Nordisk Panorama Forum to host 320 doc delegates for 30th anniversary

More than 320 participants - including 80 decision-makers - have signed up for Nordisk Panorama Forum for co-financing of Nordic documentaries, unspooling September 24-26. The industry showcase running parallel to the Nordisk Panorama Festival (September 21-26), will take place in person but also online for selected international programmers or buyers, unable to make the trip, such as Netflix or HBO Max.

A total of 24 projects and 23 Observer+ projects have been selected out of 100 submissions for the two-day pitching event, with a majority of projects coming from Sweden (12), followed by Norway (11), Finland (10), Denmark (8), Iceland (3), and one project each from Estonia, Latvia and France.

Kicking off the pitching programme Monday September 25 will be Fire, Water, Earth Air co-directed by Phie Ambo, Håvard Bustnes, Rógvi Rasmussen and Ewa Cederstam for Danish production house Tambo Film.

“Fire, Water, Earth Air is among a handful of projects dealing with climate change, alongside for instance Burning Earth by top Finnish director John Webster,” said NP Forum Manager Lena Nitsch, asked about dominating themes.

Nitsch also cites artists portraits, such A Deal with Chaos by Orri Jónsson and David Stefánsson from Iceland’s Join Motion Pitctures, about double Academy-award nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, or Masterminded for Success by Sweden’s Carl Javér, a portrait of techno legend Mark Reeder in Berlin.

Other films dig into family relationships, such as Norway’a Fatherhood co-directed by Pushwagner’s Even Benestad and August Baugstø Hanssen, and Denmark’s Fantastic Family by Nicoline Skotte.

This year’s Wild Card slate selected directly by Nordic film institutes among projects by rising talents, will be particularly strong, said Nitsch, notably with the Swedish film Stripped about a male stripper on a hunt for his true nature, co-directed by Nils Toftnow and Emmanuel Sydney for Tally Ho Creatives, and Norway’s Hooked directed by Nora Nivedita Tvedt for Smallville Films.

Prior to the two-day pitching event, Nordisk Panorama Forum will open Sunday September 24 with a ‘Producers Meet Producers’ session. As country guest, France will be attending with a delegation of eight producers, set to explore co-production opportunities with their Nordic counterparts.

Sunday September 24 will also be a major brainstorming and inspiring day for the Nordic documentary community, with the Town Hall-Who Needs Original Thinking?

Moderator Karolina Lidin, Senior Advisor, Documentary for Nordisk Film & TV Fond, will steer the discussion about where we are and how we are doing as an art form, as an industry and as a community, notably with AI technology challenging the industry and creativity itself. Guest speakers will include Mads Damsbo, Piotr Winiewicz, Ulla Simonen and Carsten Aanonsen.

The 34^th Nordisk Panorama festival will close Wednesday September 27 with the awards ceremony after a full week of screenings of 64 competing Nordic short films and documentaries.

To view the full list of Nordisk Panorama Forum pitches, CLICK HERE.