Unique storytelling and film structures empowered in Nuuk

The event Filmit sassartillugit (Films Empower) shared insights and strengthened networks between Greenlandic professionals and international guests in Nuuk 15th-16th September, the week before the announcement of Greenland’s 3rd ever Oscar-entry WALLS - Akinni Inuk, which is also the 3rd ever Greenlandic nominee for the Nordic Council Film Prize.

Storytelling and infrastructure were at the centre, highlighting experiences shared by guests from the Indigenous Screen Office (Canada), the Faroese Film Institute, the International Sámí Film Institute, and the Artic Indigenous Film Fund, and with participation from Creative Europe, the European Film Academy, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and others.

The event was organised by Film.gl and NAPA (the Nordic Institute in Greenland), and hosted by the Nuuk International Film Festival. Klaus Georg Hansen (PhD, producer and Chair of Film.gl) and Valeria Richter (scriptwriter and pitch coach) prepared the seminar programme.

In her opening speech, Nivi Heilmann Efraimsen, Chair of the Cultural Affairs, Education, Research and Ecclesiastical Affairs Committee, underlined the seminar’s core theme:

“Film can make us visible. Greenland now tells its own stories. It is a historic step. And it is a clear sign that, as a society, we believe in the value of film – as art, as language, as identity. Film gives strength, but only if we give strength to film, and with the Film Institute, we are taking an important step in that direction.”

With less than 15 weeks to the launch of the Greenlandic Film Institute, its upcoming activities were very much on the agenda. Due to the lack of a film institute so far, Film.gl has in many ways acted internationally as a film institute, This has had its limitations, since no one at Film.gl has a regular salary for their work, says Hansen, and continues:

“We’re now experiencing a major step forward for the Greenland film community, as it will be the first time a film institution is included in the national budget of Greenland. Film.gl is looking forward to collaborating with the upcoming Director of the Film Institute."

Film.gl represents Greenland in the Nordic Film Commissions, in the Indigenous Cinema Alliance (ICA), and in other collaborations. It used to organise the film workshop Filmiliortarfik, which develops film talents, supports development of film, and collaborates with cultural fields.

Filmiliortarfik is today an organisation in its own right, with three employees, while the new film institute will have one; the CEO. The question was raised whether these two will merge, an option which will be dealt with in the future. The national budget for the first year of the Greenlandic Film Institute will be passed in the Parliament of Greenland, Inatsisartut, in November 2025.

Greenlandic documentary director Nivi Pedersen shared her expectations for the Institute:

”I hope the Film Institute will help the industry grow nationally as well as internationally, develop new talents, and facilitate the existing industry - but most of all, I look forward to experiencing the national audience in their engagement, with more and more stories they can mirror themselves in.”

Film educator and director Inuk Jørgensen, from the board of Film.gl, who also acted as one of the moderators, said: “Now it is possible to dream bigger again. Hopefully, the Film Institute will help even more filmmakers move into a professional position in which they can also make a living.”

Kerry Swanson, the CEO of the Canada based Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), stressed the importance of acknowledging the structural disparities in funding, as current international co-production treaties are difficult for Indigenous producers to access:

“The backbone of any collaboration is that we are telling our stories with our own voices, in our languages, and on our terms. Nothing about us without us. The ISO, for example, negotiated an exception in our funding with the Government of Canada to ensure that Indigenous producers in Nunavut can collaborate with their peers in Greenland, with whom there is a shared culture. You have to push for these exceptions across the Nordics and with the EU funding bodies, because the context of our work is completely different.”

Keeping up a professional film industry in a small community requires devotion, international collaboration, and strong structures. Greenland has 56,000 inhabitants, and the Faroe Islands 54,000. Both are self-governed under Denmark. Marjun Niclasen, Head of the Faroese Film Institute, founded in 2017, congratulated Greenland on their Institute, pinpointing the dilemma of being both Danish and self-governing when it comes to Nordic film financing:

“Even though our countries are very different, we share the same passion for storytelling. We are two small and relatively new film institutes, starting out as part of the Nordic cooperation. However, due to our political position within the Kingdom of Denmark, we are alternately considered Danish and Faroese, depending on the context. This lack of clarity creates significant challenges when applying for memberships and accessing international funding. Although we are regarded as Danish in some contexts, we are nevertheless not eligible to apply to the Danish Film Institute or for Danish funds, as responsibility for cultural affairs has been transferred to the Faroe Islands. Consequently, our institute is heavily reliant on our own film fund.”

Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s CEO Liselott Forsman, who was one of the panellists in Nuuk, confirmed that companies from Greenland or the Faroe Islands can apply for support from NFTVF. “Applicants usually have financing from DFI and/or DR, since a party of our fund, an institute or a broadcaster, needs to be on board.” After the seminar, she commented on the absence of the Greenlandic national broadcaster:

“This spring I visited the Faroe Islands, and was impressed by how effectively the Faroese Film Institute, the national broadcaster, and filmmakers of all generations communicated. The dynamic effort to strengthen the Greenlandic film industry was also very clear on stage, and at high level meetings in Nuuk, as was the valuable support of Greenland from the global Indigenous film community. Surprisingly, the national broadcaster KNR was not yet present, but I trust this will happen in the future, on the basis of good discussions with the Minister of Culture Nivi Olsen and others after the event.”

In recent years, Nordisk Film & TV Fond has top-financed a growing number of high-level Sámi productions. Anne Lajla Utsi, CEO of the International Sámi Film Institute, said in Nuuk that the success of ISFI is built on many factors, like capacity building, international partnerships – with the visibility this brings – and heavily supporting the development of as many projects and filmmakers as possible. It also includes constantly working with politicians and policy change.

Liisa Holmberg, CEO of the Artic Indigenous Film Fund, added that in order to grow and build the Greenlandic film industry, education and networking are crucial, but it is also important to pilot, test, and identify what works best for a Greenlandic set-up, so as to produce more, faster, and thereby not only expand the output level of projects, but also nurture the storyteller community.

Greenlandic filmmakers echoed this in their wish for training opportunities that include more direct access to filmmaking without all the “normal” gatekeeping hoops to jump through, not just in Nuuk, but across Greenland. In the end session, the filmmakers unanimously stressed the importance of cherishing their own storytelling, since forcing Greenlandic talents into financial or educational patterns of others might not support their true voices. The Greenlandic Film Institute is truly needed.

For job posting (CEO of the Greenlandic Film Institute): CLICK HERE.