Nordisk Panorama Malmö unveils festival and industry programme for the 2025 edition

Today, the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up, including the industry programme, for its 36th edition. Many prolific entries from the world festival scene are on the menu, and scores of film industry players will be in town for the event.

The opening titles are Dane Jeppe Lange’s short film I Am Everything, dealing with AI, art history and the internet, and the Arthur Franck documentary The Helsinki Effect (Finland/Norway /Germany), again using AI and archival material in order to embody and enliven the 1975 Helsinki Conference set during the Cold War period. What exactly happened at the meeting between the most powerful men of the era? A possible if not entirely probable scenario can be experienced and enjoyed right here.

World premiering in Venice last year, O by Iceland’s Rúnar Rúnarsson is another short film highlight, as is the Annecy- and Tribeca-playing Ovary-Acting by Norwegian Ida Melum, an animated short about a baby shower taking some unexpected turns.

A luminary with awards at both CPH:DOX and ZagrebDox for his documentary The Will (Testamentet, 2011), is Denmark’s Christian Sønderby Jepsen, who now presents a sequel, The Father, the Sons and the Holy Spirit (Faderen, Sønnerne & Helligånden), once again focusing on the brothers Henrik and Christian. 14 years of filming lies behind this intimate and impressive family portrait.

World premiering and awarded at this year’s CPH:DOX, WALLS - Akinni Inuk (Greenland), the debut film of directors Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Sofie Rørdam, brings a rare look into a Greenlandic prison. A well-travelled Swedish entry is Areeb Zuaiter’s Yalla Parkour, a Berlinale world premiere that has also played Visions du Réel and DOC NYC, where it got the Grand Jury Prize.

Documentary programmers Cecilia Lidin and Manolo Diaz Rämö promise debate-sparking, perspective-challenging, space-opening works, stimulating and encouraging meaningful conversation. “A great barometer of the world we live in – exposing our collective fears, hopes and various obsessions,” reflect Lucile Bourliaud and Sam Groves from the short film programmer HQ.

In all, 57 short and documentary films from across the Nordic region will participate and compete.

Five competition categories are also a vital part of the event.

For the Nordic Documentary Producer Award, each Nordic directors’ guild has nominated a singular outstanding producer, deserving special recognition for their recent work in the Nordic documentary industry, in recognition of “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”.

This year’s nominees are Mario Adamson, Sisyfos Film, Sweden; Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, Akkeri Films, Iceland; Malene Flindt Pedersen, Hansen & Pedersen, Denmark; Pasi Hakkio, Wacky Tie Films, Finland; and Bård Kjøge Rønning and Fabien Greenberg, Antipode Films, Norway. The winner will receive a prize of €10,000, sponsored by the Danish Producers’ Association, Virke Norwegian Producers Association, Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), Filmproducenternas Rättighetsförening (FRF), and the Icelandic Filmmakers Association.

Best Nordic Documentary Award, presented to the director(s) of the winning film, consists of €11,000, sponsored by the Nordic public broadcasters DR, NRK, RÚV, SVT, and Yle.

The prize for Best Nordic Short Film, awarded to the director(s) of the winning film, will qualify for consideration in the Short Film Category of the annual Academy Awards. A cash award of €5,000 is sponsored by the associations Danish Film Directors and Swedish Film Directors.

The New Nordic Voice competition introduces films by promising Nordic filmmakers. The award goes to the director(s) of the winning film, and consists of €5,000, sponsored by Film i Skåne.

The Young Nordic Award, chosen by the younger part of the festival, will bring the winner €1,500, sponsored by the festival itself, and the City of Malmö’s Audience Award, going to any of the Nordic short films and documentaries competing in the main competition, consists of €2,500, sponsored by the City of Malmö.