The Swedish/Danish film produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius of Garagefilm was handed out the €15,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award for Best Pitch by jury members Dorien Van der Pas, Head of New Screen Netherlands, Matthijs Wouter Knol, Director of Berlin’s European Film Market and Danish producer Signe Byrge Sørensen of Final Cut for Real. The jury was “impressed by the braveness of a young filmmaker, who presented a very personal, delicate and urgent project. In this project she elaborates a strong personal suffering that she wants to bring alive in a film that combines documentary and fiction elements.“

The Nordic Talents winner Maria Bäck came two years ago at CPH:DOX with her debut feature I Remember When I Die. Her new project is a semi-autobiographical film about a defining moment in the director’s life when she was 14, left temporarily alone in Stockholm as her psychotic mother was locked in a psychiatric ward. The film will mix traditional documentary work with fiction, using actors to play Bäck and her mother. “Beyond the mother/daughter relationship, I will explore how society defines normality,” said the director. The film is scheduled for delivery in February 2019.

This year’s two day co-financing and co-production CPH: FORUM held at its new Kunsthal Charlottenborg venue attracted more than 300 international delegates. Environment issues, humanity in crisis, conspiracy theories, existential questioning were hot topics for pitchers.

Among the most popular Scandi projects in development were United Nations, The End of the Beginning, I Die, and Jozi Gold. Sue Turley of US production and distribution company Ro-co Films said: “I loved Erik Poppe’s poetic and universal film I Die and Fredrik Gertten’s Jozy Gold with the lively portrait of the eccentric yet fascinating activist Mariette Liefferink”.

Veteran sales agent Jan Rofekamp of Films Transit International made a distinction between the ‘necessary’ films such as United Nations - The End of the Beginning and less necessary personal films. He felt Erik Poppe’s film was “cleverly thought out, with beautiful concept images, while Jozi Gold was “a good story” to tell.

Here under is the full list of Nordic pitches:

  • United Nations-The End of the Beginning (DK) co-directed by Andreas Koefoed (Ballroom Dancer) and Lea Glob (Venus), produced by Danish Documentary. The film will use exceptional material from inside the UN and will portray a complex institution in crisis, looking at its ability to respond to the challenges of our time. Koefoed who’s had an interest in the world of diplomacy since he was 18, will use the stories of five characters to create a lively tapestry of how the UN works and what’s behind the façade.Expected delivery: November 2018. 
  • Magnitsky Act II (NO) directed by Andrei Nekrasov, Produced by Piraya Film. The follow up to Magnitsky Act 1 explores the case of human rights icon Sergey Magnitsky further and examines how our democratic institutions are being manipulated. The director who has been accused of defaming a dead hero and has suffered censorship said: “This new film is both political and personal. I will explore facts and what is false or not. I just hope I won’t fall from a roof while doing the film!” Expected release is January 2018. 
  • I Die (NO) by Erik Poppe (The King’s Choice), produced by Paradox. The film is an observation of the moment of death and the meaning of it all through the portrait of celebrated Norwegian professor of Social Medicine and intellectual Per Fugelli, at a terminal stage of his cancer. “We met and we decided that we would work together until he dies,” said Poppe. “The film is actually a portrait of life and its meaning, and an attempt to discuss what Per Fugelli calls ‘the beautiful moment of death.” Expected release: August 2017.
  • Balloon Wars (DK) by debut director Sissel Morell Dargis, produced by House of Real. Filmed in Brazil, the story follows the illegal gang scene of giant paper hot-air balloon making and the fight for recognition of balloon families and gangs in the favelas. "The project is an opportunity to show the magical world of giant paper balloon making and to explore class struggle in Brazilian society and art in modern life. My interest is to show the artistic nerds living in the favelas,” said Dargis who has worked as graffiti painter and photographer of street artists in São Paolo and Rio. Expected release: March 2018.
  • My Father’s Acres (DK) upcoming director Carl Olsson, produced by Final Cut for Real. Through the depiction of landed gentry in Denmark, the film explores history vs present, tradition vs modernity and time itself. “It’s about our human struggle against time and the imperfect way of manoeuvring in a world of perfection,” said Olsson who was nominated in 2014 for a Robert award with his graduation film Blessed Be this Place. Expected release: February 2018.
  • Jozi Gold co-directed by Fredrik Gertten (Bikes vs Cars), Adam Welz (Tall, Dark and Afrikaans) and award-winning journalist Sylvia Vollenhoven, produced by WG Film in coproduction with Sant & Usant, Vision in Africa. As Johannesburg’s gold mining industry is having catastrophic environmental consequences, the filmmakers follow the unlikely activist Mariette Liefferink in her daily fight against mine pollution. “Mariette is an inspirational personality, far from the traditional activists. She is a lone wolf figure but is very successful in making a difference,” noted Gertten. Expected release: November 2017 
  • Why Slavery directed by Søren Klovborg, produced by Plus Pictures and The Why Foundation. The first of six films about slavery will focus on slaves in private households. Producers hope it will spark debates around the world. 37 broadcasters have confirmed financing. This is a new series by the Why Foundation non-profit organisation after Why Democracy? and Why Poverty? 
  • Nordic Trips directed by award-winning UK artists and filmmakers Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth (20,000 Days on Earth), produced by Tattarrattat in co-production with Profile Pictures (DK), Ape & Bjørn (NO), Bufo (FI) and Anorak Film. The anthology film celebrating the diversity of the Nordics will bring together eight creative collaborations between musicians and filmmakers from each Nordic country such as Andreas Korfoed and Dagur Kári. “Our job will be to create a space for the imagination and see how we can shape a film about storytelling.” Expected release: February 2018.
  • La société du spectacle (SE, DK, US) directed by Göran Hugo Olsson (Concerning Violence) and Sophie Vukovic, co-written by Joslyn Barnes (Louverture Films, US), produced by Story AB, co-produced by Final Cut for Real and Louverture Films. 
  • the project is a visual interpretation of Guy Debord’s 1967 seminal book La société du spectacle that influenced the May 68 student movement in France. It will be a dialogue between our time and the ideas that fuelled May 68. “It will be a critic of our culture of consumerism and the circulation of images that make us passive human beings,” said Vukovic. The film’s theatrical release in 2018 will coincide with the 50thanniversary of May 68.
  • I Walk (DK) by Jørgen Leth, produced by Danish Documentary. “Life is a mystery, some sort of labyrinth of crime that needs to be solved. This film is my testament, a journey to understand my life and the decisions I have made, a search for love and forgiveness, even though I might not be able ever to find it”, said acclaimed  Danish film director and personality Jørgen Leth. Producer Sigrid Dyekjær said: “This film is very special as Jørgen will turn 80 in June. For the last five years, he has filmed himself [via his son Asger] going through the process of ageing. We will follow him in the different places where he lives and meet with his children. Leth’s long time collaborator Jacob Thuesen is attached as editor and producer. Expected delivery: November 2018.