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s strategic May meetings summoned 70 commissioners, department heads and CEOs from the Fund’s partner companies and organisations

Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF) annually summons its 17 parties to discuss new initiatives, share research, discuss strategies, and develop new collaboration projects. The Commissioners Meeting summoned commissioners from film institutes and broadcasters to think tanks and lectures on May 5th. The next day, NFTVF organised its annual strategic management day, the so-called Family Meeting, for CEOs and heads of departments.

Both meetings serve as pan-Nordic forums with the aim to strengthen the industry and to inspire parties through presentations, think tanks, discussions, and networking. Since 2025, the meetings have been arranged two days in a row in order to enable the Commissioner Meeting’s conclusions to reach the Family Meeting’s management level directly the next day. The discussions at the partner meetings are confidential, but some takeaways are shared in this article.

Changing markets and coping with production inflation and harsh economics were central themes at this year’s Family Meeting. NFTVF’s CEO Liselott Forsman hosted the day, which started with her updates on the Fund’s activities, among them NFTVF’s 2026 theme year Branding & Distribution (CLICK HERE). The theme year focuses on studies of markets, distribution, audiences and branding in the spring, while high-level workshops and a distribution boost for producers, financiers and distributors will take place in the autumn.

Fresh studies were presented to give a pan-Nordic overview on the current Nordic market situation. Klara Wade, economist at Oslo Economics, showed how different Nordic titles travel at home and in neighbouring countries. She also presented figures for the recent years’ employment reductions and the decrease in scripted Nordic productions. On the basis of the study, which has financing from the Nordic Council of Ministers, NFTVF will present recommendations to Nordic politicians later this year. Some of the issues discussed are the need for stable public funding, national effects of the tax rebate system, and measures to strengthen the Nordic audiovisual ecosystem through more streamlined financing processes.

Joakim Klingspor, Head of Strategy and Business Development at Mediavision, presented reduced numbers on Nordic commissioning in times of increased global competition and shifting market fundamentals, reshaped by the current digital landscape. The research showed the industry’s growing dependence on tax incentives and a current risk aversion among all actors, which can cause seniority bias.

The annual panels with the film CEOs discussed the market themes that had been introduced in the morning. One conclusion was that while tax incentives have become a necessity for many productions, there are clear differences between their effects in Nordic countries. The broadcaster panel brought up issues around increased production costs and the need for more volume to keep up talent development. To secure a strong Nordic industry in the future, it was seen as a necessity to engage new talent, for example by inviting upcoming and experienced voices to the same writers’ rooms.

NFTVF parties have a possibility to present inspirational case studies at the meeting. Morten Fisker, Head of External Productions & Rights at TV 2 DK, shared his company’s work around AI, which inspired the room to plan a pan-Nordic AI group for broadcasters. Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute, showed how the Five Nordics have developed new means of comparing data to strengthen the Nordic industry. Matti Paunio, Head of Production at the Finnish Film Institute, introduced the institute’s gender tool, which is mandatory for productions applying for support. More about the tool: CLICK HERE.

At the end of the day all delegates took part in group discussions, led by NFTVF’s Documentary Advisor Ove Rishøj Jensen. When asked to define the most urgent industry challenges and what do to about them, many groups came up with new collaboration schemes. Among the suggestions were initiatives to summon financiers and producers to seek economic solutions together, a Nordic fast track for promising productions, and discussions on ways to increase data transparency.

Commissioners Meeting

The main part of the Commissioners Meeting focused on think tanks looking for concrete means to strengthen the Nordic industry. The previous meeting in May 2025 resulted in several follow-up meetings during the year, and inspired an Open Call documentary initiative (CLICK HERE). The work of last year’s Kids’ group resulted in an Animation Lab for financiers and producers hosted by DR in collaboration with NFTVF in September 2025, while the Film group decided to found a continuous network for film commissioners. Elina Pohjola, Film Commissioner at Yle, who since has summoned two networking meetings in collaboration with NFTVF, said:

“There was a huge need to share ideas and understand how differently we do things in the Nordic countries, and it has been very helpful to discuss and share the best practices.”

Among other themes, the 2026 Commissioners Meeting’s think tanks dealt with the need for risk-taking and how to evaluate it, developing various documentary formats for different types of audiences, financing productions with a 360 approach for kids, and finding the right synergies between majority and minority financiers. Concrete collaboration ideas across formats, and transparency around ideas and data were also discussed. The fiction film group was inspired by the documentary group’s ongoing open call, and decided to try to create a similar fiction initiative.

The Commissioners Meeting’s inspirational lecture was given by Norwegian psychologist and researcher Jan-Ole Hesselberg, who presented thought-provoking takeaways on uncertainty, bias and fairness in commissioning in his talk on how to improve decision making. He showed how individuals adapt their opinions to accommodate a group or people in leadership positions. Even in supreme courts, bias and group dynamics might affect decisions:

“Conformity is not about giving in. It’s about all the micro-decisions we make when we discuss in a group. And the tendency is that the decisions will pull you towards more agreement. It does make teamwork easier, but when making important decisions you should have a system for making it safe to disagree.”

Hesselberg also underlined the need to scrutinise and evaluate decision-making processes. He emphasised the importance of concretising how, and most importantly, why decisions are made within different organisations in a certain way, as well as identifying uncertainties in the process and determining how to address them.

The main conclusions from the Commissioners Meeting were once again brought to the Family Meeting the next day, and inspired the heads of institutes and broadcasters in their own discussions.

NFTVF Commissioners Lab

The day before the Commissioners Meeting, a pre-selected group of 16 consultants and commissioners gathered for the first module of Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s new initiative NFTVF Commissioners Lab, moderated by Ove Rishøj Jensen and producer Noemi Ferrer Schwenk. Danish Associate Professor Eva Novrup Redvall provided inspiration to the discussions with her analyses on prominent structures and power dynamics around new screen ideas. Decision-making, communication with both creatives and companies, and learning from one’s failures in a risk-averse industry were among topics discussed. The Lab was briefly presented at both partner meetings.

The Commissioners Lab’s next module, which takes place in September, in connection with Nordic Talents, will focus on note-giving and commissioning processes in the time of AI. The last module, during the Göteborg Film Festival, will highlight international commissioning.