Nordisk Panorama launches pioneering €10,000 Nordic Doc Producer Award

According to the Board of Nordisk Panorama who collectively came up with the idea, the Nordic Documentary Award will be given “to a producer who deserves special recognition for their recent work in the Nordic documentary industry, to a leader who has shown courage and the willingness to take risks, broken new paths, and has helped ensure the development of emerging talents and progressed documentary as an art form.”

The nomination of a producer from each Nordic country, will be coordinated by the national directors’ guilds, based on the producers’ works completed within the previous five years.

“We decided to launch this new award because creative producing is not always acknowledged,” said Anita Reher, Executive Director at Nordisk Panorama. “Now for the first time, the directors will have the opportunity to nominate producers whom they’ve worked with, who have supported them and enabled them to achieve filmic success.”

As underlined by Nordisk Panorama, the pioneering award is also meant to inspire talents tempted by the profession. "There is a lack of documentary producers in all the Nordic countries,” said Chairperson of the Board and Norwegian producer Ingvil Giske of Medieoperatørene (The Painter and the Thief). “I hope this award, in addition to honouring the recipient, will also work as an advertisement for a job that is truly interesting, challenging and extremely rewarding,” she said.

The new award is sponsored by the Danish Producers Association, Virke Norwegian Producers’ Association, Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), Filmproducenternas Rättighetsförening (FRF), and the Icelandic Filmmakers Association.

The 34^th Nordisk Panorama will unspool September 21-26. Over 500 films have been submitted to the programming team including Manolo Diaz Rämö, Cecilia Lidin for the Documentary Competition, as well as Sam Groves and Lucile Bourliaud for the Short Film Competition.