"Yes, we're crossing difficult and bleak times, but Reykjavik is buzzing with energy and we've put together an excellent programme, thanks to the backing from many sponsors and a great team" said Gudrun Edda Thorhannesdottir, director of Nordisk Panorama-5 Cities Film Festival in Reykjavik. This year's special 20th edition will focus more on short films than documentaries, to stress the role that Nordisk Panorama has had over the last two decades in launching the career of many Nordic filmmakers. Opening the ball tonight at the Regnboginn cinema are the award-winning shorts Anna by Rúnar Rúnarsson and Seeds of the Fall by Patrik Ekslund, plus the 2001 short film winner Music for Six drummers and one apartment. Nordisk Panorama's 20th anniversary will also be celebrated with a retrospective of most short films that won since 1989 such as Roy Andersson's World of Glory (1991) and Thomas Vinterberg's The Boy who Walked Backwards (1994).
On the documentary side, Nordisk Film & TV Fond has been actively involved in this year's programme by hosting the first ‘Open Source Clinic' workshop. Five Nordic documentary projects have been short-listed by the Fund's Documentary consultant Karolina Lidin (photo) to attend this Sunday's seminar. Montreal-based Daniel Cross and Brett Gaylor (EyeSteelFilm) will discuss community interaction and new online production and distribution methods. The five candidates are 1000 Stories by Antti Haase (Finland), Brand Aid by Morten Daae (Norway), Crunch by Oli Finnsson (Iceland), Good Shift Bad Shift by Henrik Moltke (Denmark) and The Will by Vanja Ohna (Norway). The finalist with the strongest ‘Open Source' potential will be granted NOK50,000 in development support.
At the annual Nordisk Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries (September 28-29), 22 Nordic projects looking for co-financing and distribution will be pitched to around 180 professionals, and at the festival, 21 recent documentaries will vie for the Nordic Documentary Award.